NDSU Combat Robotics Team Returns to Robobrawl Quarterfinals

This March, North Dakota State University’s Combat Robotics team, part of Bison Robotics, traveled to the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign to compete in Robobrawl XI, one of the largest combat robotics competitions in North America. The event brought together student-built robots across multiple weight classes and gave NDSU students a chance to test months of design, manufacturing and teamwork in the arena.

The NDSU team entered five robots: four in the 30-pound class and one in the 3-pound class. The team’s designs reflected a range of strategies. Trainwreck, a redesign of a previous robot, was rebuilt to reduce weight, remove an unreliable front plow and add wheels that allow it to drive while inverted. Its vertical spinner weapon uses a steel bar with machined teeth to launch opponents upward. Yin & Yang used a similar weapon concept, but competed as a multibot, entering the arena as two 20-pound machines rather than one 30-pound robot. Freight Train and Boulderbot used drum spinners, wider spinning weapons designed to deliver powerful hits, along with 3D-printed armor to reduce weight.

Freight Train and Trainwreck led NDSU’s results, each advancing to the quarterfinals. Trainwreck finished 3-2, improving on its 1-2 record from the previous year and showing stronger control and damage output, including one knockout win. Freight Train finished 3-1, recorded two knockout victories and was ultimately eliminated by the tournament champion. With its first win, Freight Train became the first 30-pound Bison Robotics combat robot in the past three years to win by knockout, making it one of the team’s most successful recent machines.

The team has competed since 2015, but its growth over the past three years has been especially strong. Active membership increased from seven students in 2023 to 28 this year, giving the club more capacity to design, build and troubleshoot several robots at once. Each season begins in the fall with brainstorming and computer-aided design work. Students evaluate new concepts, improve previous designs and decide which robots to pursue. From there, teams source parts, plan manufacturing and prepare for a spring build season.

Much of that work happens in collaboration with the Department of Mechanical Engineering. Students learn hands-on manufacturing skills as they produce parts using lathes, mills, waterjet cutting and other shop techniques. By the middle of the spring semester, the focus shifts to assembly, testing and repairs as the team prepares its machines for competition.

For the Combat Robotics team, the competition marked an important step forward. After missing the playoff bracket the previous year, NDSU returned to the quarterfinals with two robots and gained valuable lessons for future designs, especially in reliability, electrical systems and weapon performance. The team now looks to build on that momentum as it continues working toward its goal of bringing a Robobrawl championship back to NDSU.

Faculty advisors of Bison Robotics are Mechanical Engineering (ME) professors Inbae Jeong and Majura Selekwa. ME Senior Test Engineer Rob Sailer also provides design and manufacturing guidance.