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"We came up with an idea to enter Robot Wars as we felt that it would offer us some fun and a good chance to learn some interesting stuff. We approached the headmaster of our school after coming to the decision that we would have to rely on the school to fund it. After talking to him he gave the go ahead and told us we had to find a teacher to support us. We gave it some thought and approached Mr Smith, after coming to the conclusion he was the best for the job. He said 'No Problem' and away we went."
— Team Doorstop on their decision to enter Robot Wars[2]

Biothan was a competitor robot which attempted to enter Series 6 of Robot Wars. Built by students from Bishop Stopford School in Kettering, with funding and support from the school and one of its teachers, it did not qualify for the televised series despite surviving to the end of its qualifier melee.

Team Doorstop also previously attempted to enter Series 5 with a robot named Doorstop, but lost to Shredder in the qualifiers.[3] They originally planned to enter an upgraded version of Biothan into Series 7, but decided not to enter.

Design[]

BiothanNoTop

Biothan without its top panel

BiothanUnderside

An inverted Biothan during construction

Biothan was a six-sided box-shaped robot with a two-wheel drive system and a distinctive orange, blue, red, white and black paint scheme. At the time of its Series 6 qualifier, it was armed with three front-mounted 'stabbing spikes' running at a quoted 120rpm, enabling the weapon to strike opponents with up to six hits per second.[4]

The robot's construction incorporated an unusual 'paper honeycomb' shell topped by sheets of 1mm aircraft-grade and 3mm chequerplate aluminium, 5mm steel motor plates, along with 'fireproof foam' and a series of angular roll bars attached horizontally across its side and rear panels. Both of Biothan's wheels were made out of cast iron, weighing 6kg each after being machined down from their original 8kg.[5] Two 480W wheelchair motors (rated at 24v and overvolted to approximately 720 watts) enabled it to reach a top speed of 15mph.[4]

According to a list of component prices available on the Team Doorstop website, the completed robot cost £1125.71 to build. A number of parts - including armour plating and the cast iron wheels - were donated to them by various companies and individuals.[5]

For its intended entry in Series 7, Biothan's weapon was to be upgraded to a 12kg spinning disc as the spikes were deemed to be ineffective in combat. Other changes included new custom wheels made out of 300mm aluminium with industrial ball bearings, and alterations to its chassis enabling 3kg to be removed from its total weight. However, while the disc itself had been manufactured in preparation for this, Team Doorstop ultimately decided not to enter that series.[3][4]

Qualification[]

BiothanTeam

Biothan with Team Doorstop at the Series 6 qualifiers

BiothanWorkPits

Team Doorstop working on Biothan at the qualifiers

In its Series 6 qualifier, Biothan was drawn against Chompalot, Edge Hog and Rampage. Rampage was forced to withdraw before the battle, leaving the three remaining robots to fight together.[6] Prior to this, Team Doorstop found their machine to be slightly overweight at 100.1kg, having earlier estimated it to weigh only 95kg.[3]

Though sustaining a number of holes from Edge Hog's axe and getting gripped by Chompalot's pincer on various occasions, Biothan survived the full duration while also causing damage of its own to Chompalot's rear panel.[7] Other damage reported by Team Doorstop to their machine included bent spike shafts and superficial scratches.[3] Ultimately, Edge Hog was declared to have won the melee, with Chompalot also qualifying for the main series for its own performance and appealing design. Biothan, on the other hand, was not selected and thus failed to qualify for The Sixth Wars. Nevertheless, Team Doorstop had already committed to redesigning it with the aforementioned disc and, in order to meet the maximum weight limit, more aluminium components in place of some of the heavier steel/iron equivalents.[3]

Series History[]

Series Biothan 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 Failed to qualify with Doorstop
The Sixth Wars Failed to qualify
The Seventh Wars Did not enter
Series 8 Did not enter
Series 9 Did not enter
Series 10 Did not enter

Outside Robot Wars[]

Following its attempted entry into Series 6, Team Doorstop attended two live events with Biothan - the Southfields Robot Fayre in September 2002, and the Roaming Robots Wicksteed Park event one year later. At Southfields, Biothan initially competed against Roobarb in the Assault Course, but was defeated after getting flipped and having the wires disconnected from its battery contacts. Later on, it fought Kan-Opener in the non-combative Tug of War, but a lack of traction from its rubber tyre treads resulted in another easy defeat against the future Annihilator champion.[3]

Biothan was subsequently rebuilt for the Roaming Robots event, but could not compete as the team had misplaced a set of ball bearings for its wheels and could not find them in time. After this, Team Doorstop elected to stop competing due to various other commitments, though an October 2004 website update suggested that team members David Gostello and David Nelson still intended to work on Biothan after Robot Wars had entered its hiatus.[8]

After 2003, Biothan retired from the live event circuit and stopped competing.

"Increasing pressures from school work and other commitments has prevented the team from doing much towards completing the new building work on Biothan. With 8 weeks of school left, I can't see much more being done, and once we have left, even less will get done, so, it looks like this is the end. Its been a fun 3 or 4 years, hard work, but it has had its rewards. Its sad to think this is it, but thats the way it is. Biothan is in a functional state, no weaponry, but will move once reassembled, so we might be able to attend some live events, but we can't promiss [sic] anything. While we are here, the team would like to thank everyone who has offered support and advice over the years. It has been much appreciated, thank you. We have shown all the people who have doubted us that it was possible, and if they still don't believe us, they can look at all the pictures and video on the site."
— Luke Tebbutt on Team Doorstop's retirement[8]

Trivia[]

  • Biothan's batteries (which were also used for Doorstop) were lent to the team by Mike Franklin of Team 101, who also gave the team continuous advice and help during construction of their robot.[9]
    • The robot's motors were sold to the team by Peter Bignell of Inverterbrat, who also gave the team continuous help and advice.[9]

References[]

External Links[]

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