Cosmobot 2016

Last weekend Cosmobot 2016 took place in Barcelona. It was the second humanoid robotics competition organized by the LNRC, and this time it had two combined tests: a one metre sprint and weightlifting.

I shared the trip to Barcelona with the Puma Pride team, and it was great to watch them compete in the line follower and minisumo categories, where they got first and third place. Actually, I got really hooked on line followers: they look like simple robots, but making them go that fast on a canvas track is no easy task. The races, with several lanes and overtaking, were awesome, and it’s amazing to see Pumatrón drifting in the curves without losing its line.

In the sprint, Raider covered one metre in 10.2 seconds. In weightlifting, it lifted 800 g, a bit more than a third of its own weight. With those marks it took first place in both tests, by quite a wide margin.

I’m coming back home very happy with the result. It’s the first time I’ve done athletics tests, and although I wasn’t very excited about the idea at first, they turned out to be really fun, both for the builders and for the audience. Thanks to the LNRC for the initiative, and I hope more humanoid robots join the competition soon.

Here are the representatives of Castilla-La Mancha posing with the treasures of the expedition!

See you at Euskobot?