- "Who can stop-per, the whopper, that is Chopper?"
- — Jonathan Pearce introduces Chopper.
Chopper was a robot that exclusively fought in the New Blood Championship of the second series of Robot Wars Extreme, entered by a team of pilots, hence the robot's helicopter inspiration and name. It reached the second round of its heat, before losing to eventual New Blood and future World Champions Storm 2.
Chopper had originally attempted to enter Series 6, but failed to qualify for that series.
Design
Chopper's chassis
- "Before we started any design work we decided on the criteria that we felt would make a good robot. These were: Low profile - We felt this would give us a number of advantages: Low centre of gravity making it harder for others to flip us and it would position our weapon where we felt it would do the most damage. Rotary weapon - From what we have seen watching hours of Robot wars, it was clear to us that rotary weapons were more exciting (we were getting a bit fed up with standard wedges and flippers) and very destructive. Drive & Control - Chopper's wheels are driven by two Bosche 750w motors. Each motor is controlled by its own 4QD speed controller. The controllers are in turn controlled by a Delbots mixer board. This has proved to be a reliable and rugged combination."
- — Robots Revenge website on the design of Chopper
Chopper in the arena
Top view of Chopper
Chopper was a red, octagonal-shaped robot armed with a 1000rpm spinning bar resembling a helicopter rotor blade. It had a steel frame with two layers of amour - a bulletproof polycarbonate top layer and an aluminium bottom layer - and could travel at up to 21mph. Its weakness was listed as "poor traction".
- "We have used a wide range of materials in the construction of Chopper. The frame is made of 1 mm wall 20 mm x 20 mm mild steel square tube. The central body is made from 5 mm aluminium. The body armour is made from 10 mm thick sheets of Polycarbonate. The wheels are made from 6 inch diametre billets of solid aluminium with a one inch tread made from vulcanised rubber tube."
- — Robots Revenge website on the materials used to build Chopper
However, the weapon was ineffective and fragile, and the robot had no self-righting mechanism, which cost it against Storm 2.
Robot History
Extreme 2
Chopper's weapon and armour are shredded by Matilda
Chopper fights Mad Dog and ICU
In the first round, Chopper fought against former Series 6 competitor ICU and fellow newcomer Mad Dog. It started slowly as ICU attacked Mad Dog first, before having its spinning blade knocked out of alignment by the flywheel of Matilda, rendering it useless. Chopper then drove directly onto the Flame Pit, but despite appearing to be immobilised, it escaped.
- "Well, Chopper came out, I think with one plan in mind...Let's just get mullered! Let's get absolutely massacred, let's do our very, very worst!"
- — Jonathan Pearce as Chopper is stuck on the flame pit
ICU pushed Mad Dog into the arena wall, where Mad Dog stopped moving and was counted out, sustaining damage from Sir Killalot and Matilda as the battle ended. In spite of driving itself into danger on numerous occasions, Chopper qualified for the second round alongside ICU. There, it would meet the eventual winner of the tournament, Storm 2.
- Philippa Forrester: "Are you in good running order now?"
- Ian Bennett: "Very good running order, yes. Lowered the hammer slightly, because they've got a nice, low robot, spins a bit faster now I think, and we'll do very well."
- — Pre-battle interview.
Storm 2 takes Chopper out
Shunt axes the underside of Chopper
It did not last long, as Storm 2 rammed Chopper into the wall inside a CPZ, the force of the impact flipping Chopper over onto its back.
- "In underneath Chopper, very little ground clearance, and it didn't matter, they're over! They've turned turtle!"
- — Jonathan Pearce
With no self-righting mechanism, Chopper was counted out by Refbot, before Shunt dragged Chopper with its axe over to the Floor Flipper. Rather than being thrown forward, Chopper was thrown airborne and landed back onto the flipper, but was hurled across the arena after Shunt repositioned it for a second flip.
- "Chopper - well it was designed on a helicopter basis, came crashing down. Let's have another go, back they go, little bit higher this time, see if you can get higher than six feet off the floor, Chopper ... That's much better! That flew further than the Wright Brothers, I'm sure! Down comes Chopper. That was almost Trans-Atlantis!"
- — Jonathan Pearce as Chopper is flipped
Chopper was pushed onto the Flame Pit by Shunt before finally being pitted by Shunt.
- "Chopper, comes a cropper!"
- — Craig Charles after the battle
Results
| CHOPPER - RESULTS | ||
| Extreme Series 2 | ||
| New Blood Championship Heat, Round 2 | ||
| Heat C, Round 1 | vs. ICU, Mad Dog | Qualified |
| Heat C, Round 2 | vs. Storm 2 | Lost |
Wins/Losses
- Wins: 1
- Losses: 1
Series Record
| Main Series | Chopper 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 | Did not enter |
| 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 |
| Robot Wars Extreme | Appearances |
| Series 1 | Did not enter |
| Series 2 | New Blood Championship, Round 2 |
Trivia
- The team's name, "Those Magnificent Men" is a reference to the 1965 film Those Magnificent Men in their Flying Machines.
External Links
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