BBB 2026 Rule Changes!

Rule update day! Thanks for the input throughout the 2025 season from event organisers, our wider crew and the community. No massive changes this year but still worth reading the changelogs to see if they will affect you.

Do check with your organiser before competing whether they have any modifiers and if they’re aware of the updates, we try and keep a list of current UK ruleset modifiers at the bottom of each page linked below.

Antweights: Anweight World Series 2025 Rules

Were tweaked by AWS committee 19/10/25

Ant Changelog

(from AWS Facebook page)

Biggest changes are:
Exposed battery connectors are NOT PERMITTED as your On/Off method
Pneumatic and Hydraulic limits have been raised; Pneumatics to 10 Bar and Hydraulics to 100 Bar
Rules regarding Clusterbots and the exposed Lipo situation have been clarified (remaining cluster parts can continue whilst the exposed Lipo part is removed)

BBB’s 2026 Beetleweight Rules

Beetle Changelog

Weight

  • Removed weight bonus for gyro walkers. Gyro walkers now have the standard limit of 1.5kg.
  • Updated minibot tech check rules; any minibot under 150g should follow AWS rules, otherwise adhere to beetleweight rules.
  • Added that any minibot may now only be deployed with one entry.

General Safety

  • Added condition that spring powered weapons must lock with no energy stored.
  • Removed need for power light to be surface mounted.
  • Added condition that power light should be clearly visible when turning robot on and off, including recommendation for light positioning.

Power Cut-Off

  • Added recommendation to contact event organiser in case of orientation or edge case uncertainty.
  • Added recommendation that material around access hole is non-conductive to prevent shorting.
  • Added Mounting section requiring all power cut-offs to be securely mounted.
  • Updated switch access hole diameter from 4mm to 5mm.

Batteries

  • Removed requirements for battery to be securely fixed (still must not be exposed)
  • Removed requirements for fuses.

Weapons

  • Added section for Pneumatics and Hydraulics with associated pressure limits.
  • Updated list of unusual weapons.

BBB’s 2026 Featherweight Rule Summary

Feather Changelog

General Safety

  • Added spring powered weapons must lock with no energy stored.
  • Removed need for power light to be surface mounted.
  • Added condition that power light should be clearly visible when turning robot on and off, including recommendation for light positioning.

Power Cut-Off

  • Added recommendation to contact event organiser in case of orientation or edge case uncertainty.
  • Added recommendation that material around access hole is non-conductive to prevent shorting.
  • Added Mounting section requiring power cut-off to be securely mounted.

Batteries

  • Removed requirements for battery to be securely fixed (still must not be exposed)
  • Removed requirements for fuses.

Weapons

  • Updated list of unusual weapons.

BBB Competition Rules

Comp Changelog

Pins & Grabs:

  • Added if a pin becomes a grab, the count continues from wherever was reached in the count up to a maximum of 20.

Unsticks:

  • Added one bot-on-bot unstick between two different entries per match

Any questions or concerns please comment below.

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Whats the rationale behind dropping the fuse requirement?

There’s nothing saying you can’t use a fuse if you don’t want to! We’ve just removed the requirement for them as in our experience it’s very rare that fuses save a bot because they take too long to blow. I think I’ve only ever seen fuses go on saws.

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Makes sense. And just to get rid of any ambiguity, the removal of the gyro weight bonus essentially applies to “bristle bots” aswell?

That’s correct yep :+1:

Just in case you hadn’t noticed in the beetleweight rules under unusual weapons pneumatics is listed twice.

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