Talk:Robot Wars/Rewrite

Untitled

Robot Wars
Created by	Marc Thorpe
Starring	Jeremy Clarkson Philippa Forrester Craig Charles Julia Reed Jayne Middlemiss
Narrated by	Jonathan Pearce
Country of origin	United Kingdom
Original language	English
No. of episodes	155
Production
Camera setup	Multi-camera
Running time	45 minutes
Original release
Network	BBC Two Five
Release	February 20, 1998 – April 24, 2004

Untitled

Robot Wars was a British game show broadcast on BBC Two from 1997 until 2002, with a final series broadcast on Five in 2003. The show ran for nine series, including two 'Extreme; series. There were additional series filmed for specific sectors of the global market, including two seasons of Robot Wars Extreme Warriors with U.S. competitors for the TNN network, and two seasons of Dutch Robot Wars for distribution in Holland.

History

Origins

Robot Wars was the brainchild of Marc Thorpe, a designer working for the LucasToys division of Lucasfilm. In 1992, Thorpe had the initial idea for robot combat sport after unsuccessfully attempting to create a radio controlled vacuum cleaner. In 1994, Marc Thorpe created Robot Wars and held the first competition at the Fort Mason Center in San Francisco. Approximately one month prior to the event, Thorpe formed a partnership with New York based record company Sm:)e Communications, later Profile Records, who provided additional funding.

Between 1995 and 1997, three further Robot Wars events took place in America and, in mid 1997, Profile Records partnered with production company Mentorn to produce and televise a Robot Wars event in the UK. Profile sought no input or consent from Thorpe before doing this, and this aggravated the already troubled relationship between Thorpe and Profile Records and indirectly spurred legal disagreements surrounding the ownership of the Robot Wars concept. The legal proceedings surrouunding these would last until February 6, 2002. The initial series of Robot Wars in the UK was broadcast over six weeks in February and March 1998.

Presenters

The first series of Robot Wars was presented by Jeremy Clarkson and co-hosted by Philippa Forrester. In keeping with his edgy persona established on Top Gear, Clarkson frequently made tongue-in-cheek jokes about competitors and their robots, such as remarking that a contestant robot called Scarab looked like "cheese on toast". Clarkson left Robot Wars after the first series and was replaced with Craig Charles. Charles, well known as playing the character Dave Lister in the science fiction themed situation comedy Red Dwarf, was seen as taking the programme and its contestants more seriously than Clarkson, and was visibly enthuastic whilst presenting. Charles would close each episode with a four line poem ending with the words "on Robot Wars". Charles presented Robot Wars until its demise in 2004.

In comparison to Charles' background in science fiction, Philippa Forrester was best known as co-host of the science and technology programme Tomorrow's World. Her role on Robot Wars was as the pit reporter who would speak to contestants about their robots before and after battles. For Robot Wars' cult audience, Forrester came to be seen as a sex symbol. Philippa was pit reporter for six of the show's nine series; Julia Reed took the role for Series 4 and Extreme since Forrester was unable to participate in the programme due to pregnancy, and when the programme moved to Five for the seventh series Forrester was replaced with Jayne Middlemiss.

Competitors and results

For a full list of competing robots, see;

• List of significant Robot wars contestants (UK)
• List of minor Robot Wars contestants (UK)
• List of Robot Wars Contestants (Non-UK)

Format

Arena and hazards

The arena and mechanical hazards for the early Robot Wars in the U.S. (1994 thru 1997) were rudimentary. The arena itself was a 30 by 54 foot rectangle with an asphalt surface. The 1994 arena was defined only by 2-foot high plywood walls -- there was no bulletproof plastic enclosure The following year saw the addition of braced 1/4" thick clear plastic panels extending four feet upward from the plywood panels to enhance audience protection. By 1997 the arena walls had grown to eight feet plus two feet of netting at the top.

Early hazards included a wide ram that could push a robot away from the side railing, nets on hinged arms that could decend to entangle robots that ventured too close, large horizontal pivoting arms to swat passing robots, and a bowling ball pendulum swinging across the arena.

The arena was completely re-done for the televised UK Robot Wars. The arena was approximately 32 feet by 48 feet and was enclosed in a huge clear plastic box 20 feet high. There were assorted hazards in the arena that changed from one series the next:

• The Pit of Oblivion -- a 4-foot square hole in the arena floor into which a robot may fall or be pushed. Originally this hole was open constantly during any battles. In Series 3, it was open during the first two rounds of a heat and then blocked during the heat final and any rounds thereafter. In Series 4, the pit was mechanically raised and lowered heralded by a siren. From Extreme/Series 5, the Pit had a release button (a tyre and then later, a metal bumper) that competitors could touch to activate the pit.
• The Flipper -- a powerful pneumatic flipper that can toss a robot across the arena. This device made its debut in Series 3.
• The Disc of Doom -- a spinning panel set into the arena floor.
• The Drop Zone -- a spot on the arena floor where heavy objects (television sets, ocean buoys, refrigerators, washing machines, etc.) fell from the top of the arena. Appeared from Series Extreme/Series 5 onwards.
• The Perimeter Patrol Zone/PPZ (Series 1-2) – a narrow band around the perimeter of the arena where competitor robots were open to attack by two house robots.
• The Corner Patrol Zones/CPZ(s) (Series 3 onwards) - In series 3, the house robots were confined to the four corners of the arena and moved in a rota system through Shunt, Matilda, Sgt.Bash, and Dead Metal. Sir Killalot consistantly appeared every round. From Extreme/Series 5 onwards, only two house robots were allowed in the arena at a time, and this moved in a rota through all of the machines.
• Several propane powered flame spouts, capable of roasting electronics.
• Abrasive grinding wheels built into the arena railings.
• CO2 geysers, actually useful for putting out flames.
• Early hazards included spikes that came up from the ground (removed in Series 4 after many upsets were caused by these flipping and immobilising robots that were on top.), and hanging spike balls that were more atmospheric than damaging.

House robots

The Robot Wars arena was also patrolled by the house robots. These were designed and constructed by BBC Visual Effects and did not have to conform to the same rules as contestant robots; for example, they were allowed to be considerably heavier. In series one there were four house robots:

• Matilda, designed to resemble a mutant robotic dinosaur, and armed with pneumatically lifting 'tusks' and a chainsaw 'tail';
• Shunt, centred around pushing power, was equipped with a plough, lifting scoop and diamond-edged axe;
• Sgt. Bash, a military themed robot with a ramming blade, circular saw and flamethrower turret;
• Dead Metal, a scorpion-like robot with pnuematic pincers and a circular saw mounted on an overhead arm.

For series two, the original four house robots were accompanied by Sir Killalot, a semi-humanoid robot with a drill on a lance and pincers formed from a set of emergency services jaws of life. From episode seven onwards, a sixth house robot appeared in the gauntlet. Called The Sentinel, it was a modified JCB digger which pushed competitors into one of two pits either side of it. It was the only house robot ever to have a person operating it from inside the arena.

In series 3, no new house robots were introduced, but the existing ones were improved. Matilda's tusks and chainsaw were strengthened, Shunt was given a larger axe, Sgt. Bash's ramming blade was replaced by a pair of hydraulicly powered pincers. Dead Metal had the biggest makeover. He was given a larger saw and the arm was completely redesigned so that it essentially came out of the robot. Sir Killalot's weapons were enlarged.

In series 4, another new robot joined the team. Named Refbot, this robot, like Sir Killalot, was designed as a semi-humanoid robot, but much taller and with ploughs at the front and rear, a pincer and a fire extinguisher. As his name suggests, his role was to be the referee of the matches, although his role never really advanced until the next season. Most of the original house robots were fine-tuned, most noticably Sir Killalot and Sgt Bash, who both had their pincers enlarged and made stronger than before.

For series 5 and Extreme series 1, no new house robots were brought onto the scene, and most of the existing ones only had minor design changes. Matilda and Refbot, on the other hand, had quite major changes. Refbot had a new electronic counter installed into his chest, which counted from 00 to 10, to declare that another robot had been immobilised. If the robot was not moving by the time the counter hit ten, then it was technically out. The pincer also held a 'Light Indicator System' (as described by the Robot Wars Extreme official guide), which had a variety of purposes.

• A green light signalled the beginning of a fight.
• A yellow light acted as the equivilent of a yellow card. If a House Robot attacked a robot who wasn't in the CPZ, or a Contestant robot got a bit overaggresive with the House Robots, Refbot would display the yellow card as a warning.
• A red light acted as the equivilent of a red card. If a House Robot (or occasionally a contestant robot) continued to attack illigaly, Refbot would issue the robot the red card. In the case of the House Robots, it would then have to return to the CPZ and would not be allowed out for the remainder of the fight. The red card was also displayed to a contestant robot who had just been counted out, to show it was out of the match.

As for Matilda, her chainsaw was replaced with a 27 kilogram vertical flywheel, which proved to be much more destructive than her chainsaw. Although designed to be interchangable with the flywheel, the chainsaw was never used again.

In series 6, two new house robots were added. Mr. Psycho, and Growler:

• Mr. Psycho - An even larger Killalot based robot that ran on tracks, with a gigantic claw for picking up competitors, and a 30 kilogram pneumatic hammer for causing percussive damage. The heaviest house robot; weighs 750 kilograms.
• Growler - A dog like robot with four tonne pressure hydraulic jaws, and a flame jet built into the back. This house robots main weapon was its speed and power, which it used to ram and drag competitors around the arena. Growler weighed in at 350KG.

In series 7, the last series to be filmed, a new, comedy house robot was added. This robot was called Cassius Chrome and was a fish headed robot equipped with two rather ineffective punching arms. Although it didn't have much in the way of weaponry, it was still rather effective in the capacity of pushing other robots.

Competition - U.S. Robot Wars - 1994 thru 1997

The 1994 Robot Wars in San Francisco, California featured three different 'games' for each of three robot weight classes:

• The FACE-OFF paired robots to battle thru an elimination tournament. A robot won a match by imobilizing its opponent, either by damage or by pinning. If both robots were still mobile at the end of ten minutes, they both advanced to the next round of the tournament.
• The MOB SCENE was a free-for-all melee fight amongst multiple robots. There were two Mob Scene fights: one for lightweight robots, and a never-repeated 'all weight classes' melee.
• The ESCORT event had a single competitor robot escort a defenseless "drone" robot across the arena while a "house robot" attempted to attach the drone. The successful escort with the lowest time was declared the winner. The Escort event was contested only in 1994.

Weight classes for this first event were:

• Lightweight: 10 to 40 pounds
• Middleweight: 41 to 70 pounds
• Heavyweight: 71 to 100 pounds

The competition format remained much the same through 1997. Additional safety regulations were implemented each year, match length was trimmed to 5 minutes, a 'featherweight' weight class was added, and weight allowances crept upward; by 1997 the heavyweight maximum was 170 pounds.

The 1997 judging criteria removed pinning an oponent for 30 seconds as an automatic win and required such imobilization techniques to be limited to one minute. The 1997 judging criteria also removed 'audience applause' for selection of a winner when a match eneded with both robots still mobile. Robots were judged by a panel based on a scoring system of damage, aggression, and control.

Competition - U.K Robot Wars - 1997 thru 2003

The format for the first and second televised U.K. Robot Wars differed radically from the earlier U.S. events. In each heat, a group of six robots would compete thru a series of three challenges:

• The first challenge: ‘The Gauntlet’ -- an obstacle filled maze defended by house robots. Combetitor robots pushed as far down the course as possible in the time allowed. The robot covering the least ground was eliminated, leaving five robots to continue.
• The second challenge: ‘The Trial’. This event varied from heat to heat with games like, 'Sumo', 'British Bulldog', 'Stock Car', 'Labyrinth', 'Snooker', and 'Football'. The Second Wars added 'Skittles', 'Tug of War', 'King of the Castle', 'Joust', and 'Pinball'. Again, the lowest scoring 'bot was eliminated.
• The third challenge: 'The Arena' - the familiar combat event that dominated the later wars. The four remaining robots paired off and fought head-to head in the enclosed arena patrolled by the house robots. The two victorious robots then fought for the heat championship.

In the First Wars, the six heat champions met in a single melee fight to determine the overall winner. The Second Wars had two semifinal shows, each with six heat finalists reprising the heats with a Gauntlet and a Trial, followed by arena combat. The two semifinal winners met for a final arena match to determine the champion.

Big changes to the competition came in the Third Wars. The Gauntlet and The Trial were dropped, and the focus of the competition became an expanded Arena knock-out tournament for eight robots in each heat. Robot Pinball and Robot Football became stand-alone events set apart from the main tournament.

This basic format continued thruout the remainder of the Wars -- a main knockout tournament with special contests as side attractions. The side events included Tag Team, Annihilator, Rebellion, and regional championship events.

A robot could lose a match in several ways:

• A robot immobile for a ten-second count was ‘out’ and was turned over to the house robots for further ‘punishment’;
• A robot flipped out over the arena railing into the space between the arena and the enclosure box was ‘out’;
• A robot that fell or was pushed into the open ‘Pit of Oblivion’ was instantly ‘out’;
• If none of the above conditions were satisfied, a panel of three judges scored the competitors on style, control, damage, and aggression.

External links

• Marc Thorpe, the official website of Robot Wars' creator.
• RobotCombat.com.
• Fighting Robot Association, the governing body for robot combat in the UK.
• UKGameshows overview of Robot Wars.
• Robots Rule, a Robot Wars fansite.
• Who Won?, rules and tournament trees for the U.S. and U.K Robot Wars series.