Robot Wars is coming back

[Otispunkmeyer]

ajprice said:

Thumbs up . The first rounds were a bit manic to keep track of, but once it was 1v1 I liked the league system of everybody fighting each other. Nuts was great fun, it reminded me of the Irish guys with Diotor the furry robot in old RW, there for the fun of it .

I used to love Diotor... you could always count on it catching fire and flailing around the arena in a smoldering mess.

[telecat]

Hrimfaxi said:

stuartmmcfc said:

We've seen Terror hurtz a few times in the "flesh" , it's huge and we love it!

I remember Robot Wars had a roadshow type thing years ago, and a few robots came along - I remember thinking the same about one of them... but can't remember what it was called... a huge yellow flat thing, with a double prong/flipper up front? Whatever it was, it was huge!

That would be Panic Attack. Consistant winner and won outright one of the wars. Quite Enjoyed the new ones it and disappointed that Razer went out. Pit's always been like that though. I would have liked to have seen if Razer could have dealt with Carbide.

[Some Gump]

227bhp said:

AlexS said:

Mastodon2 said:

So much untested stuff here. If the Carbide team had tested that they'd know they were going to blow the motor by spinning it at full speed and then slamming it to a dead stop against something.

And just how do you test something that destructive safely?

Drive it into the corner of a house or an RSJ/UB.



It hasn't changed much has it? Just as good as before and I really enjoyed it, made me laugh just like it used to do, even the commentator still sounds just like Craig Charles. Great to see the old teams up against the new ones.

That's the LAST time I take advice from you! bd.

[MikeyC]

poing said:

stuartmmcfc said:

I wouldn't want to face carbide

Nope, reminds me of Hypnodisk from the old one.

actually, Carbide's a pretty good interpretation of tombstone (No1 seed in US version) but with better wheel protection
will be tough to beat !

[davepoth]

http://www.broadcastnow.co.uk/ratings/overnight-tv...

Robot Wars beat the last episode of Top Gear...

[Some Gump]

davepoth said:

http://www.broadcastnow.co.uk/ratings/overnight-tv...

Robot Wars beat the last episode of Top Gear...

So it should!

[ClockworkCupcake]

Well, I enjoyed it.

Unlike Top Gear, they got it just right. I'm not entirely sure that "Dara of Brain" was the right choice for the anchor, but he did a reasonable job and was inoffensive (unlike Chris Evans) so that was fine.

Usual top geekery from the contestants, and a great show. I am glad they brought it back.

[Dr Doofenshmirtz]

ClockworkCupcake said:

Well, I enjoyed it.

Unlike Top Gear, they got it just right. I'm not entirely sure that "Dara of Brain" was the right choice for the anchor, but he did a reasonable job and was inoffensive (unlike Chris Evans) so that was fine.

Usual top geekery from the contestants, and a great show. I am glad they brought it back.

I don't think Dara is the right person for that job - He's great in cloud watching live, but lacks the fun slightly OTT enthusiasm of Craig Charles (I also remember when Clarkson presented it before him!).
At least Jonathan Pearce and Sharkey are still there though.

Will deffo be watching again though. Really enjoyed it.

[Bullett]

Watched it with the 6yo boy. We both loved it, he was bouncing up and down on the sofa with excitement at the battles.

[ClockworkCupcake]

[redacted]

[williamp]

Bullett said:

Watched it with the 6yo boy. We both loved it, he was bouncing up and down on the sofa with excitement at the battles.

challenge tv has just stopped showing the old robot wars, so my 5yr old is now a huge fan. Liked "this morning's" new episode too.

[Hrimfaxi]

telecat said:

Hrimfaxi said:

stuartmmcfc said:

We've seen Terror hurtz a few times in the "flesh" , it's huge and we love it!

I remember Robot Wars had a roadshow type thing years ago, and a few robots came along - I remember thinking the same about one of them... but can't remember what it was called... a huge yellow flat thing, with a double prong/flipper up front? Whatever it was, it was huge!

That would be Panic Attack. Consistant winner and won outright one of the wars. Quite Enjoyed the new ones it and disappointed that Razer went out. Pit's always been like that though. I would have liked to have seen if Razer could have dealt with Carbide.

Panic Attack! That's the one. Yeah, I remember it doing quite well.

As for Dara, I think he's good for it. But as mentioned, Hammond would be awesome.

I've always thought Craig Charles presenting it in character as Dave Lister would be a laugh

[ajprice]

[redacted]

[hyperblue]

AlexS said:

Mastodon2 said:

So much untested stuff here. If the Carbide team had tested that they'd know they were going to blow the motor by spinning it at full speed and then slamming it to a dead stop against something.

And just how do you test something that destructive safely?

I was wondering about that during the programme. Just spinning up the blade on Carbide for the first time I'd want to be a long way away, behind something solid! Let alone letting it hit something.

[Sway]

It's designed in CAD, by proper engineers - there's no reason to be too scared of it. Earth berm or some sand bags and you're fine. Best test would probably be against a tree/log. That'll give it a proper test, as it's effectively immovable, unlike the much lighter competitors.

[leglessAlex]

ash73 said:

Disappointed, totty not good enough and Jonathan Pearce has me reaching for the mute button. Some interesting designs but it hasn't moved with the times.

Out of interest, what would you consider to be 'moving with the times'?

I think it would be quite hard to massively change any part of the show without alienating the core audience. It was called Robot Wars and so I at least expected to see Robot Wars. I don't think it would have gone down as well if it was different to how it used to be.

[CoolHands]

I guess the evolution of robot wars would be to Artificial Intelligence robots not controlled by humans. They must seek and destroy their opponent by themselves.

But that's probably a hundred years off.

[Some Gump]

^ ...But I don't want to see automatons. I want to se remote control, with a fat clammy man visibly distraught as his naively designed robot gets utterly pulverised by war bd's axe..

[Mr. H]

In the 1v1 battles did they keep both teams in the same control booth? Surely that means they can hear each others tactics like "go for the pit" or "attack from this angle" etc.

[ajprice]

ash73 said:

leglessAlex said:

Out of interest, what would you consider to be 'moving with the times'?

AI programming, sensor detection of enemy robots, voice control, VR headsets, live onboard telemetry, electronic warfare and hacking, walking robots with handheld weapons, power upgrades in the arena, drone airstrikes...?

Was somebody watching Real Steel before Robot Wars?

They had about 6 weeks from the show announcement to filming. In that timeframe, you're not going to build anything with AI, VR, sensors etc.

Option 1, dust off and tweak the original series robot people know (Razer, Terrahurtz etc).

Option 2, enter something from the live competitions (probably most of them).

Option 3, build something not serious and have some fun (Nuts).

Depending on the RW rules, there could be more interesting stuff in the next series. Battlebots allows flying drones and flame weapons, I don't know if RW would allow drones, they didn't allow flame stuff in the old series. There's a bot in BB called Chomp, which has a camera and movement sensors to automatically trigger its axe, and the guy who built Mortis in early RW has a BB bot with arms controlled by RC metal sleeves, the robot copies his arm movement. They had more than 6 weeks notice to get theirs sorted.