- "The aim was to attend and take the pish out of the people who do it seriously by building the most ridiculous looking machine imaginable and dressing up in the most surreal fashion. Team Blue mission statement: Winning is not part of the agenda!"
- — Karl Jones[1]
Blue was a robot that competed in the first series of Dutch Robot Wars. Largely considered a joke entry, Blue still caused one of the most unexpected upsets in Dutch Robot Wars when it knocked out Project One, the robot that many people thought would go all the way.
Because the robot was a joke entry that was painted entirely blue, the team provided levity by dressing up like blue-skinned aliens who could not speak. In interviews, the team members, all three of which were referred to as 'Blue', communicated only by handing notes to pit reporter Bridget Maasland, or through a Dutch-speaking crew member named Django, who acted as their mouthpiece.
- "Team Blue; Blue, Blue and Blue, and their robot Blue."
- — Django, introducing Team Blue
Team captain Chris Coates was originally from England, but entered Dutch Robot Wars as he was living and working in the Netherlands.
Blue did not appear in the second series, but the captain, Chris Coates, worked with Frank Van Dorschot of Maximill to create a new robot called Bluemax.
Design
Blue's design and inspiration was from the team's disregard of roboteers whom had built serious robots. This in turn led Blue to be built as "the most ridiculous looking machine imaginable". This meant that the robot was considered a joke entry as a result.
Blue ultimately became an invertible box-shaped robot that was painted entirely blue, in order to correlate with the name and theme. It was also armed with a blue octagonal spinning disc for a weapon. The robot's armour was made of chicken wire, covered in Tigger masks and cavity foam, and adorned with blue smoke bombs. This armour meant that it was prone to being easily damaged, as well as prone to fire, as proven in the first round against Project One. To make matters worse, the robot was generally slow and difficult to control at times, especially when facing Project One.
Robot History
Dutch Series 1
Blue on fire
Blue's first match was against Project One. Both robots were sluggish and hard to control, but eventually they met, and Project One tore some chunks off of Blue with its axe/lifter combination. Project One then got under Blue, and in the process of lifting it, tore one of Blue's side panels off. Blue then caught on fire, but was still mobile. Project One however, had broken down.
Enderbot damages Blue with its axe
Blue advanced to the Heat Semi-final, where it met Enderbot. Enderbot used its axe to knock off Blue's top panel, leaving its electronics exposed. Enderbot continued to smash Blue with its axe, and Blue lost an entire side panel again. Shunt came in and hammered the panel with its axe, but the panel became stuck onto its axe and couldn't be shaken off. Blue meanwhile had shed its entire outer shell, and was being counted out by Refbot. After it was officially deemed immobile, Shunt, still bearing the chunk of Blue's armour (not dissimmilar to an attack on Banshee in Series 4 of the British wars), pushed Blue into the pit.
Results
| BLUE - RESULTS | ||
| Series 1 | ||
| Dutch Championship Heat, Semi-Final | ||
| Heat D, Round 1 | vs. Project One | Won |
| Heat D, Semi-Final | vs. Enderbot | Lost |
Wins/Losses
- Wins: 1
- Losses: 1
Series Record
| Dutch Series | Blue Series Record |
|---|---|
| Series 1 | Heat, Round 2 |
| Series 2 | Entered with Bluemax |
References
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