Six Years of Persistence: From Zero Knowledge to the Battlebot Arena in Eindhoven
When Erwan Vercruysse first walked into the Young Makers Lab (YML), he knew nothing about robots. Six years later, he stood in the arena with a self-designed fighting machine during a pro competition in Eindhoven.
Erwan Vercruysse was the very first visitor of YML. Six years ago, he had no clue about robots but wanted to build one. He spent four years working on his first robot, which was never finished enough to compete. Two years ago, he tried to use that old robot, but it didn’t work. After that disappointment, he took a year off to focus on other projects.
Last September, Erwan decided to start fresh with a completely new, smarter, and more compact design. He drew all parts himself using the design program Onshape. The biggest challenge was the material: it had to be strong enough to withstand hits. At first, he thought of CNC milling, but the right machines weren’t available. In the end, he came up with his own solution: a mix of PC (polycarbonate) and TPU. Thanks to the new H2D printer in YML’s High Tech Lab, he could print large, complex parts.
Printing was technical and often failed when no one was watching. So Erwan stayed home from school two days before the competition to watch the printer. The robot only worked properly two days before departure.
The competition in Eindhoven started tough. In the opening match, a vertical spinner hit his wheel, badly damaging his right motor—something he only discovered later. Then he narrowly lost to a professional team from China with over ten sponsors. After the match, the Chinese team showed respect: their robot had never taken so much damage as against Erwan’s.
In the next match against another beginner, his robot still worked but drove crooked due to the broken motor. Erwan unfortunately flipped against the wall and couldn’t right himself. The next day, the motor finally gave out in the arena. Many onlookers said he should give up, but Erwan refused. He kept fighting and taking hits until the robot was badly damaged.
He had to skip two matches to work hard on repairs. It paid off: in his very last match, the robot worked again and Erwan scored a convincing win.
"No matter how many times it doesn’t work, if you keep going, you’ll get there."
Erwan didn’t care about winning the last match; what mattered was that he could fix his robot and keep competing. With just a few small upgrades, his robot is ready to go even further in the next competition.