Eddy Evolution

Eddy Evolution
Participation Information
UK Series	Extreme 2
Team Information
Team	Team Cykillone
Team Members	Jason Penn David Dobson
From	Watford, Hertfordshire
Other Entries	Cykillone (Series 7 planned entry)
Robot Statistics
Power	2x 12V 2Ah Yuasa batteries
Drive	2x 20W Car windscreen wiper motors
Weapons	Vertical cutting blade
Statistics correct as of its most recent show/competition appearance, or if not applicable, qualification attempt.

"Eddy Evolution is our latest featherweight robot, but this time with a devastating weapon. It uses the same wheels, electronics and batteries as the original Eddy, but instead of just two drills, we have a vertically mounted cutting blade, which can go through 4mm plywood in less than a second and gash through aluminium."

— The team's website on building Eddy Evolution

Eddy Evolution was a featherweight robot that competed in the Featherweight Championship of the Robot Rampage. As the successor to an untelevised robot named Eddy, it fell early on in its heat, which was only partially shown in a recap prior to the Featherweight Final.

Design

"We had tested the blade and it had phenomenal power. It could go through plywood more or less instantly, and could gash through aluminium without too much trouble. We decided originally to mount this using chains powered by a drill motor, but this proved difficult on a featherweight and we resorted to direct drive. This meant that a bit of the drill was actually exposed, but it was something we had to live with."

— The team on Eddy Evolution's weapon

Side view of Eddy Evolution

Eddy Evolution was a green, invertible two-wheeled robot resembling Series 3 middleweight competitor A-Kill but armed with a small spinning disc on the front. It was box-shaped by design, but its two large, custom-built wheels were completely exposed. It was armoured in 8mm polycarbonate mounted on a wooden chassis. The robot was relatively quick by using drill motors at 24V, although the lack of drive trains or gearboxes meant that the robot's direct drive system made it hard to control.

"We then realised that having the top moving up (as a sri-mec) was not going to fit in the weight limit, so we got rid of the welded wheels and replaced them with the old ones from Eddy, which were big enough to allow the robot to run upside-down, ie. invertible. "

— The team on switching to an invertible design

The robot being invertible was a decision made late into the build process, with the team originally planning to make a moving top panel to work as a self-righting mechanism, before weight restrictions forced them to abandon this idea, and use the larger wooden wheels of the original Eddy with bike tyre, instead of the smaller welded wheels the team had made for Eddy Evolution. The robot's exact weight is unknown, though the team are known to have made various weight-saving measures, meaning it was likely to be around 12kg.

"We used 24V which meant we had quite a bit of speed, and by using the same Electronize speed controllers we had the same fantastic control. Therefore, we had a fast and agile robot, which had a devastating weapon and could not be flipped. The only problem was the armour- so this time we decided to use part of the armour from Cykillone- a polycarbonate style material which is extremely light but also very strong."

— The team on finalising the design

Eddy Evolution started off as a clusterbot with a blade on a wedge named Brookes Bot and a larger robot with a forklift named KillusMaximus. The team ultimately opted to combine the strengths of both robots, using the chassis of KillusMaximus and the weaponry of Brookes Bot.

"Eddy Evolution began as two robots, a blade mounted on a wedge-based robot called Brookes Bot (named after our teacher who helped build Eddy), and an incredibly strong chassis with a fork lift named KillusMaximus. When David showed me them, I decided it would be much more successful to simply mount the blade onto the strong chassis- the best bit of both robots, to make a very dangerous one."

— The team's website on converting their clusterbot concept into a single robot

Robot History

Extreme 2

In its featherweight melee, Eddy Evolution fought AM CVn, Argh!, Bernard, Gi-Ant-O, Katnip and walkerbot Neoteric.

"Eddy Evolution has only very recently been finished, and has only fought in one tournament so far, which is Robot Wars extreme, where we didnt do too well..."

— The team describe their lack of success in the battle

Eddy Evolution backs into Katnip to avoid being shoved into Oblivion

Eddy Evolution began by charging straight into Argh's disc, who retaliated by ripping off pieces of the front armour. As Eddy Evolution attempted to back away, Argh came in for another attack, ripping more bits off it. Eddy Evolution had one wheel dangling over the Pit when it was activated by Bernard, but it was able to escape for the moment.

Eddy Evolution falls into the Pit shortly after Katnip's attack

Eddy Evolution was then attacked by Katnip, but it reversed back against Katnip to avoid being pitted. However Eddy Evolution then finished itself off by spinning around and falling into the Pit, where it was later joined by AM CVn.

"Eddy Evolution got into early trouble. Eddy, none too steady, and went to beddy! WAHHHHH! I WANT MY TEDDY!"

— Jonathan Pearce after Eddy Evolution fell into the Pit in the recap of the featherweight heats

Results

Wins/Losses

• Wins: 0
• Losses: 1

Series Record

Main Series	Eddy Evolution 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	Did not enter
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	Featherweight Championship, Round 1

NOTE: The team may have attempted to qualify for Series 7 with Cykillone, although it is unknown if the robot was completed.

Outside Robot Wars

"For those wondering, Eddy was our first ever Featherweight robot, who fought in only one battle. While Eddy was a good robot, we realised we could build something much better, and more damaging."

— The team on the original Eddy

Eddy Evolution was built as a successor to the team's original featherweight Eddy, which had only fought in one single battle at an event hosted by Rex Garrod, where it lost against Katnip and Ely-Minator. Various components from Eddy including its wheels went into the build of Eddy Evolution.

"Within a record few weeks, Eddy Evolution was ready for battle, and posed a serious threat to any opposition. This time we had reliability in our hand, too, given that we had a bit of practice at the school Autumn fair. We also managed to part-build Eddy Evolution in the school's open morning, attracting a lot of attention form potential pupils."

— The team on test-driving Eddy Evolution

In the lead-up to Robot Wars, Eddy Evolution was test-driven at its team's Autumn school fair, with much of the build also taking place openly at the school's open morning where potential applicants to the school could witness the build process.

"We've only entered Robot Wars extreme, which was a bit of a failure, so no where yet. Although technically we're 14th best feather in the country!"

— The team on their plans to compete with Eddy Evolution again

Despite the team's intentions, even rebuilding the robot's chassis for the purpose, Eddy Evolution never competed outside of Robot Wars after its competition was filmed.

Trivia

• Team Cykillone were the only entrants in their seven-way featherweight battle who did not compete in another series of Robot Wars.

External Links

• Eddy Evolution on Team Cykillone's webpage (archived)