User blog:DasQBert/Top 10 Ambitious Robots in Robot Wars

One of the beautiful things about Robot Wars is, so long as it fits within the weight limit and can pass inspections, you can build a machine any way you want. There are the tried and true methods of a wedge flipper, a spinning disc, or a hammer. There are also unique weapons that may work or not. But these ten machines tried something very novel, usually not to great success, but that doesn't mean their efforts shouldn't be commended for trying something out of the box.

Number 10
Sumpthing The only robot on this list with more than one appearance, Sumpthing reveled in the low tech. Sure in the earlier days of Robot Wars it wouldn't seem like much of an advancement, but by Series 3 machines were evolving fast and here comes a machine that was literally made of old scrap metal and gears. What's arguably more ambitious was its teams tenacity to remain with this low tech aesthetic all the way up into Extreme 2! True the robot did have many notable flaws and was frail it was a scrappy little machine and of course who could forget Dig, who was in essence Jack Sparrow enters Robot Wars. Main reason it's so low is its means of creation were unique, when the design necessarily wasn't far off from machines like Stinger

Number 9
Saw Point There's a reason rubber wheels are the norm in most four/two wheeled transportation: they're wide, give a solid grip, and can be easily repaired if distorted. That of course didn't stop the Saw Point team (Series 4) from trying something different: that being using saw blades. Now Saw Point wasn't the first machine to try this; in the states Ginsu, a machine with similar locomotion, tried the same thing. Whereas Ginsu always seemed to struggle, Saw Point did a fairly decent job all things considered. Sure it probably would not have won a heat that series but give credit where it's due for making such a machine, and holding its own for a while

Number 8
Hammertron Spinning hammer robots are hit or miss on Robot Wars. Machines like IG-88 have done it well while ones like Axe-C-Dent faltered. However in Series 3 one machine tried something no other machine like this would ever attempt on Robot Wars since, but also did it two series ahead of the next robot to try a spinning hammer, that being Axe-C-Dent and The Alien: It had an adjustable range. Using the top panel it can orient the hammers to go from horizontal to vertical. In theory this sounds good but in execution not so much. The hammers were very floppy, having no force behind them, and once the top panel was up the innards of the robot were out in the open for attack. Even if it did make it through against Sonic, it would have been dominated by the juggernaut that was Chaos 2. Still, the team tried something very creative and at least can be immortalized in meme.

Number 7
Jim Struts Let me set the picture for Series 2: this was the first time flippers were coming effective, scoop weapons were still cumbersome and slow, disc weapons were merely store bought saw blades from the hardware store, and a simple wedge with good power can get you far. Then in the Reserve Rumble comes a gargantuan machine called Jim Struts using metal shuffling rods to move about. It was slow, it was cumbersome, and it got the win handed on a silver platter after the house robots decided everyone else was food. But this machine was the first walker on Robot Wars (UK at least, in America Mark Setrakian already had Snake out but he's a mad genius). Think about it: without Jim Struts and Team EyeEye we may have never had Anarchy. So despite a dubious victory, Jim Struts took a massive step out and inspired other such teams to follow

Number 6
Groundhog Originally for this list I considered putting Sweeney Todd on here due to its omni-directional wheels. But then I remembered, there was Groundhog a machine that attempted this almost twenty years ago! Add on that it also had a massive adjustable ground clearance and it makes this list easy. Really considering the time of gauntlet and trials this design could work if done correctly, but they continuously struggled and were easily defeated. Still in a series of silver wedges it was cool to see such an ambitious design. Sadly after Series 2 the team decided to scrap Groundhog and enter another boring wedge that went absolutely nowhere.....

RIGHT?

Number 5
Tip Top Tip Top is probably the most normal looking robot on this list, an invertable robot with a large spinning disc, nothing unusual for Series 5. However it's its means of motion that puts the machine on the list. Instead of common drive motors, gyroscopic forces countering the disc would allow motion. Tip Top is perhaps the only machine to use such forces, even all the previous machines on this list and all future ones have some drive motor based form of locomotion but not Tip Top. Sadly this was barely seen as this unresponsive method meant it was easily dominated by an absolutely hellbent Bigger Brother

Number 4
Vortex Inducer The only machine on this list not from the UK Vortex Inducer tried a large disc on an arm. Nothing that unique, sure it's not common place but other machines in the prior and afterwards have tried this method. No what puts Vortex Inducer on this is its ability to turn a vertical cutting disc into a horizontal flywheel and back again. The machine itself was massive, probably the largest in the whole Dutch Series, but only using guide wheels to move meant it was slow and unresponsive. Shame really, if it worked well who knows what kind of damage that disc could've done

Number 3
Psychosprout Series 1 was, for all intents and purposes, a free for all. Just to make up the numbers about anything was accepted. Lightweights, middleweights, superheavyweights, tracked robots, wheeled robots you name it. But one was different than all the rest. That being Psychosprout. It was a giant dome, with a toy monster truck spinning inside to build up momentum. It didn't make it far, losing in the trial but Psychosprout represented something special about the early days of robotic combat: people would try ANYTHING. There really weren't a lot of tried and true designs so teams would try anything to stand out, and given the mixed nature of Series 1 this helped give to some of these designs including this machine.

Number 2
Wowot Second Adam Clark machine to make the top 3 of my lists, this one is high due to how intricate the design and pneumatic system of this arm was. Sure the robot was frail and a claw like that wouldn't work on robots, instead acting exactly like the skill crane machine it emulated picking up the stuffed lamb off Lambsy, but to see how one man made such an intricate weapon like this and to see the skill it would take to design such a weapon is downright astounding. Adam Clark certainly came far design wise from a silver wedge in Series 1-3

Number 1
Eleven As many know robot wars had a sister show called Techno Games, in essence an Olympic type robot show that mixed elements of Robotica in some events, and other events that involved intricately built machines to do well. One such team entered in Series 5 with a walker bot called Eleven. Why is it #1? Well look at it, the electronics, hydraulics, engineering involved to make this machine is staggering, and all for it to get naffed in seconds. It's easy to scoff at such a slow moving machine but when you can see easily how much time and effort it takes to make something that very well can get trashed, it's downright commendable. Thankfully the team did find success in the Techno Games in events that favored their design mentality better.