The Democratic Robot is a WPFL combat robot made of plastic and cardboard that fights with no driver and no joystick. Instead, it opens the controls to the internet. Every few seconds, anyone can vote on what it should do next. Charge, spin, retreat, commit chaos. Majority rules.
A multilayer cylindrical cardboard shield and an omnidirectional cardboard weapon wrap the robot in equal-opportunity chaos. With no front or back, strategy emerges from motion, timing, and whatever the internet decides in the moment.
A tight control loop turns collective votes into real-time action, embracing hesitation, bad decisions, and sudden brilliance. It’s a fighting robot powered by group instinct, where spectators become operators and democracy gets stress-tested in the arena 🤖🗳️
How it works
The Democratic Robot replaces a traditional radio controller with a live, web-based voting system. During a match, the robot opens short voting windows every few seconds, allowing anyone to connect and vote on its next action. Commands like move, spin, attack, or retreat are collected and tallied in real time.
Once the voting window closes, the winning action is immediately translated into motor commands and executed for a fixed duration. Then the cycle repeats. A multilayer cardboard shield and omnidirectional weapon absorb damage while the control system keeps the robot responsive, predictable, and fully compliant with WPFL rules. Every movement is the result of collective decision-making under pressure.
Build a Democratic Robot
The Democratic Robot was built through plenty of trial, error, and cardboard dust, so the full build process hasn’t been documented step by step yet. That said, the design is intentionally accessible, using common materials, straightforward electronics and you'll get pretty nerd stats as well.
If you’re interested in building your own version or adapting the idea for another robot or competition, feel free to reach out.
