Robot Wars
From Mod Mania
Robot Wars
Back in the days I remember a television show called Robot Wars, I remember there used to be some crazy modifications of remote control cars that looked like transformers with lethal contraptions and awesome design. So I thought I would revisit my childhood and look more closely into the idea behind Robot Wars, why people did it, the rules and modifications that were allowed. I will conduct some research and then I shall report back. Never understood why they axed such a show that consisted on rage and crazy modifications.
The Report:
Robot Wars was a television show in UK where people at home decide that they would build a robot and then would bring it to the studio in front of a live audience and watch their robots taken on other robots made by other robot fanatics. The idea behind Robot Wars is that “you have 5 minutes to immobilise your opponent. Any robot that is unable to move for thirty continuous seconds shall be considered "immobile". Once one of the robots is dead or impossible to move anywhere (e.g. it is in the pit or out of the arena) then the robots left standing go through to the next round. If time is up first and no robot is immobilised, then it goes to a panel of three judges who decide the winner of that battle using their criteria of style, control, damage and aggression…If it is too close to call and even the judges can't decide on the winner [which is quite rare], then the judges will either call another battle or call a draw (so both robots win). Winners of each battle work their way through each round. A series can feature 12 or more heats. The winner of each heat goes through to the semi finals where all the heat finalists win. The winners of the semi finals go through to the grand final and the winner of this is the new UK champion and winner of that particular series”. The robots are allowed a number or weapons and contraptions that will help them defeat their opponent or opponents, depending on the number of robots in the war/fight.
There are many rules that are implemented when making and modifying a robot, for example certain weapons are not allowed, such as “nuclear weapons are banned, liquids, fire, guns, weapons which detach off the robot etc.”, there are also weight limits in the robots themselves, for example in certain divisions they may no way more than a certain amount that is stated. This is all made clear to the ‘roboteers’ before the construction of their modified remote control robots.
There is a huge 18 pages rules book that relates to what the robot can and cant do, how it has to work, what its allowed to have, safety features, design. These rules are all constraints that the designers and engineers have to take into consideration with constructing and modifying their contraption. If is almost like building a car or even modifying a car, you have to stick to a number of rules so that it all meets up to the Australian standards, so that it is firstly safe for the user and the people around and secondly legal. This is exactly what the rules for Robot Wars are trying to control. They wants to make sure that all the roboteers and especially audience and staff are safe and sound.
Here is a link I have added that explains all the rules; I have not attached this to my essay due to its bulkiness:
http://www.fightingrobots.co.uk/documents/Build_Rules_2008_v2.pdf
This now brings me to why people would put themselves through something like this, why do they want to modify such a device to do something so dangerous, why do they want to create a robot that will destroy its opponent to small pieces. “It is just wonderful to see pieces of robots flying across the arena. Some people start crying when they see their robot they spent years putting together coming out of the arena looking a like a pile of old rubber but most people take it well and have a laugh and come back the next year.” Why is making this modified piece of technology so satisfying when after years on preparation this contraption might possible be destroyed in minutes or even seconds. This links to why people like to modify? I believe its not all about whether it will work or not, or whether the robot will even win. I think these people do it because they want to achieve something no one ever has. They want to be unique! Even if there idea fails, its not the fact that it failed what matter, what matters to these people is that they attempted to construct and modify certain devices to work a way that they desired them too, it was there invention. This is what they find satisfying, if it work it’s a bonus; if it doesn’t work at least they have a basis of an idea they can work on for the next competition. Just like in Sam REYNOLDS report called ‘Born to Modify’, he says, “Having such an alive mind leads me to resort to creativity to off set the repetitive nature of surrounding devices I use in every day life”, therefore this reinforces my believe that people are modifying these robots so that they can do something different to what they see in everyday life, it is a way of escaping reality, and infact trying to create something that’s different and unique, if it doesn’t win, it doesn’t win! But at least the creator of the robot has come out of the experience quite pleased because he knows that he has created something new, something different, something completely unique to anyone elses robot. This is why the quote above says “Some people start crying when they see their robot they spent years putting together coming out of the arena looking a like a pile of old rubber but most people take it well and have a laugh and come back the next year”. Therefore this shows that the design/engineer of the robot is of course upset, but the reason they want to come back year after year is due to the satisfaction they get from creating something out of the norm.
References:
(http://www.fightingrobots.co.uk)
(http://www.fightingrobots.co.uk/documents/Build_Rules_2008_v2.pdf)
(http://www.openobject.org/modmania/Born_to_Modify)
s3197612 Daniel Stefan Lipinski
