CLASS 01
(AUS) Antweight
150 g plastic robots
PlasticOpen materialDestructive & Non-destructive brackets (Plastic division only)
The featherweight entry point — cheap, quick to build and the perfect first robot.
Choose 150gBuild a robot.
Fight it in the arena.
North Queensland's combat robotics club. Plastic-class fighting robots, beginner-friendly divisions, and real arena battles — no experience needed to get started.
The robots are coming!
The Sport
What is combat robotics?
Combat robotics is exactly what it sounds like — builders design and drive small armoured robots that fight head-to-head in a sealed arena. Think the spirit of televised robot combat, scaled down to classes you can actually build on a kitchen table and a hobby budget.
Townsville Robot Combat runs plastic-class divisions built to be cheap, safe and welcoming for first-timers — while still delivering proper arena carnage. Whether you're a student, a maker, an FPV pilot or someone who just wants to smash something for sport, there's a class for you.
Never built a bot? Perfect. Our Get Started guides walk you from zero to your first robot, and the club is here to help along the way.
Video from TV Show Battle Bots used as example.
Upcoming events
Upcoming Events
Open
Day
Day
⚡ Sunday 16 August · 1:30 PM – 4:00 PM · Free entry
Free Open Day
Come and see what the club is about, and what skills and knowledge combat robotics actually asks of you. No cost, no commitment: just turn up.
- Show and tell — robots out on the table, up close, with the people who built them.
- Guidance and talks — covering how to get into the sport and how to pick up the skills members and interested onlookers have been asking about.
Cost: free
📍 Rising Sun FPV, 22 Castlemaine Street, Kirwan QLD 4817
Build
& Learn
& Learn
⚡ Sunday 13 September · 1:30 PM – 4:00 PM · $10 entry
Build and Learn Day
A working afternoon. Bring the robot you're building, bring your tools, and get stuck in alongside everyone else.
- Information sessions — on the topics and skills combat robotics needs, with the topics decided by the members who turn up.
- Soldering stations — set out and available to use, thanks to our sponsor Jaycar.
- Test box — available for safely testing the drive and weapon systems of destructive combat robots.
- Bring your build — members working on a robot are encouraged to bring it along with their tools and work on it in a social setting.
- Arena reveal — this is the most likely day for revealing the completed, ready-to-use 150 g antweight arena.
Cost: $10
📍 Rising Sun FPV, 22 Castlemaine Street, Kirwan QLD 4817
Active paid members get 10% off this event. See Membership.
Sumo
Weekend
Weekend
⚡ Saturday 19 & Sunday 20 September · 1:00 PM – 4:00 PM each day · Four places
School Holiday Sumo Robot Weekend
First weekend of the school holidays. Over two afternoons you build a sumo robot from parts, learn what makes it work, then fight it in a competition. Four people maximum, so places are genuinely limited.
Day 1 — Saturday
- Educational talks: “What Are These ‘Components’ You Speak Of?” and “Learn to Solder”.
- Then it's hands on: solder your motors, wire the sumo robot together and test that it works.
Day 2 — Sunday
- Educational talks on safety, how to read and understand LiPo battery specifications at a glance, and what to expect at a competition.
- Then we run a sumo competition, crown a winner and present trophies.
Cost: $220 if you don't keep the sumo robot you build, $320 if you keep it.
Four people maximum at a time.
📍 Rising Sun FPV, 22 Castlemaine Street, Kirwan QLD 4817
Active paid members get 10% off this event. See Membership.
Sumo
Weekend
Weekend
⚡ Saturday 26 & Sunday 27 September · 1:00 PM – 4:00 PM each day · Four places
School Holiday Sumo Robot Weekend — Second Weekend
Second weekend of the school holidays, running the same program and the same pricing as 19–20 September. If the first weekend is full, or those dates don't suit, this is your other shot at it.
Day 1 — Saturday
- Educational talks: “What Are These ‘Components’ You Speak Of?” and “Learn to Solder”.
- Then it's hands on: solder your motors, wire the sumo robot together and test that it works.
Day 2 — Sunday
- Educational talks on safety, how to read and understand LiPo battery specifications at a glance, and what to expect at a competition.
- Then we run a sumo competition, crown a winner and present trophies.
Cost: $220 if you don't keep the sumo robot you build, $320 if you keep it.
Four people maximum at a time.
📍 Rising Sun FPV, 22 Castlemaine Street, Kirwan QLD 4817
Active paid members get 10% off this event. See Membership.
Sumo
Day
Day
⚡ Thursday 1 October · 1:30 PM – 4:00 PM · Four places
Sumo Robot Afternoon
A single afternoon covering the essentials, then straight into a competition. Four people maximum.
- Educational talks — what these “components” are that we keep speaking of, safety, how to read and understand LiPo battery specifications at a glance, and what to expect at a competition.
- Sumo competition — then we run it, crown a winner and present trophies.
Cost: $150
Four people maximum.
📍 Rising Sun FPV, 22 Castlemaine Street, Kirwan QLD 4817
Active paid members get 10% off this event. See Membership.
Jaycar has sponsored the Club and provided soldering iron stations and related gear, giving our members the chance to learn these skills at our, on-request, hands-on practical sessions.
This kicked off with our first ever Learn to Solder Session on Thursday afternoon. A great group, and I believe everyone walked away with a more developed skill set and more confidence in soldering.
Learn to
Solder
Solder
⚡ On-Demand Classes · $25 per person
Learn to Solder
We run on-demand “Learn to Solder” classes, hosted at Rising Sun FPV — small 4–5 person, 90-minute sessions with all equipment provided (bring your own gear if you'd prefer). It's a true starter class that explains everything from scratch, assuming little to no prior knowledge.
More days and times are being added as requested.
Want to book a space or register interest for future dates? Fill out the Contact Form on this website, or email info [at] tsvrc.com.au with any questions.
These classes are made accessible and affordable by the generous support of Jaycar Electronics, whose kind donation of the soldering stations and other equipment makes every session possible. We're proud to partner with them in bringing hands-on STEM skills to the Townsville community.
Next
Battle
Battle
⚡ Coming Soon
Our first event is being locked in
Date and venue will be announced shortly. Follow our Facebook page to be the first to know when entries open and when the bots roll out.
Membership
Become an active member
A 12-month membership is $28.50 for the year, and it pays for itself quickly if you come to events or buy parts.
$28.50
a year
a year
What active paid membership gets you
- 10% off all events and competitions for the 12 months your membership is active.
- 10% off individually priced Robot Combat stock at Rising Sun FPV. This excludes the Aspire Robotics electronics kits.
- You're backing the club — membership fees go straight into the arena, equipment and running events.
Fill out the membership application form and bring it along to an event, or get in touch and we'll sort it out with you.
Weight Divisions
Pick your weight class
Three divisions, from a 150 g featherweight first build up to the heavier Beetleweight class. Weights follow the international standard so your bot travels.
CLASS 02
(US) Antweight
454 g 1 lb · plastic robots
PlasticOpen materialDestructive & Non-destructive brackets (Plastic division only)
The featherweight mid entry point — cheap, quick to build and the perfect first/second robot.
Choose 454gCLASS 03 Coming Soon
Beetleweight
1.36 kg 3 lb · open material
Open material only
Coming soon — the international 3 lb standard will run once we build a larger arena.
AUS Antweight 150 g · plastic + open material
AUS ANTWEIGHT class limits weight to 150g and restricted to approved plastics — PLA, PLA+, ABS, PET, PET-G, acrylic, cardboard or plywood — meaning robots are fabricated almost entirely from plastic parts (aside from electronics, motors, and fasteners). This class is rapidly growing in popularity as an entry level class due to the ease in fabrication and low damage rate which make the robots extremely affordable compared to other weight classes.
This is a great weight class to start in, as robot building methods such as direct driving weapons and wheels can be employed without major modifications and post processing. This weight class is less competitive than the beetleweight combat robot class which makes it ideal for a first robot.
First competition: in its Plastic division it runs two brackets — destructive and non-destructive weapons — so you don’t need to destroy your robot to participate. Control-style robots (pushers, wedges, lifters) can still enter the destructive bracket if they wish. It also runs two material divisions — plastic (built to the PLAstic ruleset) and open material (any material).
US Antweight 1 lb · 454 g · plastic + open material
US ANTWEIGHT class limits weight to 1lb and restricted to approved plastics — PLA, PLA+, ABS, PET, PET-G, acrylic, cardboard or plywood — meaning robots are fabricated almost entirely from plastic parts (aside from electronics, motors, and fasteners). This class is rapidly growing in popularity as an entry level class due to the ease in fabrication and low damage rate which make the robots extremely affordable compared to other weight classes.
This is a great weight class to start in, as robot building methods such as direct driving weapons and wheels can be employed without major modifications and post processing. This weight class is less competitive than the beetleweight combat robot class which makes it ideal for a first robot.
First competition: in its Plastic division it runs two brackets — destructive and non-destructive weapons — so you don’t need to destroy your robot to participate. Control-style robots (pushers, wedges, lifters) can still enter the destructive bracket if they wish. It also runs two material divisions — plastic (built to the PLAstic ruleset) and open material (any material).
Beetleweight 3 lb · 1.36 kg · open material
BEETLEWEIGHT class are limited to 3lb or 1.36kg and run as open material only, with no plastic division, so metal armour, weapons and frames are all permitted. This is by far the most competitive insect weight class.
Due to the push for light motors in the giant drone market, Brushless motors RPM and torque ratios used on this class robot provides insane power to weight ratios. This makes beetleweight robots incredibly dangerous and destructive. The most successful beetleweight robots feature tons of custom parts and have been through many design iterations to perfect the robot. Because beetleweight robots are so powerful, an important aspect of designs is modularity.
Coming soon: Beetleweight will join once we build a larger arena. It will run a single open-material division: any material, no plastic division.
PLA
PLAstic construction ruleset. Both Antweight classes run two material divisions — a plastic division and an open-material division. The plastic division (AUS & US Antweight) must be built from approved plastics (PLA, PLA+, ABS, PET, PET-G, acrylic, cardboard or plywood), with metal limited to fasteners, axles, bearings and bushings and electronics, motors and grippy wheel tread exempt. It keeps bots affordable, safer in the arena and accessible to newcomers. The open-material division has no material restriction. Beetleweight is open material only, with no plastic division. Full details are in the rules PDF on the Compete page.
⚡
First competition limits. In their Plastic division, the AUS & US Antweight classes each run destructive and non-destructive weapon brackets — so you don't need to destroy your robot to take part. Control-style robots can still enter the destructive bracket if they wish. Beetleweight is coming soon, pending a larger arena.
Antweight Brackets
Destructive vs non-destructive
The AUS & US Antweight classes each run two brackets, so you can fight the way that suits your robot — and your nerves.
🛡️ Non-destructive
Less about wrecking your opponent, more about putting on a show. These fights are judged largely on the entertainment your robot creates for the crowd and how well you control the arena — driving, positioning, aggression and style. A clever pusher or flipper with no spinning weapon can dominate here. It's the friendliest place to start: you don't need to destroy (or risk destroying) your robot to do well, so it's perfect for a first build and learning to drive.
⚔️ Destructive
Exactly what it says on the tin — the goal is to disable your opponent's robot within the time allowed. Spinners, flippers and crushers come out to play, and a clean knockout can end the fight early. It's higher risk and higher reward: more damage to dish out, but also more to repair afterwards.
This is where the Carnage lives.
Mindset & Approach
Not all about winning
The design calls you make — and the lessons every loss teaches — matter more than raw power. Keep building and you'll keep getting better.
🎯 Your design choices decide the fight
When you upgrade a body or design a new weapon, the engineering choices you make are often the difference between victory and defeat — where you place the armour, how you mount and balance the weapon, where the weight sits. Sweat these decisions. A well-thought-out robot beats a powerful but poorly-designed one more often than not.
It's OK to lose — losing teaches more
Here's the secret most champions won't tell you: you learn more from a loss than a win. A loss shows you exactly where the robot is weak — the armour that cracked, the weapon that jammed, the mount that sheared off. Take that back to the drawing board and redesign, and you reinforce everything you've learned since your last build. Every champion has a pile of broken first attempts behind them.
Get Started
New to combat robotics? No experience needed. The Get Started page has build examples, beginner how-to guides, and the parts and links you need to put your first bot together. It'll grow as the club does.
Start BuildingSafety
Combat robots are powerful machines. The Safety page covers building safely, charging and storing LiPo batteries, and the event-day checks that keep you and everyone around the arena safe — read it before you power anything up.
Read the Safety guideKnowledge base & useful links
Want to go deeper? The Knowledge Base covers the fundamentals — designing for modularity, prototyping fast, weight classes and the trade-offs that win matches — plus a growing set of curated educational links and YouTube build guides from the wider combat-robotics community.
Open the Knowledge BaseCompete
Ready to throw a bot in the arena? Entries open by email and through our Facebook page. Head to the Compete page for the full how-to-enter rundown, what to bring on the day, the safety checks, and the complete club ruleset (PDF).
How to CompeteSponsored by
Providing soldering stations and related equipment for our club.
Proudly Sponsored & Hosted By
Sponsored by
Providing the clear polycarbonate arena walls for the clubs first arena.