We were invited by the TV production company 'Mentorn' to take part in a live event at the Cardiff International Arena on the 26th July 2001. This was to be our first real test, the qualifiers for the series 5 TV shows and in front of a massive paying audience.
We arrived in Cardiff in good time for the scrutineering at 9-30am and were shown to our bench by the technical guys. Our radio transmitter was impounded immediately to prevent any operation in the pits. It was checked for channel and as our crystals were not in use so we didn't need to make any changes. After that we were measured, some technical notes were taken and failsafes were checked. All was well so we moved on to the weighing and official photographs. During the wait we managed to check out our competition and pray we didn't meet Panic Attack or Chaos 2.
Our first fight against Pendragon was won easily because after a couple of attacks they stopped working and got dumped in the pit. Only after watching the house robot feast did I realize we had lost a drive chain and could only move in circles but the fight was already won.
Our second fight was a four way melee, after 2 robots were out the commentator, stood next to me, was shouting "burn the dog, burn the dog" needless to say with the help of Shunt were were toasted on the flame pit and it was time for home.
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Dougal was fully rebuilt using a massive collection of photographs I'd taken to act like a workshop manual. Finally some brown stripes were added to the loft insulation fur to make him look just like the real thing. |
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As you can see it was pretty late in the evening by the time he got loaded on the trailer for the early start to Cardiff. |
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The red tongue is actually the removable link which kills all power to the robot in the event of a failure. |
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Robot Wars 'Live' programme |
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The official weighing and photo. |
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Dougal in the bull fenced area ready to load into the arena. |
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Serious competition by way of George and 'Chaos 2' |
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More serious competition by way of Kim and 'Panic Attack' |
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A Dougal damaged Pendragon. |
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Potentially serious damage to 'Pendragon'. Dougal pierced the 6mm Makrolon and aluminium suspension carrier but the motor end plate was only slightly bend. |
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Refitting the drive chain after the first (won) fight. |
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Lowering the spike for a not to emerge fight with 'Panic Attack'. |
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A final check. |
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Backstage team and Robobabe working hard. |
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A toasted Dougal after the second fight. |
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Not only a bad hair day but quite a headache from 'Shunts' axe. |
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