Robot Wars
Robot Wars is a 1990s phenomenon, spawning a television show, in which amateurs compete in a tournament-style contest to see whose remote-controlled robot is the best at fighting. The first contests were held in the San Francisco area, and were inspired by the work of San Francisco artist Mark Pauline and his Survival Research Labratories.
Robot Wars has since become a successful British television series, which has attracted a large cult following. The TV series is less anarchic than the original American version and has well-defined rules, classes and a tournament structure. In turn the UK series was remade in the US for television. Reruns are shown on PBS and G4techTV in America. Versions of the show have been shown in many different countries, including Sweden, Italy and Ireland. In some countries that prefer not to use the English commentary, the show is dubbed, in others commentary is provided by native-speaking commentators who attend the recordings in the UK.
There have been at least six series so far, each hosted by Craig Charles (Red Dwarf), though the first series was co-hosted by Jeremy Clarkson. Philippa Forrester has also co-hosted except for one series.
The competition which forms most of the televised part of Robot Wars is the heavyweight class, with a maximum all-up weight of 100kg (this was increased from 80kg after the first three series). The rules allow electric or liquid-fuel power (though in the latter case fuel carried is strictly limited to five minutes running time), and permits any weapons that remain attached to the main vehicle (i.e. untethered projectiles, flame throwers, and water cannons are banned).
Most of the machines are not true robots by the scientific definition, because they are not autonomous. They are remotely controlled by their teams, so could be more properly referred to as Remote Operated Vehicles (ROVs). However, the TV show has influenced the general public in the UK to such a point that if you were to say "I'm building a robot" the likely response will be "Like on Robot Wars?". Remote control is not a requirement however - autonomous robots are allowed to compete.
There are a variety of games played, though the main knockout arena game is the most popular. Other games have included obstacle courses, robot football, and tug of war. In some games, including the main arena game, there are additional "house robots" who patrol certain areas of the arena. If a robot enters those zones, the house robots are permitted to join in and add to the general chaos. There are other hazards in the arena - for example a pit can be opened into which a robot may fall and become trapped (in later series, the pit can be opened by any robot activating a switch on the arena wall). There is also a powerful flipper which can fling a robot across the arena, retracting spikes, flame torches and cutting wheels built into the arena sidewalls. The house robots are not bound by the same rules as the competitors, and are generally much larger and heavier, as well as being professionally built. In general the winner is the last robot still functioning. In the event of a tie or disputed outcome, there is a panel of adjudicators who judge based on "style, control, damage, and aggression".
The TV show is filmed in front of a live audience, who view the action in the arena through tough polycarbonate safety screens. The audience are encouraged to behave in the manner of spectators at a roman gladiatorial contest, waving banners supporting particular teams, and calling "pit!, pit!, pit!..." when a house robot has totally disabled a competitor and appeals to the audience for the final verdict as to its fate.
In the first series, and to a lesser extent the second series, competitors' robots were very diverse, with all sorts of untried designs being put forward. After a while competitors designs tended to converge to a few established successful designs. In later series, it was often the same teams and robots that ended up reaching the final stages of the contest. Successful design types include:
- Wedges with flippers - can get under an opponent and flip them over. Chaos 2, a two-time champion, is one of the most well-known and indeed most powerful of these types, possessing a carbon dioxide powered front flipper that can literally throw other robots out of the arena.
- Invertible flat boxes - are immune to being flipped by wedges. Weaponry varies; often a cutting disk is used.
- Jaws - can enclose a competitor and crush/pierce it. This requires enormous force but there have been some very successful attempts. A notable example is Razer, which once did devastating damage to the house robot Matilda with its pincer. (At the end of the show in which this happened, there was a brief speculative voiceover as to whether Matilda had been irreparably destroyed, but the robot was subsequently shown to be in good health, albeit heavily bandaged.)
- Stored energy weapons - heavy flywheels have proved very successful in causing damage. The first UK robot to demonstrate the power of such a weapon was Hypnodisc, which literally tore apart some of its earlier opponents, in the US the robot Blendo was deemed too dangerous to take part.
All successful designs have so far been wheeled or tracked vehicles rather than walkers.
The champions of UK Robot Wars have been:
- Series 1 - RoadBlock
- Series 2 - Panic Attack
- Series 3 - Chaos 2
- Series 4 - Chaos 2
- Series 5 - Razer
- Series 6 - Tornado
- Series 7 - Typhoon 2
The UK TV series 'Robot Wars' appears to have drawn to a close, however, robot builders in the UK have been taking part in competitions independent of Robot Wars for several years and the community is expanding. Combat events are organised across the UK on at least a monthly basis, usually bi-weekly.
The Battlebots,
