SMAR sponsors Uai!rrior team with the Black Dragon robot at the BattleBots championship (USA)

Team Uai!rrior with Black Dragon robot - 2021

Interview with Julio Cortez (Uai!rrior team member)

1 - What is Uai!rrior?

"The Uai!rrior Robotics Team is an extension project of the Federal University of Itajubá - Itajubá Campus, coordinated by Professor Dr. Tales Pimenta and with the participation of students from various courses of the institution. Created in 2001, it was inspired by the world-renowned BattleBots, the largest reality show of robot combat in the world".

"Today, Uai!rrior participates in robotics events and competitions in several modalities, including: Robot combat, Trekking, Mini Sumo, 3kg Sumo, Followline, and HockeyPro. By covering different categories, the Team's participation in all these events stands out for the challenges in mathematics, physics, engineering, and other areas of knowledge that the competitions offer."

"There are 20 years of experience and more than 120 titles won in Brazil and worldwide, having passed through its history about 200 students from UNIFEI who had and have the opportunity to put into practice content learned in the classroom, not limited only to the construction of robots and competition, but extending its activities also to society."

Black Dragon Robot

2  - Describe the team's challenges in developing the robots and what is the relationship of the technical part with the industrial innovation sector.

"The main challenges in the technical development of robots, is from understanding the materials to be used in our projects, to structural simulations of the critical parts of it. Also, when designing the electronic system, we are able to understand from the design stage, the manufacturing process, to the maintenance of the electronic systems. Thus, we get a better understanding of the process as a whole, which includes maintenance and manufacturing of mechanical and electronic systems.

Left picture: Uai!rrior Team in the BattleBots Championship - USA 2021
Right picture: Black Dragon Robot competing - 2021

3 - Talk about the participations in championships of the Uai!rrior team.

"We participate in championships all over the world, from India and the United States to China. Whenever we see an opportunity to compete or are invited to competitions we do everything to participate. With a lot of focus, dedication, and of course the encouragement of our supporters, we always manage to reach the highest positions of the podium, and today the biggest champions of the world in the light weight and Hockey Pro categories, are our robots Federal M.T. and Calculations Hockey Team respectively."

"In total, we participate in more than 10 competitions per year and our main one is Battlebots, the largest robot combat reality show televised by Discovery Channel, in which we have participated since 2019. In 2021, we started the partnership with Nova Smar and we can say that without this support our going to the event would not have been possible. Soon, in February 2022, we will participate in the largest robot combat event in Latin America, the Robocore Experience, which will take place at Campus Party in São Paulo. We will take more than 15 robots to compete for the highest place on the podium and I would like to invite all Nova Smar employees to attend this great event.
 

Left picture: Team Uai!rrior beating his opponent - 2021
Right picture: Team Uai!rrior beating his opponent - 2021

4 - How did Nova Smar started sponsoring the team?

"Nova Smar started sponsoring the team after an initiative by former UNIFEI student Edner Pontes and through the intermediary of former Team member and former UNIFEI student Octavio Paschoal in looking for us. He suggested we contact the company, as he has been working there for some time. He commented on the expansion of the company's international disclosure, and pointed out that it could be something productive for both sides, and so we started the negotiations. Mr. Ricardo Argolo, CEO of Nova Smar and former student of UNIFEI, visited our workshop in Itajubá and we had the opportunity to show in practice how the robot combat is and that's when we signed the contract.

5 - What are the goals and commitment dates of the Uai!rrior team for the year 2022?
 
"We are always working hard to keep our robots at the high level of competitiveness and innovation. We have already started the redesign of the Black Dragon robot for the Battlebots 2022 so that we can always compete head-to-head with foreign teams and show the world that Brazilian technology goes hand in hand with theirs. Battebots will probably take place in the second half of the year, but we have not been given a date yet, however, the production of the event has already assured us that we will have a season in 2022. As said before, the new Black Dragon is already being redesigned for 2022 and soon we will start to get our flagship show off the ground! 

Left picture: Team Uai!rrior competing - 2021
Right picture: Team Uai!rrior beating his opponent - 2021