MIT’s Combat Robotics Club is upgrading its ARES and KRATOS fighting robots while developing a new generation of machines for competitive robot battles.
ARES, a 30-pound (13.6 kilograms) combat robot equipped with a vertical spinning weapon, placed second at an April competition and third in October after failing to win the 2025 National Havoc Robot League (NHRL) World Championships.
The team is using lessons from those losses to strengthen its armor against similar weapon systems.
Recently, a 44-second video showed internet personality Frankie LaPenna facing a six-foot humanoid robot in an octagonal cage during an event organized by REK.
The club is upgrading its ARES and KRATOS fighting robots while developing a new generation of machines designed for competitive robot battles. The student-built machines combine high-speed rotating weapons, lightweight structural materials, and compact mechanical systems to withstand repeated impacts while attempting to disable opposing robots.
ARES is the club’s 30-pound (13.6 kilograms)combat robot and features a vertical spinning weapon known as a beater bar. Its weapon system uses a compact, dual-redundant brushless motor arrangement powered through a poly-V belt drive. The robot also features a high-performance, brushless four-wheel-drive system designed to deliver mobility and maneuverability inside the competition arena.
Its chassis combines aluminum, titanium, and ultra-high-molecular-weight polyethylene (UHMWPE), a lightweight engineering plastic known for its strength and resistance to impact and abrasion. The combination allows the team to balance structural protection with the need to keep the robot within its designated weight class.
The vertical spinner is designed to deliver powerful impacts against opposing machines.
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