Case Study: BattleBots achieves competitive robot design and build efficiency with SOLIDWORKS

How BattleBots Sawblaze Cuts Through Its Competition Using SolidWorks

BattleBots team SawBlaze, led by Jamison Go, needed a fast, reliable way to design a highly competitive combat robot under strict BattleBots weight limits and a short build cycle. The team also had to coordinate subassemblies across a geographically dispersed group while balancing drive performance, weapon integration, and fabrication constraints. SolidWorks provided the CAD and design-management tools they needed, including SOLIDWORKS 3D design, sheet metal tools, mass properties, BOM generation, drawings, and PDM.

Using SolidWorks, SawBlaze was designed entirely in 3D, allowing the team to verify weight compliance, center of gravity, and front-plow geometries before fabrication. SOLIDWORKS PDM helped the distributed team manage ownership, revisions, and component status, while drawings and BOMs streamlined outsourcing and spare-parts planning. The result was a top-16 finish as the fifth seed in the 2018 BattleBots season, with four wins and two losses and a robot widely recognized for having one of the most powerful saws in the sport.

BattleBots

Jamison Go

Captain