what happened to...

I do like the idea of Robot Wars (or a similar show) being back on TV, its been brought up a few times and as i mentioned before, im all for it. Do i think it will actually happen? No. I said Dave would be your best bet because A: It is in league with the BBC and B: Its small enough to be open to offers/has already aired Robot Wars beforehand. The fact is mainstream TV companies wont touch it because of its affiliation with low ratings (even though that was Channel 5's fault, but thats straying from the point). I still maintain Dave is your best bet, but it would be a hard slog. We can either work to get a new series made, or we could drop the Robot Wars banner completely and make some sort of live event show (Roaming Robots/Robots Live/Robo Challenge etc).

If it does get brought back, the Roboteers need more control.

talk about hitting a nail on the head, this is what i mean drop the robot wars name, it did us proud but now history. move on, new name new comp.
there is no point in chatting up dave (the tv company) unless we can agree on somthing you roboteers will build. i got quite a long way with the robot wars on water (small usa documentary film co) but could i get anyone to build some stuff to film? nope. i was ready to do three and i only needed say 10 to make a trailer. so this time if anyone is interested give up your idea and will you build? rc crawler expensive? no , you build cheap for whatever or if we have a new comp. did you see some of the first ever robot wars bots, very simple but that started the snowball rolling. Chris.

Surely it would be easier to pitch something to them that utilises the robots that exist and are able and willing to do?

In order to do that though I think the first thing we would need to do is get decent footage of some battles, 99% of the youtube videos are not good enough quality, a TV rep would just bin them immediately. As a graduate of a course that heavily involved filming/editting I know for a fact that students would get involved in doing a lot of this for us in a heartbeat, and with students comes the Uni, and with that comes lots of tasty recording equipment. You can have cameras now that follow the robot (as seen in football, set to follow the ball) and also set up a few cameras high up inside the arena (again, the uni guys can work out the logistics) and edit that together. Would look 100 times better than anything else we have to display our sport to anyone looking in from outside. Would be happy to try to put this point across at a Uni and see if anyone takes the bait if anyone agrees that it could be a way forward.

Thats my opinion anyway :proud:

now we are talking, good man. see what you can do. i on other hand will get in touch with dave and ask the question, what would you like us to build? now i ask a favor of the administrator of this forum, is it posible to cavvass your members to see if the builders (or budding builders) of the sight are up for a possible challange and their ideas on this. Chris.

There are a few things that would stand in the way of my plans though, being in Glasgow the only event that is close enough would be RL Edinburgh, so of course we would need their permission and the attendance of the best bots to give a good show. I assume we would also need the permission of the venue and University. I'm sure there would be H&S stuff need done for mounting RC cameras inside the arena and on the truss too. Between the community we can hopefully iron these issues out though.

I would suggest against having people build bots that may only compete once if your ideas fall on its head though, using the current bots will vastly increase your chances of participation. Afterall, that is why we are all here.

is it posible to canvass your members to see if the builders (or budding builders) of the sight are up for a possible challange I am. Find a TV production company that wants to go with robot combat [regardless of what it is called and regardless of the format] and I'll build for it. I suspect there is a fair size pool of builders out there who would say the same. The trick is to find the production company.

I think daves a good idea, and as there already a few arenas, it wouldnt cost as much to start. And i think gladiator style events would be cool, and I think it needs to be kept in a way the current robots could still be used, as it would mean there's a wider range of robots, and if old roboters see the show, they can still compete with there old robot...

ceri your logic is flawed. Your final point about someone saying it's fine the way it is doesn't support your argument at all. It is merely a statement that the sport doesn't need tv full stop.

To hell with tv. There's a steady stream of roboteers in and out of the sport. Several years on it's still going strong with a number of events through the year.

I don't think TV would have a negative impact, even if, like you suggest Gary, it doesn't have a positive one.

If there are people who want to try getting it back on there, then go for it. I can't see it doing anything other than enhancing the development of what we do. If there is a plan put in place that requires my help and that I think will work, I will be more than happy to help out and do my bit in the areas I mentioned earlier, but there needs to be a plan. So, get the discussions going and we'll see what we can come up with. I would suggest that either here or in another thread the discussion should be How would it be done rather than Should it be done just to see what ideas people have and if any of them are achievable.

P.S. Feel like i'm at Uni again talking like this... :lol:

Haven't really read this thread just skimmed it

Tv would have a negative impact, loads of people would see it on the tv and think 'that looks a
Laugh I'll do that' then the forum will be inundated with beginners and /stupid questions. They'll even be some people so defficent they'll be strapping magnetrons to rc cars, welding co2 bottles randomly, raiding old x ray machines for parts OR WORSE!