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Kevin Zhou
Ms. Barry
AP+ Advanced Physics-Robotics, Block 4
March 26, 2015
Sumobot Final Paper
Introduction
Sumobot is a thrilling competition in which students put their creativity and familiarity
with robotics to the test by building robots that go head to head on a raised platform. Robots
attempt to push other robots off the platform, or just prevent them from being able to move
themselves (by flipping). A twist on the competition is that all robots are required to use certain
sensors in their efforts to win.
Design Strategy
Our initial plan when designing our Sumobot was to try to analyze and predict what other
groups were going to do with their robots and then attempt to counter build of robot to best be
able to battle against the other groups robots. We predicted that most of the other groups would
try to build their robots with driving/pushing bases, and their game strategy would be to attack
our robot head on. With this in mind, we designed our robot with a platform on the top that
would come down and serve as a ramp. The idea was to have the opposing robot drive up this
ramp, which we we would then flip to try to make them fall off the other side. In order to
achieve this, we thought we would need some sort of braking system or some type of material
with high traction so that our robot would not be pushed off when another robot came up next to
it. The robot was to have small wheels and a normal gear ratio, as speed was not our main

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concern. Rather, stability and functionality were, so we figure our robot needed to be large and
heavy.
Design Documentation
We began constructing our robot by first building the frame of the base. The base was
build to be sturdy and smaller than the planned size for the upper platform. Back wheels were
added as well as motors. A braking system was added. Front wheels were not initially added, as
in their place, two small skids were constructed. The upper platform was then built. The
platform was built to the maximum size it could be (13 in. x 13 in.). The upper platform was
then attached to the base. Another motor was added to the side where the platform connected to
the base to allow the platform to tilt. After testing the robot, the brakes were removed as they
were deemed unnecessary; the weight of the robot served well enough to keep the robot in place.
However, the robot had trouble moving as too much friction between the two skids and the
carpet of arena was generated. Therefore, two front wheels were then added to reduce friction on
the front of the robot, which solved the issue. Finally, a line sensor and an ultrasonic sensor were
added for better automation. The line sensor was added to the back of the robot to detect when
the robot got close to the edge of the arena. The ultrasonic sensor was added to the top of the
ramp to allow the robot to detect when any robots happen to drive up the ramp.
Performance Debrief
After completing the robot, we tested it by running it in several test battles on the arena
with other groups robots. By doing so, we were able to refine our design and code to better
react to different situations that we saw in the test battles. During the actual battles, we lost most
of our battles but ended up with two draws and one win. We failed to anticipate the robots
coming from the side to push our robot off the edge. This is what caused our robot to lose most

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of the time. Also, the ultrasonic sensor on the platform was extremely inconsistent, which
resulted in sporadic performance where the ramp would tilt back and forth unexpectedly.

Conclusion
We learned much from our successes and failures during this competition. If we were to
take part in this competition again, we would make sure to plan for robots coming from the sides,
not just the front. Perhaps we could accomplish this by expanding the ramp to multiple sides and
turning to sense opponents. We would also make sure to leave more time to test so we could find
problems in the coding and structure of the robot. Finally, we would adapt our strategy based on
what we observe instead of being so rigid on what we originally planned.
Figures