University of Bolton: Students create 'Robot Wars' machines

The robots were created by two teams at the University of Bolton’s School of Engineering, with budgets of just £200.

The successful team was led by electrical and electronic engineering student Yusuf Alghamadi, who helped create the machine dubbed “The Black Widow".

He said: “Everyone involved found this external assignment a great challenge as it had to be designed to the company’s specifications and be operated by remote control.

“I had never done anything like that before and the team had a lot of technical difficulties and challenges to overcome in a short space of time.”

The teams were given a design brief by Labman Automation to create a combat robot weighing no more than 1kg, which would then face off against each other.

The Black Widow's components (Image: University of Bolton)

Both teams designed their protypes in less than three months, with the Black Widow featuring a rotating “buzz saw” style blade aimed at causing maximum damage to opponents.

Yusuf, from Saudi Arabia, who is due to complete his degree course in January, led a team made up of fellow students Leonardo Calzolai, Erfan Moghaddasi and Sorin-liviu Velicu.

Winning team leader Yusuf Alghamadi (Image: University of Bolton)

Together they adapted a PlayStation 2 controller to operate their prototype which was able to manoeuvre quickly to gain an advantage over its opponents.

Photographs and videos show the machine created by the students in action, complete with “buzz saw” whirring.

ALSO READ: Outdoor centre in one of the region's most attractive places helps students settle in

ALSO READ: University's plans to change name under 'Greater Manchester' rebrand

ALSO READ: University to 'firmly retain' Bolton in address after 'Greater Manchester' rebrand

Creating the robots proved to be a vital opportunity for the two teams of students to put what they had learned about robotics in lectures at the Deane Road university to practical use.

University of Bolton operational lead on mechanical and electrical engineering Dr Felicia Ong said that she hoped this would prove useful to the students in their future careers.

She said: “The module brought the industrial experience to students and they found it extremely useful as it also provided feedback about their assessment and the comments from the company were very positive.

“The students were also able to understand the level of expectation from a company when they set an industry brief.”