- "This Centurion will go Rome-ing the arena floor to Caeser them all!"
- — One of many Jonathan Pearce Centurion puns
Centurion was a competitor robot in Series 3 and 4 of Robot Wars. After defeating Excalibur, it broke down against 101 in Round 2 of The Third Wars. It was given a last minute seeding in Series 4, but was defeated in the first round of Series 4 after being ganged up on by Splinter and Small Torque, one of several seeds to fall in Round 1.
After Series 4 of Robot Wars, Centurion was retired. Ray Tait, the captain of the team, joined the Sir Chromalot team and donated many of the electronics from Centurion to the Sir Chromalot machine entered in Series 5 and 6.
Design
Series 3 appearance
- "They lovingly hand-crafted that axe, which I find a bit scary."
- — Philippa Forrester
Centurion was a blocky wedge shaped robot, built from polycarbonate and aluminium armour around a steel chassis. The armour was the same material used to create riot shields. It had two weapons, one at each end of the robot; front lifting forks powered pneumatically by nitrogen, and a hydraulically powered axe custom designed by the team. Internally, the robot was powered by 2 Bosch 750W motors and ran on go-kart wheels. Centurion had a high top speed of 15mph.
Centurion in Series 4
In Series 4, Centurion remained much the same internally but abandoned the longer lifting forks for shorter prongs on a flipper. The flipper was capable of lifting two feet off the floor and could lift up to 120kg powered by an 80mm cylinder to produce half a tonne of force. The axe was capable of producing 15 tonnes of power. Overall, this version of Centurion was 40cm shorter and slightly lighter than its predecessor. It retained the same engines, wheels and armour.
Centurion also had a pair of high-beam headlights.
Robot History
Series 3
Centurion wedges underneath Excalibur
The axes locked together
In its first Robot Wars appearance, Centurion was drawn up against previous heat finalists Excalibur in the first round of the Heat. Centurion was quick around the arena floor, taking one axe blow from Excalibur but retaliating by pushing Excalibur into Sir Killalot and later Sergeant Bash. After it managed to escape, Centurion attacked with its axe, the two axe weapon locking together momentarily. Centurion retreated and the House Robots closed in on Excalibur whose movement was notably impeded. Cease was called and Centurion progressed to Round 2.
Centurion is knocked back by 101's spike
101 pushes Centurion into the side wall
Centurion went up against 101 in Round 2, and both robots were fast on the arena floor. Centurion started off lifting 101 with its prongs, but it was unable to overturn the invertible robot. Centurion then pushed 101 into the arena wall, but 101 recovered and after a few stabs with its retracting spike, slammed Centurion into the side wall. Upon impact, Centurion's drive chain broke on the arena spikes that were emerging from the ground.Citation? The weapons continued to fire but Centurion was deemed immobilised, and subsequently attacked by an incoming Sir Killalot. Sir Killalot badly damaged Centurion's lifting forks with its claw, almost ripping them right off the robot. Cease was soon called and Centurion was eliminated from the competition.
- "The Roman wars are about to come to an end here! Et tu, Killalote? Infamy! Infamy! They've all got it "in for me"!"
- — Jonathan Pearce, referring to Caesar's assassination with two famous quotes, the first from Shakespeare's play Julius Caesar, the second being from the film Carry On Cleo
Series 4
Centurion's opening flip on Splinter
- "Capable of Rome-ing the arena floor"
- — More Rome puns from Jonathan Pearce
Centurion was granted one of two substitute seeds that was brought in after both Trident and Blade's Big Bruva dropped out of the competition at the last minute. By the time of filming, Centurion was seeded 31st. In Heat I of the Fourth Wars, the seeded Centurion was drawn up against two other veteran teams in Small Torque and Splinter, in the first round melee. Before this battle, the other two teams had agreed to team up on the seeded Centurion.
- "15 tonnes of pressure, I don't think so."
- — Jonathan Pearce as Centurion's axe causes only minor damage to Small Torque
Centrion's axe comes down on Small Torque
Sir Killalot pits Centurion
In the battle, Splinter and Centurion clashed, and Centurion managed to flip Splinter up but not over. Splinter then rammed Centurion into the side wall, and this combined with several follow up attacks from Small Torque was enough to knock Centurion's drive out. It continued to fire its weapons, unable to gain purchase on Small Torque with its flipper or cause damage with its axe when Splinter later pushed Small Torque back into it. The robot briefly came back to life and rammed into the arena wall, where it remained until the House Robots closed in. Sir Killalot came in to break Centurion's flipper, pick it up and carry over to the pit of oblivion where it was dropped, eliminating Centurion from the competition. This was Centurion's final appearance in Robot Wars. It was later revealed that the safety device's pin had sheared during the battle, and the power from Centurion had been lost as a result.
- "We were sitting ducks."
- — Ray Tait
Results
| CENTURION - RESULTS | ||
| Series 3 | ||
| The Third Wars - UK Championship Heat, Round 2 | ||
| Heat J, Round 1 | vs. Excalibur | Won |
| Heat J, Round 2 | vs. 101 | Lost |
| Series 4 | ||
| The Fourth Wars - UK Championship 31st Seed, Heat, Round 1 | ||
| Heat I, Eliminator | vs. Small Torque, Splinter | Eliminated |
Wins/Losses
- Wins: 1
- Losses: 2
Series Record
| Main Series | Centurion Series Record |
|---|---|
| The First Wars | Did not enter |
| The Second Wars | Did not enter |
| The Third Wars | Heat, Round 2 |
| The Fourth Wars | Heat, Round 1 |
| The Fifth Wars | Entered with Sir Chromalot |
| The Sixth Wars | Entered with Sir Chromalot |
| The Seventh Wars | Failed to qualify with Sir Chromalot |
| Series 8 | Did not enter |
| Series 9 | Did not enter |
| Series 10 | Entered with Sir Chromalot |
| Robot Wars Extreme | Appearances |
| Series 1 | Entered with Sir Chromalot |
| Series 2 | Did not enter |
Outside Robot Wars
Team captain Ray Tait has built three other robots that have appeared on various television shows;
- Skeletron, (often called Skelly), an innovative robot that moved like a human and was based on a human skeleton. It entered in the rope climbing competition of Techno Games, where it won gold. Skelly still works to this day and appears at shows.
- Mechatron for Mechanoids.
- David Wreckem that appeared on Blue Peter, where it acted as a waiter, and also appeared on the show Innovation Nation.
To this day Tait still owns the shell, axe, flipper panel and wheels of Centurion, but the frame was disposed of after being damaged.
- "Sadly there's not much left of Centurion apart from some poly body panels, front armour plate, lifting forks, Axe and the wheels. Centurions framework got cut up as it sustained some damage, the motors, batteries and airvalves went into Sir Chromalot."
- — Ray Tait
At the High Wycombe Charity Event, organised by Bledlow ridge CC School in June 1999, Centurion's weapon had 4 prongs instead of 2 and took on other robots such as Panic Attack, Griffon, Miss Struts and both versions of Inquisitor. - http://robotwars101.org/events/1999/Wycombe1999/
Trivia
- Both of Centurion's appearances were in the same Heat as Eric.
- In the Robot Wars Official Sticker Collection, Centurion was listed as Centurion II. This name has not been used outside of the book.
- Team member Matt Tait went on to work for the Robot Wars production company Mentorn, was a member of the first steering group and managed the Robot Wars website and forum from Series 4-7.
References
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