Blur was a robot built by Team Power which attempted to enter Series 4 of Robot Wars. It failed to qualify for the latter series as its design was outlawed during construction, due to it being considered too dangerous for the Plexiglass wall sections of the main arena to contain.Citation?
Team Power also withdrew from the Series 4 qualifiers with Tecumseh, and had previously entered Series 1 with Barry and Series 3 with Sonic.
Design[]
Blur was a circular, three-wheeled, sit-and-spin robot which used LEDs and sensors in order to steer itself across the arena. This drive system would have been potentially unique for a Robot Wars competitor at the time, serving as a precursor to the "Meltybrain" technology later used by Nuts 2 in the rebooted series. Blur's internal construction was similar to those of the American robots Y-Pout and Why Not, with three wheels, batteries and motors positioned in a triangular layout and encased in a 3mm thick steel 'hoop'. Both the top and bottom of the wheels protruded from Blur's chassis, potentially allowing it to run inverted.[2]
Blur's 'hoop' also doubled as the robot's weapon, as it was to be lined with cutting blades on the outside after testing; the blades were intended to cause damage to other robots when Blur itself spun. The robot itself also featured an 8mm chequer-plate baseplate, which initially had a single stainless steel 'claw' bolted onto its perimeter. However, the 'claw' was removed and intended to be replaced with the cutters, as Team Power considered that its asymmetrical design would affect Blur's balance while rotating.[2]
Before starting work on Blur, Team Power built a miniature prototype to demonstrate the robot's drive system using four wheels and two batteries[3]; indeed, they initially planned to build Blur with four wheels, batteries and motors, before settling on its three-wheeled configuration.[2]
Series Record[]
| Series | Blur Series Record |
|---|---|
| The First Wars | Entered with Barry |
| The Second Wars | Not selected with Gnasher |
| The Third Wars | Entered with Sonic |
| The Fourth Wars | Failed to qualify Withdrew from qualifiers with Tecumseh |
| The Fifth Wars | Did not enter |
| 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 |
References[]
- ↑ http://web.archive.org/web/20030426021047fw_/http://freespace.virgin.net/chris.sherwood/blur/intro.htm
- ↑ 2.0 2.1 2.2 http://web.archive.org/web/20010814001734/http://freespace.virgin.net:80/chris.sherwood/blur/log.htm
- ↑ http://web.archive.org/web/20011112233224/http://freespace.virgin.net:80/chris.sherwood/blur/proto.htm