Last weekend in Cambridge, the greatest robotics competition ever devised was held. Robots from across the globe turned up to prove their worth in displays of dexterity, strength, and automation. There can only be one winner though… or four winners actually due to the way the categories work.

On Saturday, 29 school teams competed for the honour of their respective institutions. Here’s how they faired:

Obstacle course: contestants must successfully navigate the treacherous course

1st - 200 - Robot Apocalypse Committee (Melissa Bustamante)
2nd – 192 - DCGS (Lydia Timpson)
3rd – 178 - KESbot (David Hannaford)

Golf: robots must putt the ball on this challenging par 3

1st – 150 - Kenilworth School Computer Club (Daniel Sendula)
2nd – 122 - Frostmite (Tim Benson)
3rd – 112 - DasherBot (Kevin Brace)

Minimal Maze – a deviously simple maze that the robots need to navigate purely through code

1st – 90 - Robot Apocalypse Committee (Melissa Bustamante)
2nd – 82 - DCGS (Lydia Timpson)
3rd – 65 - Frostmite (Tim Benson)

Straight Line Speed Test – gotta go fast, autonomously

1st – 152 - Soham Village College (Huzaifah Zainon)
2nd – 150 - Wilbury Primary School (Nick Gray)
3rd – 138 - DCGS (Lydia Timpson)

Duck Shoot – a test of accuracy and firepower

1st – 183 - Autonomouse (David Clark)
2nd – 131 - Westpark Club (Tim Golden)
– 131 - Wilbury Primary School (Nick Gray)

Somewhere Over the Rainbow – how well can your robot see colours?

1st – 250 - DCGS (Lydia Timpson)
2nd – 235 - Kenilworth School Computer Club (Daniel Sendula)
3rd – 172 - Robot Apocalypse Committee (Melissa Bustamante)

Pi Noon - two robots enter, one robot leaves (with their balloons intact)

Winner – Wilbury Primary School (Nick Gray)
Runner-up - Westpark Club (Tim Golden)

Blogging: DasherBot (Kevin Brace)

Technical Merit: Autonomouse (David Clark)

Artistic Merit: Team Heroes (David Searle)

Overall results

1st - 1098 - DCGS (Lydia Timpson)
2nd - 934 - Robot Apocalypse Committee (Melissa Bustamante - 1)
3rd - 798 - Autonomouse (David Clark)
4th - 777 - Westpark Club (Tim Golden)
5th - 776 - Bedford Modern RoboCadets (Anton Leach)
6th - 749 - Kenilworth School Computer Club (Daniel Sendula)
7th - 706 - Wilbury Primary School (Nick Gray)
8th - 627 - The W.A.S.P (Steve Foster)
9th - 627 - Soham Village College (Huzaifah Zainon)
10th - 622 - Frostmite (Tim Benson)
11th - 601 - DasherBot (Kevin Brace)
12th - 599 - 4K & The Plug Sockets (William Worthy)
13th - 596 - The Featherstone Rover (Harry Brenton)
14th - 576 - Team Neeki (Shaun Wright-Stainton)
15th - 570 - Team Heroes (David Searle)
16th - 529 - barixandchair (Melissa Bustamante - Team 2)
17th - 481 - KESbot (David Hannaford)
18th - 463 - SunHoi Robot (Chun-Yeung KWOK)
19th - 449 - Interceptor (Alison Heal)
20th - 408 - CCP2 (Bill Harvey)
21st - 390 - HisarCS (Resat Bozkir)
22nd - 363 - Latymer Prep School (Nicholas Hughes)
23rd - 341 - Malayan Pantheras (Lim Cheng Hee)
24th - 326 - Worker Warriors (Liz Leaver)
25th - 313 - Giffard Park (Sway Grantham)
26th - 300 - Close Encounters of the Pi Kind (Martyn Wright)
27th - 246 - Cy-Pi (Gary Cooper)
28th - 243 - Tech-no-Logic (Tech No Logic)
29th - 150 HAMLEHT (Pat Stewart & Gordon Clark)

The war is not over...

Sunday was the general entry portion of the competition, with 36 teams over the three categories of Beginner, Intermediate, and Advanced/Pro duking it out for the prize. The competition was so close, that the first two places on the Advanced category were separated by a single point! Here’s how they faired…

Obstacle – Beginner

1st – 200 - Paranoid Android (Paul Hodgskin)
2nd – 192 - FishWagen (Tanya Fish)
– 192 - Medway Makers - M.E.R.P. (Mike McRoberts)

Obstacle – Intermediate

1st – 200 - X-Bot (David Pride)
2nd – 192 - CNM (Kerry A. Bruce)
3rd – 185 - Eternal Jamnation (Claire Gurman)

Obstacle – Advanced/Pro

1st – 200 - Coretec Robotics (Brian Corteil)
2nd – 192 - Hitchin Hackspace (David Booth)
3rd – 185 - Night Fury (David Plaquin)

Golf – Beginner

1st – 150 - HH Squared (Marcus Tyler-Moore)
2nd – 112 - Medway Makers - M.E.R.P. (Mike McRoberts)
3rd – 105 - plan9 (Neal Oldmeadow)

Golf – Intermediate

1st – 160 - X-Bot (David Pride)
2nd – 152 - Eternal Jamnation (Claire Gurman)
3rd – 135 - Maidstone Hackspace (Ian Wilkinson)

Golf – Advanced/Pro

1st – 160 - Tractor Bot (Phil Willis)
2nd – 152 - Greenwich Gale (Danila Deliya)
3rd – 125 - Night Fury (David Plaquin)

Minimal Maze – Beginner

1st – 160 - Medway Makers - M.E.R.P. (Mike McRoberts)
2nd – 42 - Paranoid Android (Paul Hodgskin)
– 42 - FishWagen (Tanya Fish)

Minimal Maze – Intermediate

1st – 110 - X-Bot (David Pride)
2nd – 102 - Exabot2 (Michael Syree)
3rd – 78 - Maidstone Hackspace (Ian Wilkinson)

Minimal Maze – Advanced/Pro

1st – 162 - Coretec Robotics (Brian Corteil)
2nd – 160 - Tractor Bot (Phil Willis)
3rd – 55 - ICRS (Imperial College London)

Straight Line Speed Test – Beginner

1st – 190 - Rubus TITAN (Douglas Gore)
2nd – 152 - The Magic Gatherer (Ben Crompton)
3rd – 145 - Steve (Joshua Edwards)

Straight Line Speed Test - Intermediate

1st – 160 - X-Bot (David Pride)
2nd – 152 - Team Currington (Matthew Currington)
3rd – 118 - Exabot2 (Michael Syree)

Straight Line Speed Test – Advanced/Pro

1st – 190 - Tractor Bot (Phil Willis)
2nd – 132 - Coretec Robotics (Brian Corteil)
3rd – 105 - Tigerbot (Lancelot (Lance) Robson)

Duck Shoot – Beginner

1st – 167 - Paranoid Android (Paul Hodgskin)
2nd – 140 - Teapot418 (Richard Hall)
3rd – 131 - plan9 (Neal Oldmeadow)

Duck Shoot – Intermediate

1st – 164 - Miss Fit (Tom Broughton)
2nd – 139 - Orion Robots (Orion)
3rd – 121 - Maidstone Hackspace (Ian Wilkinson)

Duck Shoot – Advanced/Pro

1st – 230 - Night Fury (David Plaquin)
2nd – 193 - Tigerbot (Lancelot (Lance) Robson)
3rd – 149 - Greenwich Gale (Danila Deliya)

Somewhere Over the Rainbow – Beginner

1st 185 - Medway Makers - M.E.R.P. (Mike McRoberts)
2st – 155 - Paranoid Android (Paul Hodgskin)
3rd – 132 - Radioactive Funky Chickens (Robert Westwick)

Somewhere Over the Rainbow – Intermediate

1st – 235 - Eternal Jamnation (Claire Gurman)
2nd – 180 - Robo-Top (Cat Lamin)
3rd – 135 - Exabot2 (Michael Syree)

Somewhere Over the Rainbow – Advanced/Pro

1st – 235 - Hitchin Hackspace (David Booth)
2nd – 228 - Tractor Bot (Phil Willis)
3rd – 225 - Tigerbot (Lancelot (Lance) Robson)

Pi Noon

Winner - Hitchin Hackspace (David Booth)
Runners up - X-Bot (David Pride)

Blogging: X-Bot (David Pride)

Technical Merit: Coretec Robotics (Brian Corteil)

Artistic Merit: Eternal Jamnation (Claire Gurman)

Overall Scores – Beginner

1st - 971 - Medway Makers - M.E.R.P. (Mike McRoberts)
2nd - 922 - Paranoid Android (Paul Hodgskin)
3rd - 803 - Radioactive Funky Chickens (Robert Westwick)
4th - 799 - plan9 (Neal Oldmeadow)
5th - 783 - Rubus TITAN (Douglas Gore)
6th - 716 - HH Squared (Marcus Tyler-Moore)
7th - 704 - The Magic Gatherer (Ben Crompton)
8th - 657 - Mars Exploration Team (Pal Denes)
9th - 639 - Steve (Joshua Edwards)
10th - 530 - Pi-o-steer (Sumit Maitra)
11th - 498 - Teapot418 (Richard Hall)
12th - 484 - FishWagen (Tanya Fish)
13th - 451 - Forest Fighters (Charlotte Godley)
14th - 315 - DiddyBot (Scott Parsley)

Overall Scores – Intermediate

1st - 1102 - X-Bot (David Pride)
2nd - 1009 - Robo-Top (Cat Lamin)
3rd - 954 - Eternal Jamnation (Claire Gurman)
4th - 847 - Exabot2 (Michael Syree)
5th - 752 - Glitterator II (Emma Norling)
6th - 688 - Maidstone Hackspace (Ian Wilkinson)
7th - 684 - CNM (Kerry A. Bruce)
8th - 666 - Team Currington (Matthew Currington)
9th - 635 - VNCbot (Andrew Wedgbury)
10th - 511 - Miss Fit (Tom Broughton)
11th - 475 - Gnasher 4 - Age of Extinction (Grahame Collins)
12th - 412 - Orion Robots (Orion)
13th - 385 - Team Terrier (Michael Rimicans)
14th - 324 - Ely Makers (Arvind Shah)

Overall Scores – Advanced/Pro

1st - 1186 - Tractor Bot (Phil Willis)
2nd - 1185 - Coretec Robotics (Brian Corteil)
3rd - 1074 - Tigerbot (Lancelot (Lance) Robson)
4th - 1021 - Hitchin Hackspace (David Booth)
5th - 858 - Greenwich Gale (Danila Deliya)
6th - 623 - Night Fury (David Plaquin)
7th - 578 - ICRS (Imperial College London)
8th - 539 - Piradigm (Mark Mellors)

Look forward to our full report on the event in issue 70 of The MagPi! If you’re interested in competing in the next Pi Wars in 2019, sign up to the Pi Wars newsletter to find out when entries open.