DeuxBrie is the big cheese at CEB Robot Club’s 2026 tournament

The inaugural CEB Robot Club champions become the tournament’s first repeat winners after a bruising, rain-delayed contest.

13 May 2026

From their first bout of the day, the brutal spinner bot DeuxBrie laid down a fearsome marker for their competition.

Designed by research associate Alastair Robinson and his partner Lewis Reeves, DeuxBrie wasted no time in smashing Dominion to smithereens. IT lead Jon Cowper’s creation competed in both previous tournaments, but DeuxBrie’s attack made a 2027 return for Dominion seem doubtful.

The cheese machine surged unbeaten to the grand final. There, DeuxBrie bested popular entry Bot to Go (entered by Yuetong Jia, Anne-Pia Marty, Amir Rahmani and Edward Ward of the Laser Analytics Group) in a crunching contest that saw Bot-to-Go's sawblade weapon wrenched clean from its mounting and thrown to the far side of the arena.

Two robots smash into each other in a small arena — DeuxBrie disarms Bot-to-Go in the grand final

DeuxBrie disarms Bot-to-Go in the grand final

“eDAMN we feel great! (sic)” Alastair said in the aftermath of his grand final victory, “There were a lot of good hits and a lot of great robots this year. Another great year of robotic combat!”

This year’s tournament featured strong showings from the newcomers, most of whom had no experience in robotics before they signed up for CEB Robot Club.

Joker, themed after the infamous DC Comics villain by Building Services Technician Riccardo Mari, placed third overall. Alongside him, Makerspace CNC technician Scott Dell’s Flippin’ Spat proved that you have to be in it to win it when its opponent, Ollie Dennison’s returning robot Bar-T, ground to a halt in the middle of the arena. Flippin’ Spat’s dogged determination and refusal to surrender earned it the judge’s ‘Best Newcomer’ award.

This year’s competition also welcomed the first-ever team from another department at the University of Cambridge. The Department of Zoology team, composed of Malou Bastiaanse, Aiden Blay and Samuel Harris, fielded the fish-themed ‘Bob the Marlin'. Their bot performed well, earning two match wins before being forced to retire with a broken weapon.

The 2026 tournament suffered a short delay owing to a rain shower that sent competitors, organisers and audience members running for cover. When the weather cleared, the organising team sprang into action to dry out the arena and accompanying equipment as quickly as possible. Everyone involved showed admirable determination to ensure that the show could go on.

A woman in a yellow raincoat sits alone next to an abandoned CEB robot club arena — A lone spectator waits out the rain

A lone spectator waits out the rain

Department Safety Officer Jessica Fitzgibbon once again served as the tournament’s MC. Her enthusiastic colour commentary has proved a highlight of CEB’s Robot Club tournaments, and this year proved no different. Alongside her, the judging panel was once again composed of CEB academics Dr Kamran Yunus, Dr Zachariah Bond and Dr Joanna Stasiak. The audience had their say too, with a public vote naming Bob the Marlin as the 2026 crowd favourite.

This year, the event was livestreamed on YouTube for the first time, allowing anyone interested to get in on the action from anywhere in the world. At the time of writing, the livestream boasts 450 views, proving the tournament's broad appeal beyond CEB.

For the third year in a row, CEB Robot Club has demonstrated the spirit of innovation and ingenuity that drives the Department. It’s an opportunity for participants to learn both hard skills, such as computer-aided design and electrical engineering, as well as soft skills like project management and teamwork.

Congratulations to all the teams that competed this year. We look forward to seeing what teams, new and old, come up with in 2027.