Case Study: BattleBots achieves lightweight, high-strength robot parts with Desktop Metal Studio System

BattleBots® team builds combat robot with Studio System parts

BattleBots team SawBlaze, made up of MIT engineering students and graduates, needed to build a combat robot on an extremely tight one-month development schedule. The challenge was to create lightweight, high-strength parts that could withstand intense impacts, heat, and corrosion while still allowing enough design iteration to optimize performance. To meet those needs, the team turned to Desktop Metal and its Studio System metal 3D printing platform.

Desktop Metal used Studio System parts to produce critical components like the robot’s backstop with design features such as cut-outs and closed-cell infill to reduce weight without sacrificing strength. The result was a faster, more flexible fabrication process with major savings: the Studio System part cost $56 in 3 days, versus $1,285 and 2 weeks for power bed fusion or $606 and 2–3 weeks for CNC machining, a cost savings of 91%.

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