Changes: Agent Orange

Revision as of 10:26, 16 July 2017

"The Duncanson cousins were the brains behind Spin Doctor... now though, the Mandarins who rule Agent Orange..."

— Jonathan Pearce introduces Agent Orange

Agent Orange was a competitor robot which fought in Series 3 of Robot Wars. In its only televised appearance, it reached the second round of its heat before losing to Blade. The team who entered it had previously competed in Series 2 with Spin Doctor.

Agent Orange's name and colour scheme were both inspired by the toxic herbicide used in chemical warfare, most notably by the U.S. Military during the Vietnam War.

Design

Agentorangeinsides — The insides of Agent Orange

"We built it out of polypropylene, which is an industrial-grade plastic; basically so that it's really light, which means we can get lots of big nasty weapons in."

— Phil Duncanson explains Agent Orange's use of plastic armour

As its name suggested, Agent Orange was an orange box-shaped robot armoured in polypropylene plastic and equipped with two potent weapons - a front set of hydraulic pincers and a rear-facing pickaxe made out of a garden fork. The pincers were capable of cutting through scaffolding pipes and metal box sections, while the axe swung quickly at a range of 180 degrees and was capable of causing considerable damage to other opponents. The robot was also fast and manoeuvrable, but had fragile armour, no self-righting mechanism by the time of its televised appearance, and poor reliability.

Qualification

Agentorangeseris4 — Agent Orange as it failed to qualify for Series 4

Following its Series 3 performance, Agent Orange was upgraded with a self-righting mechanism and attempted to enter Series 4. However, it failed to qualify despite winning its qualifier battle:

"We had a great fight, many of the crew came up afterwards and said it was a real good one (one even said it was the best so far). We did fry our speed controller though which in turn took all our wiring with it sending huge clouds of white smoke out the top. Looked great. And all because the producers asked us to get our fur covered opponent on to the flame pit. We tried pushing them (some thing the Agent is not really designed for) and bang! I assume that although it was a great fight (our best yet) we showed a weakness and that was all the excuse they needed to strike us off the list. Worst bit was we got her home, changed 2 wires and she ran straight away."

— Peter Duncanson on failing to qualify for Series 4^[1]

The team also attempted to enter Series 5, but failed to qualify again, before retiring from Robot Wars altogether:

"... it's getting harder and harder to stay competitive. Plus, I have other things in my life now. A new wife, new house, new job all of which takes up more and more of my time and money. I'd also lost some of that zest after the shambles that was Series 3. I was just not enjoying the tv part of it anymore. ... I was going to back down after Series 4, hopefully having gone out with a bang, but we did not make it on. Then Dave (my team mate) said he really wanted to give it another go but would not unless I went with him."

— Pete Duncanson on retiring from Robot Wars

Robot History

Series 3

Agent orange vs max damage — Agent Orange attacks the immoblie Max Damage

Agent Orange competed in Heat C, where it faced series newcomer Max Damage in the first round. In the opening seconds, it sped across the arena towards Max Damage, which failed to move at all as a result of its team forgetting to insert its killswitch before the battle. Agent Orange proceeded to slam into Max Damage's side and axe it, causing considerable damage to the latter's armour before dragging it back and forth along the side wall. It broke free before nudging and bumping Max Damage a few more times, eventually steering it towards and into the pit. With Max Damage sustaining more damage from Dead Metal and Matilda, Agent Orange was declared the winner.

Blade Agent Orange — Agent Orange approaches the overturned Blade

In the second round, Agent Orange fought Blade. As before, it immediately drove out into the centre of the arena, but hesitated as it tried to line itself up for an attack on Blade. Eventually, Agent Orange bumped into Blade side-on, but struggled to grab hold of it with its pincers until Blade bumped it back and exposed its side. This allowed Agent Orange to grab Blade and push it across the arena, but the two robots separated after it fired its axe on Blade's top panel.

"Ooh, and in comes the pickaxe... like some... mental woodpecker!"

— Jonathan Pearce after Agent Orange axes Blade

Blade attacks agent orange — Matilda lifts and nearly overturns Agent Orange

Blade Agent Orange 1 — Agent Orange (background) struggles for mobility as Blade spins round in victory

With smoke billowing from beneath its axe, Agent Orange again nudged and positioned itself around Blade, before pursuing and grabbing it by its lawnmower blades as the latter drove precariously towards Matilda's CPZ. This caused Blade to be flipped onto its side by an arena spike, with Agent Orange nudging the stranded Blade into Matilda. Agent Orange rammed into Blade again as it was knocked back onto its wheels, but was briefly blocked by the same spike, and later appeared to suffer from drive problems as Blade pushed it into the CPZ. It was lifted three times by Matilda as it tried to push Blade back, and a fourth time after swinging its axe vigorously. After being bounced by the arena spike, Agent Orange charged backwards into Blade and alongside the Flame Pit, but still struggled for mobility as Blade bumped and pushed it. Eventually, it was left immobile on one side, although it had still survived long enough for the battle to go to a Judges' decision. The decision went 2-1 in favour of Blade, eliminating Agent Orange from the Third Wars.

Results

AGENT ORANGE - RESULTS
Series 3
The Third Wars - UK Championship Heat, Round 2
Heat C, Round 1	vs. Max Damage	Won
Heat C, Round 2	vs. Blade	Lost

Team spin doctor — The Duncanson cousins in the pits with Agent Orange

Wins/Losses

Wins: 1
Losses: 1

Series Record

Series	Agent Orange Series Record
The First Wars	Did not enter
The Second Wars	Entered with Spin Doctor
The Third Wars	Heat, Round 2
The Fourth Wars	Failed to qualify
The Fifth Wars	Failed to qualify
The Sixth Wars	Did not enter
The Seventh Wars	Did not enter
Series 8	Did not enter
Series 9	Did not enter
Series 10	Did not enter

Trivia

Agent Orange was originally going to be paired up with Milly-Ann Bug for the Tag Team Terror competition in Series 3, before the event was cancelled.
According to Peter Duncanson, Agent Orange is female.
Agent Orange's gearboxes were donated by David Brown Gearboxes, the team used the workshops of Hickson & Welch to build the robot, and Andel Flood Detection systems gave support during the robots construction. ^[2]

References

↑ [1]
↑ [2]

External Links

Agent Orange website (archived)

[1] [1]

[2] [2]

[1]

[2]

@@ Line 12: / Line 12: @@
 |weapons=Front Pincer & Pickaxe
 }}
+{{Quote|The Duncanson cousins were the brains behind Spin Doctor... now though, the Mandarins who rule Agent Orange...|[[Jonathan Pearce]] introduces Agent Orange}}
-{{quote|We built it out of polypropylene, which is an industrial plastic, basically because it's really light, which allows us to get lots of big nasty weapons in.|Phil Duncanson}}
-'''Agent Orange''' was a competitor robot that entered Series 3 of ''[[Robot Wars]]''. It reached the second round of its Heat before losing to [[Blade]], and was painted orange and  named after the toxic poison used in chemical warfare, most famously in the Vietnam War. Its team had previously competed in Series 2 with [[Spin Doctor (Series 2)|Spin Doctor]].
+'''Agent Orange''' was a competitor robot which fought in [[Robot Wars: The Third Wars|Series 3]] of ''[[Robot Wars]]''. In its only televised appearance, it reached the second round of its heat before losing to [[Blade]]. The team who entered it had previously competed in [[Robot Wars: The Second Wars|Series 2]] with [[Spin Doctor]].
+Agent Orange's name and colour scheme were both inspired by the toxic herbicide used in chemical warfare, most notably by the U.S. Military during the Vietnam War.
 ==Design==
 [[File:agentorangeinsides.jpg|thumb|left|The insides of Agent Orange]]
+{{Quote|We built it out of polypropylene, which is an industrial-grade plastic; basically so that it's really light, which means we can get lots of big nasty weapons in.|Phil Duncanson explains Agent Orange's use of plastic armour}}
-As its name suggested, Agent Orange was an orange box-shaped robot armoured in plastic and equipped with two potent weapons - a front set of hydraulic pincers and a rear-facing pickaxe made out of a garden fork. The pincers were capable of cutting through scaffolding pipes and metal box sections, while the axe swung quickly at a range of 180 degrees and was capable of causing considerable damage to other opponents. The robot was also fast and manoeuverable, but had fragile armour, no self-righting mechanism when it appeared in Series 3, and poor reliability.
+As its name suggested, Agent Orange was an orange box-shaped robot armoured in polypropylene plastic and equipped with two potent weapons - a front set of hydraulic pincers and a rear-facing pickaxe made out of a garden fork. The pincers were capable of cutting through scaffolding pipes and metal box sections, while the axe swung quickly at a range of 180 degrees and was capable of causing considerable damage to other opponents. The robot was also fast and manoeuvrable, but had fragile armour, no self-righting mechanism by the time of its televised appearance, and poor reliability.
 ==Qualification==
@@ Line 29: / Line 32: @@
 ==Robot History==
 ===Series 3===
-[[File:Agent orange vs max damage.JPG|thumb|left|Agent Orange attacks the immoblie Max Damage]]
+[[File:Agent orange vs max damage.JPG|thumb|right|Agent Orange attacks the immoblie Max Damage]]
+Agent Orange competed in Heat C, where it faced series newcomer [[Max Damage]] in the first round. In the opening seconds, it sped across the arena towards Max Damage, which failed to move at all as a result of its team forgetting to insert its [[Removable link|killswitch]] before the battle. Agent Orange proceeded to slam into Max Damage's side and axe it, causing considerable damage to the latter's armour before dragging it back and forth along the side wall. It broke free before nudging and bumping Max Damage a few more times, eventually steering it towards and into the pit. With Max Damage sustaining more damage from [[Dead Metal]] and [[Matilda]], Agent Orange was declared the winner.
-Agent Orange's first battle of the Third Wars saw it get placed up against newcomers [[Max Damage]]. This battle proved relatively easy for Agent Orange, as Max Damage did not get under way at all. Agent Orange then sunk its pickaxe in and dragged Max Damage across the arena floor, before pushing it into the pit, putting it through to the next round of the Heat.
+[[File:Blade_Agent_Orange.jpg|thumb|left|Agent Orange approaches the overturned Blade]]
+In the second round, Agent Orange fought [[Blade]]. As before, it immediately drove out into the centre of the arena, but hesitated as it tried to line itself up for an attack on Blade. Eventually, Agent Orange bumped into Blade side-on, but struggled to grab hold of it with its pincers until Blade bumped it back and exposed its side. This allowed Agent Orange to grab Blade and push it across the arena, but the two robots separated after it fired its axe on Blade's top panel.
-[[File:Blade attacks agent orange.jpg|thumb|Matilda lifts and nearly overturns Agent Orange]]
+{{Quote|Ooh, and in comes the pickaxe... like some... mental woodpecker!|Jonathan Pearce after Agent Orange axes Blade}}
-Agent Orange's second round battle saw it get placed up against [[Blade]], where it attempted to grab hold of Blade with its pincers, but failed. Agent Orange then pursued Blade around the arena until Blade was flipped onto its side by an arena spike, only for  [[Matilda]] to right them. Blade pushed Agent Orange into Matilda's CPZ. Agent Orange escaped, but then broke down, thus sending it out of the competition.
+[[File:Blade attacks agent orange.jpg|thumb|left|Matilda lifts and nearly overturns Agent Orange]]
+[[File:Blade_Agent_Orange_1.jpg|thumb|Agent Orange (background) struggles for mobility as Blade spins round in victory]]
+With smoke billowing from beneath its axe, Agent Orange again nudged and positioned itself around Blade, before pursuing and grabbing it by its lawnmower blades as the latter drove precariously towards Matilda's CPZ. This caused Blade to be flipped onto its side by an arena spike, with Agent Orange nudging the stranded Blade into Matilda. Agent Orange rammed into Blade again as it was knocked back onto its wheels, but was briefly blocked by the same spike, and later appeared to suffer from drive problems as Blade pushed it into the CPZ. It was lifted three times by Matilda as it tried to push Blade back, and a fourth time after swinging its axe vigorously. After being bounced by the arena spike, Agent Orange charged backwards into Blade and alongside the Flame Pit, but still struggled for mobility as Blade bumped and pushed it. Eventually, it was left immobile on one side, although it had still survived long enough for the battle to go to a [[Judges|Judges' decision]]. The decision went 2-1 in favour of Blade, eliminating Agent Orange from the Third Wars.
 ==Results==
@@ Line 43: / Line 49: @@
 |}
-[[File:Team_spin_doctor.JPG|thumb|Team Spin Doctor in the pits with Agent Orange]]
+[[File:Team_spin_doctor.JPG|thumb|The Duncanson cousins in the pits with Agent Orange]]
 ===Wins/Losses===
 *Wins: 1
@@ Line 63: / Line 69: @@
 {{Series 3 Competitors}}
 [[Category:UK Series competitors]]
 [[Category:Robots that debuted in Series 3]]