hey does anyone know what happened to A - Kill - robot wars 1998 international championships?
(you know, when razer destroyed shunts buldozer blade.)
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hey does anyone know what happened to A - Kill - robot wars 1998 international championships?
(you know, when razer destroyed shunts buldozer blade.)
I wonder what happened to the chaos 2 robots?
Chaos 2 is still with George Francis, it was rebuilt back to competition standards after it was destroyed in Extreme 2. The first Chaos was used as parts for Chaos 2.
I know that Suicidal Tendencies had a new version built for series 8 because I went around the workshop years ago, but I'm clueless about what's happened to it.
tried contacting them a while back before i got smidsy but i heard nothing about ST
Well, well, well, has it been that long?
A-KILL was built in my garage in Chesham bucks after seeing Robot Wars on telly. It was on telly twice (two different designs, same bot ) and failed the qualifiers one year. It was sold on ebay to finance Sawpoint. I rearly miss A-KILL it was a great bot. Just to bore you I went on to build Saw point 2 . I moved on to Tekno games with, Wizzbang , Wizzbang2, Miniwizz, Shaky the boat, Railsnail, solarslug (solar racers). Plus various others. Does anyone know what happened to Derek and Val who started Robot Wars.
Chris.
Wizzbang? Miniwizz?
I know those names... erm... wizzbang wizzbang wizzbang wizzbang... miniwizz miniwizz miniwizz miniwizz...
Were they the little orange bicycles by any chance? I was 7 when Technogames ended, my memory is a complete blur, were they the little orange bikes? If so, they were fantastic!
Were Wizzbang and Miniwhizz rocket propelled by any chance?
wizzbang 2 was again home built electric (not rocket ) bike way before you could buy them in shops. it is about 8 long and was a pig to get to work well . did get gold medal and robot of comp award. Miniwizz a year later 5 long and also the same medal and award. i still am very proud of that. it was a big shame they stoped teckno games it was great fun and so many types of bots. you had to be at the filming it was chaos. (derek and val again). oh i forgot about wizzbang 1 that was powered by a petrol strimmer engine the steering servo broke and went straight on at the first corner, if you look closely at the footage you see me and a fireman chasing after it !!
Yeah techno games was good fun, so many funny acidents! Just like with all the stupid accidents where people ended up driving into the pit in RW (sorry to anyone who did!) hey just out of interest, how much did you sell A - kill for? And yeah I had a look at the recording of techno games you are talking about and you can see you and a fireman jogging to try and keep up with your robot!
Must've been good times. :)
yep it was. it was more challenging and a lot cheaper than robot wars. but glad i did both. oh yea A-KILL sold for £250 all in, the lot fully working ready to err kill !
i dont know about you lot but we realy need to get robotics on the telly again. i did try with an idea of robot wars on water but im sorry to say knowone seemed interested. what will happen is it will become more and more underground. kids love them, we love builting them. its been to long . anyone got an idea? Chris
It would be great too see it back, maybe jonno as he has in's with sky could persuade something? :lol:
It has been discussed many times, i personally think it can be done but will take a lot of work. The reason it was dropped was lack of views so mainstream stations will just turn their noses up at Robot Wars or anything similar. I think a slightly smaller station who's audience would actually want to watch it would be the best bet (AKA Dave). Dave re-broadcast the Robot Wars repeats so they would probably be interested in televising a big live event (Like the 02, but made for TV). Needs to be very visually appealing in order to attract the Robot Wars audience as well as a new crowd. I also think the pit interviews should be brought back, though made a lot less cringeworthy! Who actually owns the rights to Robot Wars now? I believe Mentorns contract ran out a while ago? If somebody got the rights would make the job a lot easier.
what Derek and val did was to film a competition themselves and send this to various tv production companys. most of the bots were built by Derek to get the ball rolling is it were. what we need is a new comp somthing different that will attract us, the tv companys and audience. we build some bots cheaply that look good, film it and send it off. yes i know it could be a waist of time, but you'll never know if we dont try. by the way Derek was looking at robot wars using helicopters before the plug was pulled. no i dont sugest for a moment we try this, but im up for somthing anyone interested ? Chris.
I still think that the classic format could work, but try and get it on tech channels by focusing more on the tech involved and the combat rather than interviews?
Just an idea, but it's different to the old style while still keeping the core elements there?
Well you'd want Dave to comission because they are a relation of BBC worldwide (who did merchandise originally & possibly overseas sales). Plus get the house robots no questions asked.
Done a bit of research on the TV show. [*]Producer has his own production company. [*]Mentorn are wholly owned by Llanelli based Tinopolis productions (Itself owned by an English equity group, don't panic!)
Mentorn own the music indefinitely & the logo until renewal in 2017.[*] BBC own the house robots, obviously. [*]We used to own the arena :(
What always makes me laugh is this cycle:[*]The discussion of Robot Wars on TV comes up :D [*]I ask would a return to the 2nd wars gladiator format make it more televisable thus bringing about an audience increase in live events. :?: [*]Someone (invariably someone who owns or wants to own a spinner) will say that's wrong, robot wars is about fighting (despite the fact there is still fighting just less of it & that Robot wars went 2 solid years doing exactly this). :!: [*]I leave discussion be as not to start arguing :( [*]Same said someone will later say we don't need a TV show, robot combat is doing fine without it. Thereby unwittingly supporting my that we don't actually need the classic style combat on the television. :rofl:
interesting. do we want to go on telly again? is robot combat doing ok without it? it is odd that the sport you all do (is it a sport) only came about because of a tv show and i believe without some sort of media coverage it may slowly fade away. how many new bots are being built and fighting ? is it just the same old faces. yes i know i've been off the scene for a while, but to be honest i didnt even know you were out there still fighting and i'm glad you all are. i still think there is an opportunity for some sort of fighting robots on tv but it needs to be different to sell it or they will say been there done that. Chris.
ok i'll but my head on the block. i said ages ago about robot wars on water, but knowone was interested. so you know about these rc rock crawlers (got two of em) how about large scale, stick on some weapons,cover the arena in rocks and voila robot wars on rocks. yes yes stop laughing its an idea. something new/different something to sell to the tv companys. Chris. Ps Your turn ?
That sounds amazing, but bloody expensive
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!
The forum is inundated with stupid questions already. How did it work back in the Robot Wars days? If it worked then it can work now and it attracted plenty of top quality engineers, and in no way can more talent and ability hurt this forum. The people posting rubbish will get ignored as they do now and will go away, people who are willing to give it a go and learn might well manage to put something together and all credit to them, and they might be the ones who create the next evolution of the sport.
If people start being stupid and trying to put Uranium in a biscuit tin on wheels then so be it, I call that natural selection.
LolQuote:
Originally Posted by Anttazz
I would personally love to see our robots on TV again. I have never (after being a fan of RW since I was 3, now 16) seen a single person say they disliked Robot Wars and wanted it off TV. Any popular RW footage on YouTube will have comments about how much they wish the program were still around all over it. If any talks with TV companies are had, that is a good point to make; endless proof of demand for such a programme.
That said, these talks about televising come up every other month and thus far, they have come to nothing. Don't mean to put a black cloud over this, as as I said, I'd love to see our machines back on the box, but that cannot be forgotten. Somewhere along the path to television there's a wall, ways to break it need to be discussed, not what will happen if it gets broken.
Edit: I'd suggest making a thread dedicated to this discussion if talks go much further.
That was the point I was trying to make Ellis, you have probably described it a bit better though as I think I must be in a strange mood today :lol: . We would really need a plan to get something done and once we have that we can go at the TV guys. Even if, for example, that plan starts with making a Youtube channel that shows battles recorded from inside the arena using good quality cameras and edited together properly to get a presentable folio (just a possibility) or something totally different.
Again though as you say, none of the talks have had basis or direction and I think that is where the discussion needs to go if the topic is to become anything other than a random thread propping up another 5 threads about whether there should or shouldn't be a TV show.
My dad has always said (and I believe it to be true) that saying I can do is worth far less than I have done.
By that, I mean, go to a company or TV studio or channel or what-have-you not just with an idea for what could be done but with what could be done and what has been done, i.e.; with a demonstration. A small 15 minute professional looking promo that can be taken along with an idea for a television show I think would make a huge difference to our chances of convincing Dave or whoever/whatever it may be to make a move. Such a film wouldn't be too difficult to produce. So, backing up what you have said, let's get an idea on the go! :)
If we can get a few people together o pitch somethig then I would be willing to do my bit, we won't know till we try
My dad has always said, and I believe it gets truer every day. Actually doing something is far more valuable than talking about it on a forum endlessly.
My dad always said, GARY STOP USING THAT F&&&ING ANGLE GRINDER I'M UP EARLY IN THE MORNING!!!!
Get him earplugs!!!Quote:
Originally Posted by typhoon_driver
well, well, ive been away (working) for one day and look at you lot . at the moment it looks like a split decision for and against with some geat ideas thrown in for good measure. the 'letter' has been sent to 'dave' so we will see. but it does worry me that the trend seems to be that you only wish to use your bots you have. well we will see what 'dave' has in mind. by the way just wa ched a rerun of ' the gadet show' including a bot fight, was that you lot ? Chris.