How one student sparked a combat robotics movement

What started with a museum visit and a string of nine straight losses has grown into the largest combat robotics tournament in North Carolina — and it’s all run by students.

Brian Schoellner, a junior mechanical engineering major at UNC Charlotte, co-founded the Charlotte Combat Robot Club and turned his childhood passion for battle bots into a thriving campus community. His annual Robot Rumble event has exploded in popularity, jumping from 40 robots and 400 spectators in its debut year to 60 robots and more than 2,000 attendees the following year.

This year’s event was even bigger, with two simultaneous arenas, 72 robots, more than 140 fights and visiting teams from NC State, Duke and Campbell University. Nationally ranked competitors also made the trip.

Read the full article at Inside UNC Charlotte.