Press and media

What is Pi Wars?

Pi Wars is an international, challenge-based, non-destructive robotics competition in which teams build Raspberry Pi-controlled robots and then compete in various non-destructive challenges to earn points. The competition takes place over a single weekend and prizes and medals are awarded to those competing at the end of each day. In previous years, we’ve had teams from schools, families, groups of hobbyists and solo roboteers. We can take up to 76 teams over the event weekend which takes place in Cambridge, UK. The competition is open to anyone from around the world and we frequently get international competitors. 2020 is the sixth year of Pi Wars.

How did Pi Wars come about?

Originally conceived by Tim Richardson as a Pi-flavoured tribute to the BBC television series Robot Wars, we decided that non-destructive was a much better way of allowing robots to compete for the full day and not be upsetting for the teams involved!

Who competes in the competition?

Schools and kids clubs compete on the Saturday and Beginners, Intermediates and Advanced compete on the Sunday.

Who is responsible for the competition?

“Responsible” is putting it kindly! 😉

Previously, all courses were built by Tim Richardson in his very own Makespace, Hut 8. However, for the 2020 competition, we have asked for, and received, help with construction of the courses.

Michael Horne does most of the admin and logistics for the teams and the event as well as dealing with all press and sponsor enquiries. Please see below for contact details. As of 2020, Mike is receiving assistance from the community with his responsibilities.

Can we attend?

We’d love to have you attend! Press tickets are free – please contact Mike (see below) to get hold of them.

Spectators are welcome at the event and tickets to watch the competition are available from 1st December of the year preceding the current event.

Can we talk to some competing teams?

Due to data protection issues, we do not list contact details for the teams. However, we can put you in touch with some past and current competitors. Alternatively, you can follow the #PiWars hashtag on Twitter or take a look at the blogs of some of the teams from this year’s competition.

Photographs and logos

Photographs from previous years are available as follows:

Videos

There are various videos on YouTube showing some of the action at previous years’ competitions. The trailer for 2019 is as below – we can provide a source MP4 of the trailer if it is helpful:

Contacting us

Michael Horne, Co-organiser
Email: mike@recantha.co.uk
Twitter: @recantha

For telephone contact, please use email initially. Thank you.