MONTE was a robot that competed in the pilot recording of Robot Wars, ahead of Series 8. MONTE was built by Team MAD captain Alan Young in 2014, but Alan Young loaned the machine to fellow producer in Series 8, Paul Streeter of Robo Challenge.
Design[]
MONTE was an axlebot, with a static hammer attached for weaponry, technically lacking an 'active weapon'. Although it can spin on the spot or swing overhead to cause damage, its wheels were exposed and vulnerable, with the robot being comparatively light in weight. MONTE was built not with competitive combat in mind, but as a simpler low-maintenance robot for live demos run by the team which could be entrusted to roboteers and non-roboteers alike.
- "As for Monte, it was only ever built as a fun robot for our smaller demo events, i needed something simple and that would make a bit of noise and be fun to watch and drive, it was never built to be competitive."
- — Alan Young's design philosophy for MONTE[1]
Etymology[]
MONTE's name appears to be a reference to M.O.N.T.E. (Mobile Omnidirectional Neutralization and Termination Eradicator, pronounced "Monty"), a middleweight combat robot built by Howard Wolowitz in the The Big Bang Theory episode "The Killer Robot Instability".
The Team[]
MONTE was originally built by Alan Young, the captain of Team MAD, who is still the owner of the robot to this day, having built MONTE for exhibition fights at his touring Robots Live! event series. When MONTE entered the pilot episode ahead of Series 8, Alan Young was already competing with his robot Merlin, so he loaned MONTE over to Paul Streeter, an employee of Robo Challenge who went on to drive Shunt for the three reboot series that followed the pilot.
Qualification[]
MONTE never made a deliberate effort to apply for any series of Robot Wars. For the filming of the pilot episode, the production staff were required to assemble a number of competitors to enter the pilot without entering the main competition, and MONTE was one of two robots (alongside Merlin) provided by at-the-time production crewmember Alan Young for this purpose.
Robot History[]
Series 8[]
Paul Streeter with MONTE
Although MONTE did not take part in the main competition of Series 8, MONTE took part in the pilot recording, a camera test filmed on March 1st as practice for the main series a few days later.
MONTE in the arena with Reaper
In its first battle, MONTE was drawn up against fellow Team MAD entry Merlin, alongside Reaper and Wraith. Wraith had technical problems and was forced to withdraw, leaving three robots to fight it out. It didn't take long before the drive on one of MONTE's wheels broke, leaving it to drive round in circles, until eventually, it was pitted by Reaper, eliminating MONTE from the competition.
MONTE in the pits, in Heat 3
Merlin, Turbulence and MONTE make cameos
Despite not competing in the main series, MONTE did make some cameo appearances. In Heat 3 while Team S.Tek are being interviewed MONTE can be seen in the background. MONTE, with Turbulence and Merlin, made a second cameo in Heat 4 at the beginning of the episode when Angela Scanlon introduces the pits, and it could also be seen during Heat 5.
Results[]
| MONTE - RESULTS | ||
| Series 8 | ||
| Series 8 - Pilot Episode Round 1 | ||
| Pilot Episode, Group Battle | vs. Merlin, Reaper, Wraith | Eliminated |
Series Record[]
MONTE in the pits (centre)
| Main Series | Monte 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 | Featherweight Championship with Alpha and G2 Withdrew before qualifiers with Merlin |
| Series 8 | Pilot, Round 1 Entered with Apollo Entered Pilot with Merlin |
| Series 9 | Entered with Apollo |
| Series 10 | Entered with Apollo |
| Robot Wars Extreme | Appearances |
| Series 1 | Did not enter |
| Series 2 | Entered with Gladiator, Flybot, Chroma and Hades |
NOTE: This Series Record reflects the competitive record of Team MAD, as driver Paul Streeter was the driver of Shunt throughout the reboot.
Outside Robot Wars[]
MONTE was built in 2014 and was finished in June, where it made its debut at the team's own event at Edinburgh. It lost its first fight to Merlin, another Team MAD robot, after it was flipped out the arena. Since then, MONTE rarely fought at larger scale events and usually only fought at demonstration events by Robots Live!, such as those at the Comic Con events held at the likes of Manchester and Glasgow. On one occasion in 2017, MONTE defeated Apollo[2], also winning a battle under the driving of Anthony Murney at a Robots Live! event - MONTE was also the first international robot to win a fight in Russia.
MONTE also fought in the first Robots Live! event held in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia in November 2021, alongside a number of other Robot Wars and King of Bots machines, including Apollo, Orion, Vulcan from Team MAD, losing to the former in the first round of the tournament bracket. It amassed a total of three wins during its round robin fights, joint least overall alongside Behemoth, Terrorhurtz, Turbulence and Vulcan. This proved to be MONTE's final event in this incarnation.
MONTE in February 2022 upon its retirement
In February 2022, the original version of MONTE was retired and Robots Live! stated their intentions to build a new version of MONTE later in 2022 as part of a video tutorial on building a heavyweight robot.[3] Despite original intentions to scrap the robot, MONTE was later put up for sale on eBay with its funds going to charity.[4]
For more information on MONTE's driver at the Robot Wars pilot, Paul Streeter and his robots, see here.
References[]
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