- "One Sunday morning, having been a fan of the Robot Wars tv programme, and seeing Hypno-disc rip the robots apart, I realised I had the know-how to build a robot. Obviously I wasn't able to spend thousands of pounds on it, but I was confident that I could. ... My Dad always said I should do it, but I never took him seriously, then on that Sunday morning I phoned him and told him that I was going to build a robot and to start thinking about ideas. From that point on, it began ..."
- — John Findlay on building Banana-R Armour[1]
Banana-R Armour was the first robot from Team Roaming Robots, which attempted to qualify for Series 4 of Robot Wars. Despite performing strongly in its qualifier, it became immobilised during the battle due to aerial issues, and failed to qualify as a result.
The team salvaged a lot of Banana-R Armour's mechanical components to create its successor, T-Bone, which qualified for Series 5 and fell in the first round. Team Roaming Robots also failed to qualify for Series 5 and 6 with early incarnations of Ripper, but qualified for Series 7 with an updated version.
Design[]
Banana-R Armour from one end, with its cutting disc visible
Banana-R Armour was a dark green and yellow, two-wheel drive robot with a steel box-section chassis and a semi-circular bodyshell. The shell, made out of a disused oil drum, gave it rollover capabilities, a factor John Findlay considered highly important when facing opponents with powerful flippers. As its main weapon, Banana-R Armour featured a two-chiseled horizontal spinning disc, weighing 10kg and converted from a Metro flywheel. During testing, the disc was capable of cutting through 3mm steel, suggesting that it had the potential to be highly damaging in combat. A pointed wedge shape also featured at the other end of the drum shell, enabling Banana-R Armour to get underneath and push opponents as a secondary tactic. Drive power came from Mini starter motors, which Findlay had obtained through racing this model in motorsport events.[1]
Through mostly being built out of secondhand and scrap materials - also including wheels from wheelie bins - Banana-R Armour cost only £100 to build. In keeping with its name and theme, a 'Canary Island Fluffy Banana' mascot sat on top of the oil drum shell.[1]
Etymology[]
The robot's name was a pun on the pop group Bananarama.
Qualification[]
Like other Series 4 applicants, Banana-R Armour attended the Robot Mayhem live event serving as the official qualifiers. An early issue with its failsafe was uncovered upon arrival for the 27 July 2000 shows, requiring the team to buy and install a key ignition switch before it could compete. Once Banana-R Armour was suitably modified, it was originally intended to face UFO in its first qualifier, but the battle did not take place as the latter suffered technical problems of its own.[2][3] Banana-R Armour thus was reallocated to fight an unidentified opponent, described as an aluminium square-shaped robot armed with a spike.[1]
Though taking early an early puncture hole to its bodyshell, it started well, cutting into its opponent with its disc. The blow caused extensive damage, ripping an entire corner armoured with aluminium, nylon and metal box section. While its opponent ended up in a CPZ, Banana-R Armour diverted its attention towards attacking Shunt, only to lose one of its disc chisels upon hitting him. Upon meeting its opponent, the failsafe for Banana-R Armour triggered, immobilising it at once and causing it to lose the battle. Banana-R Armour would not qualify for The Fourth Wars as a result, with the team later discovering that its radio reception issues were caused by the aerial not having enough reach. In addition to the missing chisel, the disc also suffered from a broken support bearing.[1]
- "With all the flames and grinders, my robot kicked into fail-safe mode due to radio interference. And that was that, it just stopped on the spot, and so we lost the fight, even though we did show aggression with all the damage caused. On inspection, it was the aerial not sticking out enough that caused the problem, and the only damage to us was a hole in the body, and the weapons support bearing had shattered."
- — John Findlay, explaining Banana R-Armour's aerial issues[1]
Banana-R Armour (left) with Eco Warrior (right) after the Series 4 qualifiers
At Robot Mayhem, Team Roaming Robots met the Eco Warrior team, and challenged them to a practice battle at a local car park after the qualifiers to further test each others' robots.[1] The two teams would later collaborate to build T-Bone for Series 5.
Series Record[]
| Main Series | Banana-R Armour Series Record |
|---|---|
| The First Wars | Did not enter |
| The Second Wars | Did not enter |
| The Third Wars | Did not enter |
| The Fourth Wars | Failed to qualify |
| The Fifth Wars | Entered with T-Bone Failed to qualify with R.I.P.P.E.R. |
| The Sixth Wars | Failed to qualify with Ripper 2 |
| The Seventh Wars | Entered with Ripper Featherweight Championship with Rip |
| Series 8 | Ineligible with Ripper |
| Series 9 | Ineligible with Ripper |
| Series 10 | Not selected with Cyclone |
| Robot Wars Extreme | Appearances |
| Series 1 | Did not enter |
| Series 2 | Entered with Neoteric |