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"The plan to build a robot started when series 3 aired and I stupidly thought "I could do that". So with a budget of about £600 and a very limited Idea of engineering and electronics off I voyage into the world of "What's that do""
— Ian Rotheram outlines his intent to enter Robot Wars

Gothix, also known as Vampyre, was a heavyweight robot that attempted to qualify for Series 4 of Robot Wars. While the robot did not qualify for the series, builder Ian Rotheram would later qualify with Derek.

Design[]

Though little is known about the design of Gothix, the robot's website states it was armed with front-mounted jaws and a srimech arm at the back, which also doubled up as a flipper. Unlike jaws on robots such as Kan-Opener which were intended to crush opponents between them, Gothix's weapon was designed to ram into a robot and then pry it apart.

The robot was armoured in 6mm polycarbonate and rested on a 12mm baseplate. Gothix had several different sets of wheels, which could be swapped out for the Arena and The Gauntlet stages.[1] This confirms Gothix was designed prior to knowledge of Trials stages being dropped from the show.

The initial design for a heavyweight entry was described as a hybrid of Mortis and house robot Matilda, taking inspiration from the house robot's aesthetics, and the Series 2 semi-finalist's weaponry. This idea was quickly scrapped, as it became too complicated to construct an axe mechanism for the robot, which was intended to utilise as many prebuilt components as possible.

"The original design was christened "Mortilda" for reasons which become obvious when you see it. I loved the shape of Matilda and the axe of Mortis combine the two and you get "Mortilda""
— The team explains the robot's initial design on their website

Once design plans for what would become Gothix commenced, a second-hand pneumatic ram and a pair of 5-port valves were purchased from the team behind Series 3 competitor Crippler. This would form the basis of the robot's srimech and front jaws.

As the Gothix website's build diary has no updates more recent than June 2000, it is unknown whether the robot was ever completed.

Etymology[]

  • The name Gothix relates to gothic culture, as reflected in the robot's typography and website design.
  • Vampyre is an alternative spelling of "vampire", used in several pieces of film media.
  • Mortilda is simply a portmanteau of build inspirations Mortis and Matilda.

The Team[]

Gothix was designed and built by Ian Rotheram, an engineer working at Ventcroft in Cheshire[2]. While it is not known whether there were any other members of the team, Rotheram would also form part of Team Derek.

Series Record[]

Series Gothix Series Record
The First Wars Did not enter
The Second Wars Did not enter
The Third Wars Did not enter
The Fourth Wars Failed to qualify
The Fifth Wars Entered with Derek
The Sixth Wars Entered with Derek 2
The Seventh Wars Did not enter
Series 8 Did not enter
Series 9 Did not enter
Series 10 Did not enter

Trivia[]

  • Gothix was one of several robots which did not qualify for Robot Wars to be named on their official website.
    • It was labelled a "heavyweight with axes", which is likely an error as this more accurately describes the builder's initial concept for Mortilda.

References[]

Navigation[]

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