SWARC:
The Southwestern Association of Robotic Combat was started by Justin Lallinger, Eric Molitor and Mike Shermer late 2001. Mike Shermer was the first president and event organizer of combat robotics in Texas.
Mike Shermer built the first 4’x4’x4’ arena in Texas with hazards such as a Texas Star in once corner and a saw blade in the other. We held many successful insect class events at the Six Flags Over Texas office building in Arlington, Texas. Some of our original members from back then even went on to be seen on BattleBots many years later.
Mike Shermer had to step down for personal reasons and passed along the reigns to Brady Davis as the second president and event organizer. We shortened the name to Southwestern Alliance of Robotic Combat and continued to hold insect class events eventually finding a home at Mike’s Hobby Shop were we held multiple robot combat events in North Texas over the years.
SWARC was kindly donated “Fuzzy’s 24’ Toad Tank if we arranged transportation and loading from Jerry Clarkin’s barn in Pennsylvania. Brady Davis paid the transportation costs and booked a flight to pack everything in large semi trailer along with Rob M. Paul V. Jerry C. and several others. Upon arrival at Mike’s Hobby Shop in Carrolton the group unloaded, cleaned and assembled the arena for Robot Rebellion 5.1. This was the first ever large scale combat robot event in Texas with 60lb and 120lb class bots in 2005 and a total success with 55 bots entered.
After Robot Rebellion 5.1 the group leadership then wanted to take a more active part in running events and voted Ron Palmer as the third club president. Brady Davis worked closely with Ron Palmer as event organizers bringing 3 more large events to the builders and competitors of North Texas with Robot Rebellion 5.2, 5.3, and 5.4. See the Wayback Machine for our old website. https://web.archive.org/web/20041010091225/http://66.34.111.49/iqx2/00000018/
Bill Marsden stepped up as final president after Ron’s health became worse and he moved out of state. Mike Darnell at Mike’s Hobby shop informed us that he had to close the business and we needed to find another home. We moved the large arena to a donated airport hanger a year for storage before we donated it to the Ohio Robotics Club. They sent a truck and trailer; we loaded the arena one final time passing it on to greener pastures.
DARC:
In 2016 after many years without combat robot fighting in Texas Brady Davis was asked to join a small startup group named DARC. The Dallas Area Robot Combat group started by Cory Morris. Brady Davis soon was voted in as president and event organizer for DARC after Cory Morris had to move out of state. We held meetings at Dallas Maker Space and found a new home at Banana RC Raceway in Carrolton Texas. And this is where Richard Blom and Brady Davis began the construction of an 8’x8’ flagship arena for DARC with some donated money for polycarbonate. Richard Blom and Brady Davis built the rest of the DARC arena out of pocket to bring back combat robotics to North Texas once again spring of 2017. DARC went on to hold 7 great events over the next 2 years building a strong community for combat robotics in Texas. See https://dallasarearobotcombat.com/
TRC:
In 2019 with momentum strong we decided to change the name to Texas Robot Combat so we could encompass all of Texas as the leader in robot combat and held many fun events at Banana RC Raceway. Sadly we were to soon learn that Banana RC Raceway would soon close it’s doors forever. We packed up the big arena and stored it at Richard Blom’s and with funds from the many events we held we built the portable 6’x6’x2’ arena. We continued to hold events in various locations with our biggest ever event in December held at Greenville High with 66 bots entered and competitors from around the country attending. With over 1500 fun, safe, and exciting fights behind us we prepared for a grand event held at Lincoln Tech spring of 2020 that was canceled due to the pandemic.
TRC Post Pandemic Reboot:
After shutting down due to the pandemic and liability reasons when the world returned to normality in 2023 Logan D. said it was time to reboot combat robotics at TRC. We had discussed with Greg N. at REV robotics being a possible home for TRC and when they moved to a new large location Greg welcomed us to help out the combat robot community generously. Thank you Greg! Logan D. recommended Richard B. and Brady D. meet with Peter G. and Ryan L. to see if they would be willing to help restart TRC and is was easy to see that they were the right choice. In the next months we moved and both arenas to REV and created the non-profit limited liability corporation for Texas Robot Combat and held our first event after the pandemic. December Destruction was held December 2023 and was a total success. With a small event under our belt we prepared for Robot Rebellion 4.1 May of 2024 as our largest event ever with over 60 bots in 3 weight classes we were fighting robots all day. With our 2024 year end event the Texas Cup held November 2024 we expect to host over 60 bots again, with a live audience, live stream, 2 arenas, with 3 weight classes robot combat is strong.
Congratulations to the TRC officers for bringing back fun, safe, and exciting events in North Texas 2023/2024.
Visit our officers page. [CLICK HERE]