Roaming Robots End of Year Review

Roaming Robots 2007 Year Review

Ok, so its been another year in robot world, and what year it has been. What a roller coaster of a ride, but certainly were all doing well at keeping the Robot Wars very much alive.

Over the year we have had some fantastic events and it wouldn€™t have been possible without the support of all of the crew and the robot community. Of which I would like to personally say THANKYOU.

There are a few teams which go over their call of duty, and really help us put the shows on, whether it is helping build the arena, pits, tech checking..etc€¦ Thankyou.

We started the year in Swindon, a new city, a new venue, and a sell out. For the first time in the history of Roaming Robots we had to turn people away from one of our shows, was this a sign of things to come€¦. Well yes!!!
We introduced the fruit machines to our show, and boy oh boy did they go down well, with Thor and Terrorhurtz exerting sweet revenge leaving a nice mess to clean up!!!

Brighton Model World saw us return, this time with 4 wheels on the trailer and not 3 like last year. The feather weights took centre stage in the arena and played football, sumo and of course the odd battle.

Magna was a low point in our year, what with a sabotage attempt on the event the day before, new arena configuration and a nightmare arena build meaning we were late starting the first show. This was a real test of our dedication and perseverance, however we soldiered on, and in the end it all worked out, we provided 2 fantastic shows, and certainly made up for any delays.

Easter Robot Rumble was once again hosted by Geoff Thorpe, and Roaming Robots provided the show for him. It was an action packed weekend with some very busy shows once again. Well done to our Heavy Weight, and Feather Weight winners.

Aylesbury was one of the wettest events ever, and we have hosted some outdoor events in the rain, but this took the biscuit !! We arrived and it was raining, we setup and it was raining, we ran the event and it was raining, we packed away and it was raining, and then we closed the back door on the truck, and guess what€¦.. The sun came out !!!
For once the arena was the driest place at the event, as we were provided with a marquee which went straight over the top of it. Despite the weather the town centre was a wash of people, who braved the elements and enjoyed the day out in the centre.

Northampton, another new city, another new venue, to replace our outdoor event at Wicksteed Park from previous years. Two entertaining and sold out shows, leaving us with another taste of success.

The feather weight UK champs was held this year at the National Space Centre in Leicester. This was our return to the centre. Our class 2 feather weight arena was erected and the competition was once again hard fought, but congratulations to Mini Mighty Mouse who became the FRA Feather Weight Champion for 2008

Guildford was our major event in the summer, The Spectrum was also host to our roboteers summer party. We all enjoyed the venue facilities and played ten pin bowling, swimming and ice skating before heading back for a big BBQ at the campsite. A huge venue with big capacity but we filled it, 2008 will certainly be an event not to be missed!

The Royal International Air Tattoo, our last outdoor event of the year and of course we kept everything crossed for good weather again. The robots and the Air show mixed together once again proved to be extremely popular attraction. The pay to drive robots were once again working overtime before heading off to the Haven Holiday Park tour.

The Haven holiday park tour was once again extremely popular throughout the six weeks of the summer, we had 3 teams travelling around the UK in three different regions, Yorkshire, Devon/Cornwall, and Wales. The robots had to work 5 days a week for 6 weeks, and try as we may to kill them they kept on going throughout. The tour was so successful we have been booked again for 2008, but this time there will be four teams taking part.

The Heavy Weight UK championship was held this year at one of Havens flagship parks in Wales. It was a fast and furious competition where congratulations to Big Nipper one fought off Terrorhurtz in the grand final to become the 2007 FRA UK Champion.

The winter tour championship kicked off at the Doncaster dome, and hard lesson in promoting events was learnt. Unfortunately the event coincided with the opening of the Doncaster Race Course and so ticket sales were slightly hampered, nevertheless the event was successful, and the robots performed well leaving the crowd certainly entertained.

Portsmouth€™s Mountbatten centre hosted the second round of the tour, and the popular event certainly made up for Doncaster. As always it brought out some old faces, who came along to cause a bit of mischief as they do !!!

The Maidstone leisure centre then took round three of the competition, a new city, another new venue, and one which proved to be too popular for its own good. With two fantastic shows, and record number of audience this event certainly put Roaming Robots on the map in the South East.

And our final event of the year finished it off in style. 2 months of hard work paying off with 2 sold out shows and more seats being brought in at the last minute. Congratulations to Iron Awe 5 who became our 2007 Winter Tour Champion€™s, and Beauty 2, our Feather Weight Champions.

People don€™t necessarily understand just how much work goes in behind the scenes to make these events happen, and each time it is obviously a risk. Over the last 4 years we€™ve had some high points and some low points, but one thing is for sure, is that at the moment the future looks extremely bright for us all.

Away from the robot events some of you know we are heavily involved in education around the UK. Throughout 2007 we have been involved in the creation of over 270 Super Ant Weight robots, and nearly 150 feather weights. Some of our projects involve using the Roaming Robots kits, however there are a number of feather weights out there which we are trying to get to join the community and come to our events.

Since Nottingham a few weeks ago, work has slowed, and we€™ve been having a well earned rest. Time to take stock of everything make plans for 2008, and what a year it is going to be.

The events are now on the forum, and the website will be updated in the new year.

Our 2008 calendar has taken a while to finalise as we are working on some projects which will take us out of the UK once again€¦. A robot show in the Middle East, and educational work in Singapore. All exciting prospects for the New Year,

Anyway, time for me to wish you all Happy Christmas, and have a fabulous 2008 !!! :)

John
Roaming Robots

no magna in 2008 :sad:

Not for 2008, each year the hire fee of the venue goes up and up, and 2007 was extortionate enough.

So time for a change, and we are heading to Barnsley instead !!

John

Ive been to all bar 3 events of RRs this year and I enjoyed every one of them. Thank you very much for putting them on for us Jonno :)

Highlight: Hells Angel working as it should at Aylsebury, besides the wet !

Lowlight: The amount of damage HA and Satanix received at Portsmouth

BTW, What was this business with sabotage at Magna ?