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Administrative Director

Miner Mayhem 2026 - Robot Combat Tournament

Snapshot Overview

Project Dates:  September 2025 through April 2026

Technical Skills Used: 

  • Budget Management

  • Event Planning

  • Project Management

  • Logistics and Operations

  • Graphical Design

  • Risk Management

Notable Event Metrics: 

  1. Size & Weight Classes = 5

  2. Simultaneous Arenas = 12

  3. Teams Competed = 122

  4. Industry and Outreach STEM Booths = 11

  5. Food Trucks = 4

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Miner Mayhem 2026 Tournament Page

"Mayhem" Unleashed

The annual Miner Mayhem tournament is hosted at New Mexico Tech by the MechE Mayhem Outreach Lab. A majority of the programs that our lab offers to New Mexico students involves building robots and wiring them for combat. We host this tournament so that our groups (and anyone else who wants to participate) can bring the robots they've built to compete and demonstrate the hard work they have put into their robots.  This tournament started its run in early 2021 with just two teams from NMT but has grown exponentially in the years since. I have been involved in the execution of the annual Miner Mayhem tournament since the Spring of 2023 after having competed in the tournament in the beetleweight (3lb) class in late 2021 and 2022. I have had the opportunity to experience a variety of improvements to the tournament. For the 2026 tournament, I channeled my observations and experiences from previous years and took on the role of Administrative Director for Miner Mayhem 2026. 

Miner Mayhem 2026 brought many tournament improvements and broke numerous previously set records. Notable metrics from Miner Mayhem 2026 are:

  • Five size and weight classes hosted competitors.

    • MESA Sheriff (9"x 9"x 9" cardboard/foam size class)​

    • MESA Outlaw (9"x 9"x 9" plastic size class)

    • 150g Sheriff (Fairyweight plastic weight class)

    • 150g Outlaw (Fairyweight metal weight class)

    • 3lb Outlaw (Beetleweight metal weight class)

  • 122 teams (estimated total of 360 competitors) competed in the event across all five weight classes. 

  • 12 arenas hosted combat matches across the five weight classes.

  • 11 different organizations hosted STEM outreach booths at the tournament. 

    • Three NMT Mechanical Engineering clubs and labs hosted booths about their research and project work.​

    • NMT Electrical Engineering department hosted a booth introducing students to the core fundamentals of the electricity flowing through their electronic components.

    • NMT Admissions Office hosted a booth for attendees to learn about attending New Mexico Tech in various capacities.

    • New Mexico Artificial Intelligence Academy hosted a booth introducing attendees to the projects involving artificial intelligence applications to learners of all ages. 

    • R4Creating hosted a booth demonstrating robotics and technology projects from their programs.

    • Explora, and experiential learning center from Albuquerque, New Mexico, hosted a booth sharing updates to their over 250 exhibits and introducing upcoming programs for students ranging from kindergarten through high school.

    • SocorroSparks, a high school student created and operated STEM outreach group from Socorro, New Mexico, hosted a booth sharing their STEM outreach programs, activities, and capabilities to inspire the upcoming generation of STEM students. 

      • I was beyond thrilled to have SocorroSparks attend Miner Mayhem 2026. I had the wonderful opportunity to mentor the founder of the group in the summers of 2023 and 2024. Seeing their excitement in sharing their STEM passions with others makes me extremely proud. I am excited to watch as this group continues to grow and inspire anyone they interact with!​

    • New Mexico Network of Women in Science and Engineering hosted a booth discussing a variety of events and programs focused on uplifting and promoting NM girls in their STEM ambitions. 

    • Out of the Box Robotics FTC team, the only all female FTC in New Mexico, hosted a booth demonstrating their First Technology Competition robot and discussed the technological innovation the team has implemented in their work.

  • Four food and drink trucks attended the event to feed the hungry mouths of all "mayhem" makers.

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Organization and Coordination

In my role as Administrative Director, I was mainly in charge of organizing the event layout, coordinating with external STEM groups to host Outreach Booths at the event, coordinating food and drink trucks to attend the event, and acquiring volunteers for the tournament. Throughout the process, I worked very closely with the Technical Director to ensure that all portions of the tournament were adequately prepared. If I were to list all aspects of the tournament that I played a substantial role in, this page would get very long and slightly boring. Instead, I would like to provide a list of the aspects of the tournament I worked on that I am most proud of. 

Some of the contributions that I am most proud of are:

  • I communicated with all volunteers from sign-up to check-in at the tournament, providing information necessary to be prepared for the tournament (important schedules, layouts, and training materials). I was the main point of contact for volunteers up until the day of the tournament.

  • I communicated with all STEM outreach booths from sign-up to check in at the tournament, providing power distribution information and layout constraints. I did a majority of networking and connecting with organizations to garner interest in hosting an outreach table at the event. I was the main point of contact for outreach booths up until the day of the tournament.

  • I sourced power-distribution boxes and performed calculations to determine the length of cabling needed in order to fully power the tournament. This meant determining the optimal locations of power distribution boxes, optimal routing of power cables, and the necessary length of cable covers in order to safely route the power cables.  

  • I prompted and planned meetings of the Miner Mayhem planning committee starting in late September 2025. I updated weekly agendas and worked closely with the Technical Director in running the weekly meetings. 

  • I set-up and coordinated the layout of competitor pits, outreach booths, and various miscellaneous components. I ensured that all competitor teams were assigned a repair pit. I ensured that all outreach booths had adequate space and power for their demonstrations, as well as organized their locations in line with their preferences. I worked closely with arena managers to ensure that they had all of the components they needed throughout the tournament and worked to troubleshoot last minute problems as they occurred. 

  • I designed signage for the event, including sponsor banners, arena and booth labels, and all signage regarding team pit labels and locations. I supervised the set-up of signage during the event to ensure the layout was followed. 

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