Compared to the time of the roboteers and the expenses of a robot? If you dont get sponsored for a lot of it, something of the calibre of Storm or Typhoon is going to be very expensive, and many roboteers wouldnt take long to rack up a similar fee in consultancy rates (certainly less than the time spent on most robots).

Its got to be enough to make it worth trying for even though you probably wont win it. £3000 covers few modern robots in raw parts, let alone time, and with the house robots able to inflict arbitrary damage... Id rather enter a competition with the same prestige, no winners fee, but a tap-out for losses.

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Fluppet