Pokémon battling on World of Warcraft Battlegrounds… in real life? A real robot pet with its own AI avatar and personality? Hundreds of different body customizations that actually affect gameplay? Warhammer 40k miniatures brought to life? Achievements? Tournament victories? Fame for the best trainers? A massive evolving lore shaped by in-game battles? Custom arenas with mechanical and electro-mechanical obstacles? And so much more.
That’s Robomates!
Robomates are real robots. They can be cute, ruthless, clever, or anything in between — it all depends on how their trainer raises them.
Honestly, I feel like this idea has been floating around forever. Technology keeps evolving. Robotics, electronics, and 3D printing have come a long way in the past 25 years. Remember the glory days of BattleBots and Robot Wars? Giant metal monsters smashing each other to bits, sparks flying, pure chaos! That was awesome. But it’s time to take things to the next level with today’s tech.
Take World of Warcraft Battlegrounds as an example — strategy matters more than brute force. Same goes for games like paintball or Dota. Movies and cartoons have always imagined epic futuristic robot battles. One of those concepts really clicked with me, so I decided to bring that fantasy into reality.
Step One: Risk vs. Reward
Every great sport is built on risk and reward. Athletes put something on the line to achieve victory — that’s what makes it exciting. Traditional battle robots usually just try to destroy each other, but I wanted fights to be about skill, not just raw power. That’s when I came up with the idea: self-balancing, two-wheeled robots.
Why? Because everyone instinctively understands, “Falling = bad, staying up = good.” It adds natural tension to the game.
Step Two: Communication
How do robots interact with each other and the game environment? How does a bot open a gate or grab a flag? It needed to be clear to both players and spectators. No tiny high-speed projectiles, no long-range scans — everything had to be obvious.
The solution? Tiny UHF antennas. They scan special tags but only at close range. Whenever an action happens, there’s an immediate light, sound, or mechanical effect. No guessing. The audience always knows what just went down.
Enter: Robomates v1.0
Once the core mechanics were locked in, it was time for development—mechanical design, PCB layout, sourcing parts, endless 3D printing. I could write entire blog posts about each step (and probably will), but for now, here’s what we’ve got:
First Game: Capture the Flag
For our first test, we went with a classic: Capture the Flag. Teams had to sneak into the enemy base, grab the flag, and bring it home. The twist? If the flag carrier fell over, they dropped the flag and had to start over. Balancing offense and defense was key.
When did I realize this hobby was ready for the world? The moment I saw people’s emotions during this match.
Blue and red LEDs = team colors, green LED = flag
I hope you’ll dive into the world of Robomates with me! There’s so much more to share! Join our Discord server where I share the most interesting things about Robomates!