Changes: Alpha

Revision as of 13:33, 5 April 2020

Alpha was one of several featherweights built by Team BlazerBotics, which competed in the Featherweight Championship of Series 7 of Robot Wars. It failed to progress beyond its heat after losing the judges' decision in its singular fight.

Design

Alpha arena — Rear view of Alpha in the arena

Alpha was an invertible two-wheeled robot with a box-shaped chassis and a small stainless steel front scoop as its weapon. It featured a top speed of 15mph, meaning it was one of the fastest featherweights in the competition, and it had small black bars on either side of its chassis. The back end of the robot was decorated with the Team BlazerBotics logo, and was heavily armoured. However, the robot's lack of an active weapon meant it could not leave a lasting impression on the Judges.

The Team

Main article: Team MAD

Alan Young S7 — Alan Young (right) at the controls of Alpha

Alpha was built by Team BlazerBotics, nowadays Team MAD, consisting of the young brothers Alan and Dave Young. Whilst Dave Young entered the Featherweight Championship with G2, Alpha was controlled by the older brother Alan Young in its only battle. Alan Young had previously competed with the featherweight Flybot, the antweight Chroma, and would eventually join his younger brother on the Apollo team in Series 10, having led the construction of the machine.

Robot History

Series 7

In the opening featherweight melee of the series, Alpha fought Cygnus X3, G2, Kitty, Mini-Maul, Prince of Awe and Rip.

Alpha Kitty — Alpha engages with Kitty early on

Prince of Awe vs Alpha — Alpha is flipped by Prince of Awe

Alpha began by shunting Kitty into the CPZ, before shoving Prince of Awe into the wandering Sir Killalot. It then rammed into an already immobile Mini-Maul, and pushed it across the arena floor into the side wall. Alpha darted around for a while, dodging Rip and driving up on Prince of Awe's flipper, where it was overturned. Being invertible, Alpha was largely unaffected, and it darted away while Prince of Awe chased after it briefly.

Alpha Growler — Alpha has a close call with Growler

Growler later grabbed hold of Alpha and opened the pit with it. Helpless in the House Robot's grip, Alpha was spun round for a couple of seconds before it was released back into the fight. Once it was free, Alpha attacked Kitty, pushing it from behind and ramming it into G2, before ramming Rip, whose flipper had stopped working by this point.

"We haven't seen much of Alpha yet, Alan Young, 18 years of age, driving and designing."

— Jonathan Pearce

Alpha rip kitty — Alpha shoves Rip into the CPZ

Late on, Alpha shoved Rip into a CPZ, and then attacked Prince of Awe from behind, just before G2 and Cygnus X3 were thrown by the Floor Flipper. Cease was called with four robots, including Alpha, still active, but it was Prince of Awe and Rip who progressed via a Judges' decision.

Results

ALPHA - RESULTS
Series 7
Special Events Featherweight Championship, Round 1
Round 1	vs. Cygnus X3, G2, Kitty, Mini-Maul, Prince of Awe, Rip	Eliminated

Wins/Losses

Wins: 0
Losses: 1

Series Record

Main Series	Alpha Series Record
The First Wars	Did not enter
The Second Wars	Did not enter
The Third Wars	Did not enter
The Fourth Wars	Did not enter
The Fifth Wars	Did not enter
The Sixth Wars	Did not enter
The Seventh Wars	Featherweight Championship, Round 1 Featherweight Championship with G2 Withdrew before qualifiers with Merlin
Series 8	Entered with Apollo Entered Pilot with Merlin
Series 9	Entered with Apollo
Series 10	Entered with Apollo
Robot Wars Extreme	Appearances
Series 1	Did not enter
Series 2	Entered with Gladiator, Flybot, Chroma and Hades

NOTE: Monte, a robot built by Team MAD, was also loaned to Paul Streeter in order to enter the 2016 pilot

Outside Robot Wars

After Robot Wars entered its 12-year hiatus, Alpha was rebuilt into Alpha MX, featuring design improvements enabling it to withstand featherweight spinners in full-combat events. A second version was subsequently built, although the original version also remainde competitive, having fought in over 200 battles.

Trivia

Team Merlin — Alpha's cameo appearance in Series 10

Alpha made a cameo appearance in Heat 1 of Series 10, in a photograph showing Dave and Alan Young around the time of 2004.
Alpha's only televised battle saw it fight up against G2, another robot from Team BlazerBotics.

@@ Line 1: / Line 1: @@
 {{robot
 |robot_name=Alpha
-|image=[[File:alpha.jpg|200px]]
+|image=[[File:Alpha.png|200px]]
-|caption=Alpha
 |series=7
 |other_names=
 |team=[[Team MAD|Team BlazerBotics]]
 |team_members=Alan Young
+|from=Leicestershire
 |weight=12kg
 |dimensions=
 |clearance=
 |speed=15mph
-|power=2x 150W gold motors
+|power=24v
+|drive=2x 150W gold motors
-|weapons=Scoop
+|weapons=Static scoop
 }}
-'''Alpha''' was one of several featherweights built by [[Team MAD|Team BlazerBotics]], which competed in the Featherweight Championship of Series 7 of ''[[Robot Wars]]''. It failed to progress beyond its heat, after playing very little part in its only battle and losing the subsequent judges' decision.
+'''Alpha''' was one of several featherweights built by [[Team MAD|Team BlazerBotics]], which competed in the Featherweight Championship of Series 7 of ''[[Robot Wars]]''. It failed to progress beyond its heat after losing the judges' decision in its singular fight.
-Team BlazerBotics also entered [[Chroma]], [[Hades]] and [[Flybot]] in the Antweight Championship of [[Robot Wars Extreme: Series 2|the second series of ''Robot Wars Extreme'']], as well as [[Gladiator]] in the Featherweight Championships of ''Extreme'' 2 and Series 7.
 ==Design==
+[[File:Alpha arena.jpg|thumb|left|Rear view of Alpha in the arena]]
-Alpha was an invertible two-wheeled robot with a box-shaped chassis and a small stainless steel front scoop as its weapon. It featured a top speed of 15mph, as well as small black bars on either side of the robot's chassis.
+Alpha was an invertible two-wheeled robot with a box-shaped chassis and a small stainless steel front scoop as its weapon. It featured a top speed of 15mph, meaning it was one of the fastest featherweights in the competition, and it had small black bars on either side of its chassis. The back end of the robot was decorated with the Team BlazerBotics logo, and was heavily armoured. However, the robot's lack of an active weapon meant it could not leave a lasting impression on the Judges.
+==The Team==
+{{main|Team MAD}}
+[[File:Alan Young S7.jpg|thumb|Alan Young (right) at the controls of Alpha]]
+Alpha was built by Team BlazerBotics, nowadays Team MAD, consisting of the young brothers Alan and Dave Young. Whilst Dave Young entered the Featherweight Championship with [[Gladiator|G2]], Alpha was controlled by the older brother Alan Young in its only battle. Alan Young had previously competed with the featherweight [[Flybot]], the antweight [[Chroma]], and would eventually join his younger brother on the [[Apollo]] team in Series 10, having led the construction of the machine.
 ==Robot History==
 ===Series 7===
+In the opening featherweight melee of the series, Alpha fought [[Cygnus X3]], [[Gladiator|G2]], [[Kitty]], [[Mini-Maul]], [[Prince of Awe]] and [[Rip]].
-[[File:Alpha_Kitty.jpg|thumb|left|Alpha engages with Kitty early on]][[File:Alpha_Growler.jpg|thumb|Alpha has a close call with Growler]]
-Alpha began by shunting [[Kitty]] into the CPZ. It then became largely anonymous, dodging [[Sir Killalot]], before being flipped by [[Prince of Awe]] and attacking Kitty again. [[Growler]] then grabbed hold of Alpha and opened the pit with it before the House Robot let it go. Once more, Alpha attacked Kitty, before attacking [[Rip]] and Prince of Awe. Cease was called with four robots, including Alpha, still active, but it was Prince of Awe and Rip who progressed via a Judges' decision.
+[[File:Alpha_Kitty.jpg|thumb|left|Alpha engages with Kitty early on]]
+[[File:Prince of Awe vs Alpha.jpg|thumb|Alpha is flipped by Prince of Awe]]
+Alpha began by shunting [[Kitty]] into the CPZ, before shoving Prince of Awe into the wandering Sir Killalot. It then rammed into an already immobile Mini-Maul, and pushed it across the arena floor into the side wall. Alpha darted around for a while, dodging Rip and driving up on Prince of Awe's flipper, where it was overturned. Being invertible, Alpha was largely unaffected, and it darted away while Prince of Awe chased after it briefly.
+[[File:Alpha_Growler.jpg|thumb|left|Alpha has a close call with Growler]]
+[[Growler]] later grabbed hold of Alpha and opened the pit with it. Helpless in the House Robot's grip, Alpha was spun round for a couple of seconds before it was released back into the fight. Once it was free, Alpha attacked Kitty, pushing it from behind and ramming it into G2, before ramming Rip, whose flipper had stopped working by this point.
+{{quote|We haven't seen much of Alpha yet, Alan Young, 18 years of age, driving and designing.|Jonathan Pearce}}
+[[File:Alpha rip kitty.jpg|thumb|Alpha shoves Rip into the CPZ]]
+Late on, Alpha shoved Rip into a CPZ, and then attacked Prince of Awe from behind, just before G2 and Cygnus X3 were thrown by the Floor Flipper. Cease was called with four robots, including Alpha, still active, but it was Prince of Awe and Rip who progressed via a Judges' decision.
 ==Results==
@@ Line 30: / Line 44: @@
 {{Show|Series 7}}
 {{Competition|Special Events|Featherweight Championship, Round 1}}
-{{Battle|[[Robot Wars: The Seventh Wars/Featherweight Championship|Round 1]]|[[Gladiator|G2]], [[Cygnus]], [[Kitty]], [[Mini Maul]], [[Prince of Awe]], [[Rip]]|Eliminated}}
+{{Battle|[[Robot Wars: The Seventh Wars/Featherweight Championship|Round 1]]|[[Cygnus X3]], [[Gladiator|G2]], [[Kitty]], [[Mini-Maul]], [[Prince of Awe]], [[Rip]]|Eliminated}}
 |}
@@ Line 38: / Line 52: @@
 ==Series Record==
-{{Series Record EX|Alpha|Did not enter|Did not enter|Did not enter|Did not enter|Did not enter|Did not enter|'''Featherweight Championship, Round 1'''<br>Featherweight Championship with [[Gladiator|G2]]<br>Withdrew before qualifiers with [[Merlin]]|Entered with [[Apollo]]<br>Entered Pilot with [[Merlin]] and [[Monte]]|Entered with [[Apollo]]|Entered with [[Apollo]]|Did not enter|Entered with [[Gladiator]], [[Flybot]], [[Chroma]] and [[Hades]]}}
+{{Series Record EX|Alpha|Did not enter|Did not enter|Did not enter|Did not enter|Did not enter|Did not enter|'''Featherweight Championship, Round 1'''<br>Featherweight Championship with [[Gladiator|G2]]<br>Withdrew before qualifiers with [[Merlin]]|Entered with [[Apollo]]<br>Entered Pilot with [[Merlin]]|Entered with [[Apollo]]|Entered with [[Apollo]]|Did not enter|Entered with [[Gladiator]], [[Flybot]], [[Chroma]] and [[Hades]]}}
+''NOTE: [[Monte]], a robot built by Team MAD, was also loaned to [[Robo Challenge|Paul Streeter]] in order to enter the 2016 pilot''
 ==Outside Robot Wars==
+[[File:AlphaMX.jpg|thumb|left|Alpha MX]]
-<gallery type="slideshow">
+[[File:Alpha 2014.jpg|thumb|Alpha MX in 2014]]
-AlphaMX.jpg|Alpha as it looks today, now known as Alpha MX
+After ''Robot Wars'' entered its 12-year hiatus, Alpha was rebuilt into '''Alpha MX''', featuring design improvements enabling it to withstand featherweight spinners in full-combat events. A second version was subsequently built, although the original version also remainde competitive, having fought in over 200 battles.
-Alpha_2014.jpg|Alpha in 2014 after spending 4 years sitting on a shelf
-</gallery>
-After ''Robot Wars'' entered its 12-year hiatus, Alpha was rebuilt into  '''Alpha MX''', featuring design improvements enabling it to withstand featherweight spinners in full-combat events. A second version was subsequently built, although the original version also remains competitive, having fought in over 200 battles.
 ==Trivia==
+[[File:Team Merlin.jpg|thumb|Alpha's cameo appearance in Series 10]]
 *Alpha made a cameo appearance in [[Robot Wars: Series 10/Heat 1|Heat 1]] of [[Robot Wars: Series 10|Series 10]], in a photograph showing Dave and Alan Young around the time of 2004.
 *Alpha's only televised battle saw it fight up against [[Gladiator|G2]], another robot from [[Team MAD|Team BlazerBotics]].