well from what I've seen I hope to win the 1^st but have a sneaky suspicion that Tornado will walk away with the prize......

You should have seen Tornado perform at Wilson's day. Top fight. However, I think some of it's welding cracked and I overheard them speaking about a fault in one of the batteries. I could be wrong though...stir, stir... mutter, mutter...

Tornado was very fast and had lots of torque. You'd be doing well to beat that one, Will.

Jon

The Savage Toaster is up on the 1st. For those who saw the chassis at Robots@War, yep, it's going to be a stretch, but I still think we can finish and test in time- we've already had most of the bits attached to a wooden mock-up...
BTW, Will, I hear rumours of about 600 in the qualifiers, which is about 50 robots a day for the 12 days it seems to be running. Even if this rumour is a bit innaccurate, we're still talking 96/12 which is 8 (I think!) qualifiers from each day. So, there won't be just one winner on the 1st- both you and Tornado might get in! Who knows, maybe The Toaster'll make it too! The letter confirming the date for the qualifiers estimates 3 wins to get in- so it's going to be tough. See you (and Mr Waller) there, hopefully!

Andrew (M) - I was only saying that Stinger was performing well 'cos I liked it's electrics. I suppose (after watching it attempt to beat Miss. Struts) it's not that good. Oh well. Tornado is very good though. Plug, plug.

Jon

will, you know me too good!
I think tornado is v.good too, great design.

Visited Robot Mayhem yesterday with my son and daughter (aged 4 and 9 - both fanatics who can real off facts and figurs, and recognise even obscure first round losers at 100 yards).

Superb afternoon. A new improved Invertibrat looks good, and there was a stunningly fast thing called Tornado which made sure that T2 will not be in Series IV. Nightmare is worth looking out for, especially if flipped...

But what really made the day was the exhibition, and in particular the presence of the Hyponodisc, Roazor, Plunderbird and Beomoth teams (plus the Agrobot and Chaos 2 robots - the teams must have been having the day off).

Not only was it pretty awe inspiring for my children (and - damn it - me) to see these people in the flesh, and a more friendly, open and fun bunch of people you couldn't wish to meet.

Oh and be warned - Robot Wars toy models of the house robots, plus Hypno, Razor and Chaos 2 should be out for Christmas. £9.99 per 'bot (each comes with a different with a pinball obsticle). As Series IV will be on air throughout the lead up to the festive season I have this sneeking suspicion that there won't be enough to go round...

Aggrobot team were day, saw their really amazing top armour plate which no-one knows what it is made of, T2 did more damage to themselves than Tornado did - the recoil on their hammer was rather vicious and tore a hole in the top of their robot! George Francis was in the pits making sir teddybot with Ian Lewis of the Razer team. Both Hypnodisks looked fantastic, was nightmare the one in a fight with bulldog?

We had a lot of interest wiring our robot up in the carpark, everyone was interested although we didn;t get it running in time - wouldn't failsafe at 3pm so we gave up and watched the afternoon show.

Tornado was fantastic btw.

The new bulldog looks really cool - it did some bloody big damage to a purple wedge/flipper thing (never knew the name - sorry lads) it put gashes right through the sides of it with their grinder, very powerful, didn't get a good look at it though. The purple one was very good.

And so was Tornado, really impressive and compact.

If the arena is the same as the one used for the RobotWars live event then it is a real pleasure to drive around. I had great fun in it. Next year I will have weapons. Hopefully this will help me to get to the propper series.

I look forward to seeing Tornado fight. If they fight as good as before then it will be something to watch.

Yes, the show was a tad slow. But as derek said, they had a bit if intro to do. It was very nice to see Phillipa again. The handover and tips that she made was a nice touch.

Hope to see you on 30th September. I believe that this event will be a non weapon event. If so, how will robots like Chaos2 and Hypno Disk fight? Dantomkia has no active weapons. Just it's chassis and teeth. Hopefully it should be interesting.

Regards, Mike Lambert.

Re: Pussy Vs Chaos

Steve: Don't right C2 off that quickly. As you say, it can flip Pussy out of the arena, but also don't forget that being THROWN in the air over & over can & has disabled quality opposition in the past. Also, Chaos has some tough armour - the 10mm skin will be quite hard to break, and the polycarb will probbaly resist the saw. Having said that, I have of course ensured C2's exit at the next fight....

I have a lot of respect for both Pussycat & Chaos2 - I hope the 1st fight of the semis is that one! It would be a good battle.

Also, watch out for Tornado - a well build very fast & solid robot - I felt Tornados biggest threat was Razer - now they are out who knows?

Kevin

Team Tornado you guys look like the only ones who nos what you are chating about on here. I wonna make my own Robot I was wondering what should I buy first then 2nd and so on. It needs to be cheap because im only 16.

After all, I assume that Tornado, Chaos 2, Hypno-disc, Pussycat etc etc (and endlessly more etcs) know more than me, they've actually built robots. And it does seem to me that postings marked Tornado talk less cr4p and more sense than many others. And are less likely to take petty-minded adolescent mick out of people because of their standard of English, taste in music etc.

Whoa! Calm down guys. Marcus is only asking for help. I do agree however that we are by far not the only team who have even a little knowledge, I suspect Marcus has based his comments on the number of posts I make!

None of us know everything about Robot Wars, myself included, even if we've built robots. I'm an Electroacoustic engineer - that's electronics and sound - so although I understand what Dave goes on about when he's building the speed controllers etc, there's no way I could have built them myself. I had to learn what little I know about pneumatics, and I learnt to weld as I went along - Bryan is our pneumatics and machining guy. I doubt (for example) that George, Rex or Arfa could build such good robots as they have, if they were not surrounded by the mix of skills that their team provides.

Marcus - here is my advice. (All of what I write is my own opinion, your mileage may differ, any advice you take is at your own risk etc etc.) Firstly, consider really if you want to do Robot Wars. Ask yourself these questions and answer them honestly.
* Would you be totally happy if you didn't make it onto the TV?
* Can you give up a few months of your spare time to build it?
* Have you got, or have access to the skills required? E.g. radio control, electronics, welding, soldering, cutting straight, ability to fix things...
* Would you be happy if what you built got completely trashed?
* Can you get time off school/university/work at short notice to attend the filming?
* This is the big one - can you afford to build it? IMHO it is not possible to build a competitive robot cheaply - and from what you say above cost is going to be very important to you. I personally believe that those people who say their robot cost £1 or £250 are not being totally truthful. They either have access to sponsorship (directly - as in a named sponsor giving them cash, or indirectly - by where they work/what they do for a living), have a workshop full of parts they already had, or have ignored the significant cost of recycled parts from their previous robots! (You can of course put a aluminium shell over an old wheelchair, but the days are gone where this would have got you on the TV, let alone be competitive.)

Secondly, if you can answer all these questions to your satisfaction, you should join the Robot Wars club. It's the only way that you will get into the proper registration procedure, and build your robot to the rules. Then work on your design. A lot will depend on what parts you can afford, and to get on TV, you'll need something interesting.

...I'll stop here, because what I'm saying is duplicated on our website. Read our Roboteers Tips and Diary. Have a look at our Budget to see what we found we needed to spend money on. I'm not trying to discourage you, but building any robot is not easy. Of course I'm making assumptions (that you want to build a heavyweight robot, and you want to enter it into Mentorn's competition).

If you still need help, feel free to email me - that goes for everyone, not just Marcus - as Richard says it's the easiest way to ask me a question. I haven't got an infinite amount of time though, so if I don't reply for a few days don't get stressed!

Regards
Andrew
Team Tornado

Richard - I (generally) only insult people who insult me first eg: Marcus Smith. Nothing wrong with that is there?
I can see why Marcus asked Team tornado though - how long must that have taken to type? With links too! I'm suitably impressed.

I'm suprised if David Tectonic got it wrong- that's not like him at all! What the chart shows is that heat F includes Gemini and Beserk 2 (both seeded), Tornado (excellent!), Kater Killer, The Creature and Invertibrat (looked pretty good at Robot Mayhem). Should be a good heat. Snooker/other spurious sporting events allowing, it should be next week's show.

Hello

12v Bosch 400's at 24v. Good Idea? How expensive?

24v Bosch 750's at 36v. Possible?

Thanks

P.S. please visit our site (well we think it's cool).

Tornado!

Hi,

I recon Gemini looks real cool.

However, my bet for Friday is Tornado - we saw them in the pits & in the arena on 1st Aug, and the speed & strength of their chassis looked quite something.

Kevin.

Tornado kicks ass. Dunno about the chassis though...I've seen their welds get snapped... ;-)

Loadsa speed 'n' strength though, only a good thing. ;-))

Jon

Should be a good fight then.

Hoi! Jon! No! Leave my welding alone ;-)

Andrew

It lost to tornado!
no offence team tornado but anyone with money can build a powerful robot, you've got no weapon to speak of so don't expect to win best engineered robot.

Hi,

Joe, I think you are missing the point a bit. When you build a robot, you decide what to do with your weight limit - Strong Armour? Tough Chassis? Big Batteries? Powerful Axe? Wicked Flipper? Mega Crusher? Whatever.

Part of a well engineered robot is making the right tradeoff.

Team Tornado have essentially gone for Tough Chassis + Big Batteries. And it seems to work. We saw them on 1st Aug at Mayhem - it certainly goes Zzzinnng across the arena and Crunch into the opposition. Also on nosing in the pits, we could see that it was well tough.

Also, a big cheer for both Tornado & Gemini - Eliminator 1 & the Final were the best battles I think we have seen this year.

Shame they couldn't both go through - I personally think they are two of the best bots we have seen so far, apart from C2, of course....

I hope Tornado & C2 meet in the wars - I think that could be some battle.

Kevin.

Shame they were in the same heat. Shouldn't have happened really - Tornado should definitely have had a high seeding.

They wern't it last year tho so they didn't have a seeding at all....

I hope C2 doesn't battle Tornado, i think it would be to easy for the champs. I want to see them fight pussycat, somone the might loose to

That was an excellent heat! The final could have gone either way, if Tornado had been flipped a couple more times it might have lost its chain before it shoved the Gemini half onto the deadly spike. Congrats to both teams for a great couple of entries and a fun fight!

I'd have to disagree with Joe on the engineering side of Tornado - despite being pretty dull in actions (despite high torque and whacking, which I like!!) it's a very well engineered robot. Sure, when i saw it, a weld cracked, but this has happened to most people...and for their first robot - I'd say they did a DAMN good job. Don't go knocking Tornado unless you've seen it up close...there's more to it than meets the eye, trust me.

Jon

P.S. Good heat, guys!

Also, did you see the power of Gemini's flippers? Not bad for a 36kg robot. I'd say that the melee with Tornado, Gemini and Caterkiller was probably the best melee so far this series, and possible the best battle I have seen. Tornado's design may have been quite simple, but it was really effective, like Panic attack, Evil Weevil, King B, Crusader etc. I'm sure though they were immobilised by the end of the final battle. If Gemini had not been immobilised they would have won I think on a judges decision.

A fine heat indeed... Having seen Tornado running at Robots@War and Robot Mayhem I had them as favourite for the heat- although some doubt crept in when I saw how absurdly powerful the flippers on Gemini were! Tactics were as expected from Tornado: Drive the opposition into the nearest wall and beat them to death! Congrats to Andy and the rest of the Tornado team on a deserved victory, and full credit and respect to the Mace team for fielding a brilliantly executed and suprisingly kick-ass cluster-bot. Nice one!

I had been looking forward to this for a while - really wanted to see Gemini. Looked great, well done to the Mace team. I expected a little more from Invertebrat though. Gemini was the greater robot, but they had a weakbess against tornado-type robots. A lot of People thought they would win the series (not me), but they could have.

They could have yeah, a nice idea and well implemented. I may regret this, but Tornado stinks of the Panic Attack syndrome to me

Iain - To be honest I was trying to avoid your main point about the Cluster Bot 50% failure rule, because I am still undecided about it.

The final between Gemini and Tornado was the first test of the rule and it was one of those situations where either team would have felt agrieved depending on whether the rule was in force or not. After all, had Tornado been forced to immobilise both halves of Gemini they would have been forgiven for thinking "Hell, if we had done that much damage to a single robot it would be dead!" As it was, they were happy, team Mace had reason to feel gutted.

And what if cluster bots with three units enter? We could even see cluster bots with three r/c units plus autonomous slave units enter. (Possibly: not at all likely but possibly.) What then? How many units would an opponent have to destroy?

As it was, it was a terrific fight, and it was bad luck for Team Mace that Tornado's chain lasted just a few seconds too long (depending on the editing, I know it can be deceptive). That and the ejection of the hapless Creature from the arena were among the highlights of the series so far.

I don't agree with Philip that cluster bots are unfair, less still that they should be forbidden. There has been provision made for them in the rules since Robot Wars got started, it's just that nobody has been able to produce a decent design before. I do agree with his idea for a cluster-bot sideshow, just as soon as there are enough cluster bots to make it possible.

What's wrong with robots being well controlled with lots of power, like Panic attack, Tornado and crusader? They always make entertaining fights, and are often the most successful robots. Did you see how Tornado slammed Beserk 2 into the wall, and how shunt was pushed around the arena? Reminicent of Steg o saw us from the last series

Hey Otis

I e-mailed Hypno about the disc and he said that it was 2 times more powerful.

Different robots each have their chance to win.
Chaos 2 can flip other robots out of the arena. (though I don't think it will win)

Pussycat could get in under C"'s flipper (if it flips) and cut the insides out. (though that would take some good driving)

I dont think Firestorm has the potential to win!

I don't think Steg 2 has the potential to win, but could do good.

Dominator 2 could do okay but doesn't have a srimech.

I think Tornado could win, as it could smash C2, PC, and any others, but running the motors too high could prove a bad thing.

Thermidor, I don't think has the strength to win.

WBC can also flip others out of the arena, and the long nose has a large leverage. (though I don't think it will win)

Splinter hasn't got a chance in hell of winning. No srimech, arms as strong as a fly, a big elephant ear. No chance!

Stinger could do well. I only think it got through the last war, because it was either, one of the only 2 left, other bots breaking down, or just because it actually did something useful in the battle. It doesn't do anything significant.

You may disagree, but thats what I think

Mark

the best 10 robots are

chaos 2
hypnodisc
firestorm
tornado
gemini
razer
cassius
whelly big cheese
panic attack
pussycat

Hmmm....
1.Hypno-Disc
2.atomic
3.gemini (despite the unhelpable flaws)
4.vercingetorix
5.tornado
6.wheely big cheese
7.steel avenger (best axe I've ever seen)
8.the general
9.killerhurtz (like it's well engineered-ness)
10.behemoth
But I'll probabl;y come back when I've remembered a few more that I like.

1) Razer
2) Hypno-Disc
3) Gemini
4) Pussycat
5) Tornado
6) Mortis
7) Panic Attack THREE
8) Chaos 2
9) Behemoth
10)Dominator 2

Ones that JUST missed out on my Top 10 are
Suicidal Tendancies, Wheely Big Cheese, Cassius,
Sump Thing, Steel Avenger, Steg 2, Splinter,
Firestorm 2, Wel-Dor, Killerhurtz....etc

heheheheheheheheheheheheh

my top ten robots are:

1 razer (in my opinion the best weapon ever)
2 cassius 2 (well what can i say, fantastic!!! shame i will never see cassius 3 fight on the tv when it is built).
3 wheely big cheese (great flipper)
4 chaos 2 (good flipper and was helped to be made by my favourite roboteer, rex garrod)
5 hypno disc (destructive weapon)
6 101 (good solid bot)
7 tornado (very, very powerful)
8 killerhurtz (cool axe!)
9 dominator 2 (cool axe!)
and last but definitely not least
10 stinger (good design and better driving this year)

Here's my latest top 10

1. Cassius - Without this robot Robot Wars as we know it won't be here
2. Dominator 2 - Stunningly engineered
3. Chaos 2 - Nicely made machine
4. Razar - The crusher of no return
5. Pussycat - I really like their new saw
6. Hypno-Disc - The disk of mayhem
7. Gemini - Cluster bots with style
8. Tornado - I been wating for a robot like this for ages
9. Mortis - Hi-Tech beauty
10. Panic Attack 3 - Looks really good

Yeh, I saw Panic Attack 3 at the filming. All I'll
say is it's an impressive machine.

Imagine Tornado, PA 3, Shunt and SOS in a melee,
clash of the titans

heheheheheh

I THINK IT WAS HEAT F

my vote goes for heat to Wheely big cheese's heat.

Cmon, you must all like it, you're still arguing over it!

the best battle was the melee between Gemini, tornado and kater killer, which gave the cameramen a headache as there was so much going on. Plus the suprise ending of tornado in the pit capped it off, something WBC was so impressed with it decided to copy!

but there's plenty action to come, especially in the next week, i think some of the xmas specials will make it into the best ever list.

Hehe. Sounds good. I *must* get digital.
Best fight: I'd say Gemini vs Tornado
The only one I can think of so far between two robots with a chance of winning the series that finished with a clear win + no controversy.

Like you who knows. Don't flatter yourself, we can tell. While we're here my bet for the S4 winner (revealed in 6weeks time) is Dominator II or Tornado. I've gone with the ones I like too often so here are two gooduns who would worry me.

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