The CRCA was founded by Brian Schwartz
and Dave Miller in 2005 with the intent of benefiting the
sport of robot combat by providing a new Midwest venue for
insect class builders. This became especially important as
the Central Illinois Robotics Club began downsizing their
robot combat competition.
The CRCA’s founder, Brian Schwartz, has
been deeply involved in robotic competitions for more than
eight years. He has advised robotics construction at
Glenbrook North High School near Chicago, assisting teams in
the building of insect class robots in hopes of creating a
competition for lighter weight ‘bots. With that goal in
mind, the CRCA built one of the highest-quality insect class
arenas available anywhere.
CRCA cofounder Dave Miller has competed
for the past three years in robotics competitions, and is a
machinist technology and CAD/CAM instructor. Alongside
Brian, he has assisted running and organizing robotic combat
events for several years.
As completion of the arena neared, the
CRCA began assessing the possibilities for creating its own
combat event. With time constraints and difficulty finding a
venue in which to hold such events, the CRCA decided at the
time to focus on its work with the Glenbrook North robotics
program.
After helping run the ant- and
beetle-weight classes in its state-of-the-art arena, at the
Minnesota Twin Cities Mechwars 8, 9, and 10 in 2005–2007,
the CRCA was contacted by the Chicago Area Robotics Group (ChiBots)
in early 2007 with the proposition of bringing robot combat
to their annual event held at the Hobby Manufacturers
Association’s iHobby Expo in Rosemont, Illinois. It was an
opportunity too good to pass up.
The CRCA jumped at the chance to hold a
robotics competition at such an amazing venue. Now with its
newly formed partnerships with ChiBots, the Hobby
Manufacturers Association, and the Synergy Robotic
Entertainment Group, the CRCA has resumed and expanded on
its goal of establishing a high quality robotic combat event
in the Midwest—not only for insect weight classes, but also
for the entire range of robotic combat contestants.
We are now proud to announce our new event
Mecha-Mayhem! |