User:ToastUltimatum/Euphoria

"We've found Euphoria, and you're going up!"

- Isaac Sharp

Euphoria is a featherweight robot operated by a Newcastle-based team captained by Isaac Sharp, having originally been designed and partially built by Team Immersion under commission. It is a regular competitor in British featherweight competitions, particularly sportsman class events.

Design
Euphoria's design is somewhat inspired by Atomic, having set out to replicate its vague design principle using electric weaponry, with designer Adam Hamilton also incorporating aspects inspired by Amnesia and Gruff. Euphoria is a box-shaped featherweight driven by two brushless motors, at up to 15mph. These motors are connect through a custom gearbox to four wheels via belt system, with all four wheels being custom-molded from resin, designed to withstand hits from spinners and offer a strong grip on the arena floor. The robot's chassis is built from milled aluminium, machined by Kevin Cleasby, with HARDOX comprising the robot's top lid and weaponry. Machined HDPE billets protect Euphoria's sides and wheels, providing several inches of protection against spinners.

Euphoria is armed with an interchangeable set of lifting weapons. These are electrically powered by a brushless motor, and offer 270 degrees of movement, controlled by a large system of gears. These lifters can raise up to 60kg, and function as a quick self-righting mechanism. The lifters include:


 * A 4mm HARDOX wedge with three sharp wedgelets and folded sides, designed to fight robots without spinning weapons. Offers the most purchase on opponents and the lowest ground clearance.
 * A 5mm HARDOX flat wedge with folded sides, designed to resist horizontal spinners. The shape and nature of the scoop is a reference to the flipper of Atomic in Series 7, but without a lip on the floor level.
 * A set of twin lifting forks, designed to combat vertical spinners and other robots with hookable body shapes. Offers the most control, but the least defence.

Underneath the lifting scoops is a set of stabilisers to keep Euphoria balanced while lifting opponents. Due to a worry of the lifting scoops losing grip on opponents, Euphoria's primary strategy is to ram robots into the wall or hazards before lifting.

Etymology
The name Euphoria is a deliberate reference to the winning song from the 2012 edition of the Eurovision Song Contest, referencing the Swedish entry Euphoria by Loreen.

The Team
Euphoria is owned and entered by the TaleOfTheToaster team, captained by Newcastle-based marketing executive Isaac Sharp, who is also a member of Team Immersion for heavyweight competitions. Isaac Sharp is the driver of the machine, and he is usually accompanied by teammate Robert Gaylor. Much credit for Euphoria's physical build falls to its designer Adam Hamilton, and Ed Hodges.

The team had previously competed at British live events with The Tragic Roundabout, which occasionally still competes under the controls of Robert Gaylor. Isaac Sharp had previously attempted to enter Series 9 with Iron Heart 88.

Outside Robot Wars
Euphoria made its debut at an Irish live event in January 2020, where its first fight saw it face Barróg Doom, Regicide and Pallas. However, an oversight saw one of Euphoria's cables slip under its weapon motor, severing the connection to one half of drive, eliminating it. Nevertheless, Euphoria was repaired on-site and worked correctly during an eight-way rumble won by Red Hot Tilly Pecker.

Isaac Sharp's first robot was The Tragic Roundabout - see its own article for more information. Sharp also regularly competes at live events as a member of Team Immersion with the heavyweight Immersion, and also briefly joined Team Reckless Crabandon to operate the minibot of Crabsolutely Clawful at the FRA UK Featherweight Championship in 2019.

Trivia

 * Aside from his featherweight robot, team captain Isaac Sharp's largest contribution to the robotics community is operating the Robot Wars Wiki, having administrated the site since 2012 under the identity ToastUltimatum, also owning and moderating the Robot Wars community on Discord, Out of the Arena.