Red Virus

Red Virus
Participation Information
US Season	1
Team Information
Team	Team Dreamdroid
Team Members	Walter Martinez Michelle Martinez
From	Lakewood, California
Other Entries	Mechadroid (US Season 2)
Robot Statistics
Weight	200lbs
Dimensions	48" x 28" x 33"
Power	2 x Electric Motors
Weapons	Steel Fork Lifter
Statistics correct as of its most recent show/competition appearance, or if not applicable, qualification attempt.

"Okay, we have the Red Virus, ready to spread the plague!"

— Rebecca Grant introduces Red Virus

Red Virus was a competitor robot from Lakewood, California which fought in the first season of Robot Wars: Extreme Warriors. While it was defeated at the Heat stage in the US Championship on a very close Judges' decision, it finished third in the Annihilator, losing to Drillzilla.

Team Dreamdroid also entered Season 2 of Extreme Warriors with Mechadroid.

Design

"Red Virus, at 200 pounds, out of Lakewood California. It's got a lifter and steel fork for weapons, but in the past it's been a bit slow and sluggish."

— Stefan Frank describes Red Virus

Side view of Red Virus

Red Virus, as its name suggested, was a boxy wedge-shaped robot painted red with skull decals and with two outside wheels. Its weapon was a large three-pronged lifter resembling the flipper of Atomic, powered by two 24 volt linear actuators, and decorated with a pair of red-wigged skulls containing glitter for its US Championship battle. The robot was powered by 3 Hawker Odyssey PC535 12 volt batteries, with 2 wheelchair motors run at 36 volts, and was constructed with a mix of aluminium and steel. The two tyres were 10" NPC (National Power Chair) foam filled. The robot had a Vantec RDFR 47E speed controller for the drive, and a Innovation First Victor 883 speed controller to control the linear actuators. It was built over 2 and a half weeks at a cost of roughly $3500.

While Red Virus proved fairly durable and tenacious, its lifter was fragile and rather ineffective, and the robot suffered from a low top speed and low weight.

The Team

"Meet Walter Martinez - mild-mannered network administrator by day, robo combat king by night! ... Walter's obsession with bots began when he was growing up in Honduras. He competed in science fairs, and dreamed of coming to the United States."

— Robotica on Walter Martinez

Team DreamDroid with Red Virus

Red Virus was entered by Team Dreamdoid, consisting of Walter Martinez and his wife Michelle. Originally native to Honduras, Walter Martinez came to the United States to study at California State University. He then worked as a computer network administrator, as that job allowed him to work with electronics and programming, and gave him the money he needed to build robots.

In keeping with the robot's name, Team Dreamdroid wore doctor's coats and carried hypodermic needles filled with a red liquid throughout their appearances.

Robot History

Season 1

With its skulls removed, Red Virus competed in the Annihilator, fighting Skullmania, Drillzilla, Conquering Clown, Rippa Raptor and Unibite.

Red Virus picks an early target in Rippa Raptor

Red Virus (bottom left) pushes Unibite

As all six robots came together, it pushed Rippa Raptor aside before ramming Unibite head-on, allowing Unibite's disc to damage Skullmania's right-hand wheel. Red Virus then pushed Rippa Raptor into Sir Killalot's CPZ, before lifting Unibite by its disk and stopping the weapon from spinning. All six robots then locked together, forcing Refbot to come in and separate them. Red Virus progressed after Skullmania lost mobility due to its tires slipping away from their wheels and was counted out.

Red Virus and Conquering Clown come together as Unibite becomes immobilized hitting the Clown

In the second round, Red Virus was rammed by Conquering Clown into the side wall, before both robots separated and Drillzilla proceeded to push Conquering Clown back into Red Virus. Another collision between Red Virus and Conquering Clown knocked the latter's afro off, before Conquering Clown pushed Red Virus back as Unibite hit it with its disc. The impact immobilized Unibite, as it was shoved by Drillzilla, before Red Virus, Drillzilla and Conquering Clown all pushed Rippa Raptor into the angle grinders. Red Virus and Drillzilla proceeded to push Unibite onto the Flame Pit, where the latter was counted out and eliminated.

Red Virus targets Rippa Raptor in another round

With its lifter bent, Red Virus began the third round by driving straight into Conquering Clown, before Drillzilla pushed Conquering Clown around and into it. Red Virus briefly turned towards Rippa Raptor before nudging Conquering Clown again, only to retreat and push Rippa Raptor around the arena. All four robots came together in the middle of the arena, before Red Virus and Rippa Raptor surrounded Drillzilla and Conquering Clown as they continued to ram each other. Red Virus turned and chased after Drillzilla, only to push Rippa Raptor again and be pushed itself by Conquering Clown. Red Virus continued pushing and driving round Rippa Raptor as Drillzilla shoved Conquering Clown around the arena, before slamming into the latter two robots as Conquering Clown appeared to losing mobility. It resumed its attack on Rippa Raptor as Drillzilla pushed Conquering Clown onto the Flame Pit, where it was burned, counted out and eliminated.

"Its like a David and Goliath here, but there's two Goliaths"

— Stefan Frank, noting Red Virus' significantly lighter weight compared to its opponents

Red Virus pushes Rippa Raptor into the CPZ, but is attacked by Drillzilla

Drillzilla slams Red Virus into the Angle Grinders

In the fourth round, Red Virus was pushed by Drillzilla along with Rippa Raptor, and eventually locked together with Rippa Raptor, trying to drag it along the arena. Refbot came to separate Red Virus and Rippa Raptor, and Drillzilla capitalized on this by ramming Red Virus into Matilda, an angle grinder and Dead Metal in rapid succession. Red Virus was eventually immobilized following these attacks, and was counted out by Refbot, before being placed on the Floor Flipper and flung across the arena. The House Robots eventually held Red Virus over the flames and pitted it, eliminating it from the Annihilator. Rebecca Grant consoled the team, believing that they would have qualified over Rippa Raptor on a Judges' decision if the robot were not immobile.

"You've got to give little Red Virus, at half the weight, ten out of ten for effort."

— Stefan Frank

Red Virus also fought in the US Championship, facing Medusa Oblongata, 6 Million Dollar Mouse, Falcon, Shuriken and The Brute in its heat.

Red Virus decapitates Medusa Oblongata

It immediately drove away from the others as the battle began, only to push Shuriken into Medusa Oblongata and $6 Million Mouse. After shedding some glitter from its skulls, Red Virus bumped into Medusa Oblongata a few times, before trapping The Brute with its lifter and knocking Medusa Oblongata's head off as it pushed the latter into Matilda's CPZ.

"Oh, Medusa Oblongata. Look at the snake-ridden head! Red Virus goes in there with that forklift arm, and decapitates Medusa!"

— Stefan Frank watches on as Red Virus knocks Medusa Oblongata's head off

Red Virus is battered by Matilda

At the same time, Matilda slammed into Red Virus' side with her flywheel, launching it into the air and sending more glitter flying. Red Virus continued to attack Medusa Oblongata, pinning it with its forks as The Brute tried to ram both of them, and 6 Million Dollar Mouse slammed into Medusa Oblongata, breaking one of its axles. It proceeded to collide with The Brute, and rammed it close to the wall as 'cease' was called and the battle went to a judges' decision. Despite Red Virus and The Brute being the only two mobile robots, Red Virus lost the decision to The Brute, and was eliminated from the US Championship.

Results

Wins/Losses

• Wins: 3
• Losses: 2

Series Record

US Series	Red Virus Series Record
Season 1	Heat (Round 1)
Season 2	Entered with Mechadroid
Nickelodeon	Did not enter

Gallery

Red Virus in the arena

A damaged Red Virus in the third round of the Annihilator

Red Virus in the pits

Outside Robot Wars

Walter Martinez was a member of the Robotics Society of Southern California, and acted as the society's webmaster. He first became interested in televised robot combat when Dan Danknick demonstrated his robot Agrippa. He attended the 1999 BattleBots event at Long Beach, California, then decided to build his own robot. He was then approached by Randy Eubanks, to compete as part of his team, Team Boomer, when they entered the 2000 seasons of BattleBots with Subject to Change Without Reason.

"I have always liked robots and I was starting to build some small semi-autonomous robots at the time. I had heard about RobotWars in San Francisco but I did not actually get to see a real fighting robot until one day Dan Danknick (TeamDelta) came over to the Robotics Society of Southern California and demonstrated his killer robot Agrippa. I heard about the new BattleBots competition at Long Beach and that is because I actually work at CSULB so I was very excited. ... From that point I knew that one day I would be doing this. Randy Eubanks who is also part of the Robotics Society of So. Cal. was more familiar with the robot fighting scene so a couple of guys and I met with him and he explained to us how the whole thing worked. After that I went and purchased a Vantec speed controller. I started to build a robot but I quickly ran out of time and the cost for parts was very high. I continued working on my masters degree and I put the robot building on the side. In 2000 Randy Eubanks needed some help with his two robots Subject to Change Without Reason and Gold Digger."

— Walter Martinez on entering BattleBots

Walter Martinez entered his first robot of his own in Season 1 of Robotica. He became involved with Robotica in December 2000 when a producer came to the RSSC, asking for contestants for the upcoming show. He built i-Droid in 2 months, using an old wheelchair as a base. It lost in the Heats, losing to Wendingo. It lost in the Speedway and Maze, and though it won the Gauntlet, it did not gain enough points overall to qualify for the Fight to the Finish. Many of the parts from I-Droid were re-used to make Red Virus.

Zulu at BattleBots Season 2.0

The team also entered BattleBots Season 3.0 with Shaka, a modified version of Red Virus, in the Heavyweight division and Zulu in the Middleweight division, losing to Son of Whyachi and Short Order Chef in their respective only battles. The team re-entered the Middleweight division in Season 5.0 with Myter Byter, beating Logos then losing to Armadillo.

Trivia

• Red Virus holds the record for most battles fought without ever fighting one-on-one, with five melee battles.

External Links

• DreamDroid website (Archived)