Haardvark

Haardvark
Participation Information
UK Series	2-3
Other Names	Armourdillo (working name)
Team Information
Team	Team Haardvark
Team Members	Owen Barwick Mike Evans (Series 2) Liz Harrison (Series 2) Steve Farley (Series 3)
From	Cannock, Staffordshire (Series 2) Staffordshire & West Midlands (Series 3)
Robot Statistics
Weight	80.2kg
Dimensions	0.62m x 1.67m x 0.82m
Clearance	10mm
Top Speed	12mph
Power	2x 12 V batteries
Drive	2x 175W scooter motors
Weapons	Hardened steel lifting forks, circular saw
Statistics correct as of its most recent show/competition appearance, or if not applicable, qualification attempt.

"I am HAARDVARK and you're toast!"

— Final line of the slogan written atop Haardvark in Series 3

Haardvark was a robot which competed in Series 2 and 3 of Robot Wars. It reached the Semi-Finals of Series 2, losing to Cassius in the arena stage, but it broke down in the final seconds of the first round of Series 3, and was eliminated.

The team originally intended to update Haardvark and enter it into Series 4, but decided not to enter and build a new robot, Haardervark, which failed to qualify for Series 5 and 6.

Design

"It started off life as a wheelchair chassis, which is the bit you can still see here, painted brown. We built it out using aluminium section, for strength and lightness. Our main weapon is a pair of lifting forks driven by a motorcycle starter motor, in there, which is powered though a reduction gearbox, a 3000 to 1 reduction gearbox, just like that, which I've designed and have maded [sic] myself. The armour is 3mm thick aluminium plate, and that is the second line of defence. The first line is our sacrificial armour, which is very thin, and the interface and the gap between this and the thick stuff should stop any cutting discs getting through"

— Owen Barwick describes the Series 2 Haardvark

Haardvark from Series 2

Haardvark was a large box-shaped robot, featuring an aluminium and steel double chassis, with the inner chassis being made from steel, and the outer chassis being aluminium for extra strength and to act as a crumple zone. The robot was made from scrap metal and a three-wheeled scooter. It was initially armoured with 3mm aluminium plate sections, along with a layer of 0.9mm aluminium, to act as "sacrificial armour" to prevent it from being damaged by cutting discs. All of the robot's chassis and were constructed from scrap metal from the skip at the team's workplace in order to save money. The Series 2 Haardvark was also painted light grey and decorated with various danger slogans and team graphics along its body, while its main weapon was a pair of six inch lifting forks (referred to as a front scoop) driven by a motorcycle starter motor through a 300 to 1 reduction gear box, custom-built by Owen Barwick. Haardvark was driven by two wheelchair motors, powered by two 12-Amp-hour valve regulated lead-acid batteries, and also featured a custom speed controller made by Mike Evans, giving it a top speed of 15mph in Series 2.

"Then we made what was probably our biggest mistake: We bought two 24 Amp-hour batteries, weighing in at a meaty 9 Kg each. Together they took up almost a quarter of the robot's final weight. But we thought we needed that much power. By the time we realised that we could be using four 7 Amp-hour batteries (at a total of 10 Kg), it was too late to exchange them"

— The Haardvark website on the batteries

The robots electronics were desinged and built by Mike Evans. The electronics were analogue proportionally-controlled power electronics, which were mounted on the underside of a vibration-dampened 4mm thick aluminium plate. The ground clearance was adjustable, between 15 and 30mm. The robot had a rear protective skirt, allowing it to climb slopes whilst still maintaining the low ground clearance.

"The essential components - chassis and motors - of the robot Haardvark came from a scooter and wheel-chair. But Captain Mike Evans built his own proportional speed controller, which allowed a variable acceleration. The central chassis was strengthened with strip steel and aluminium beams and was strong enough to carry a 114-kilogram person. In fact, Haardvark boasts a double chassis (the second being built around the first), which is enormously strong and resilient. Added to this are two layers of aluminium plating (three around the rear of the robot), which makes the robot flame-proof"

— The Robot Wars Technical Manual

The internals of Haardvark in Series 2, as shown in Robot Wars Revealed

The Series 2 Haardvark also originally featured a circular saw mounted on an arm made from Kevlar. However, the arm was removed before the series began as the team found that it pushed the robot over the weight limit. In spite of this, Haardvark's weight without the saw - 79.8kg - was still 0.4kg over the original Heavyweight limit. The saw on an arm would be shown in a segment with Mat Irvine on Robot Wars Revealed.

"Haardvark went through an extensive refit programme for Robot Wars Series 3, although we kept the internal chassis and basic shape (because we liked it). The rebuild started early in 1999, shortly after we saw ourselves on the telly. We completely stripped the original robot down to the steel inner chassis. ... The aluminium outer chassis was re-built with new aluminium sections, in the same manner as before, but stronger and better planned. ... The aluminium armour was replaced with 5mm thick polycarbonate ... Kevlar plate was strategically added to other parts of the armour as a backup material. The entire underside of the robot was plate aluminium - we forgot about armouring this bit before! ... The electronics had a make-over too. Since we’d designed & built our own, we thought it was time to make a proper printed circuit board for reliability. We uprated the switching relays, and bought four new motors so we won't have the problems we had last time."

— The Haardvark website on the internal upgrades for Series 3

Haardvark in the arena during the Third Wars

Team Haardvark show off the internals of Haardvark in Series 3

For Series 3, Haardvark underwent an extensive rebuild, with the aluminium outer chassis being rebuilt stronger with new aluminium sections, with extra aluminium, the armour was improved, the forks were re-profiled and made out of hardened steel, and the electronics and gearboxes for the weapons receiving several improvements. The aluminium armour was replaced with 5mm polycarbonate, with an inner layer of Kevlar as a backup material, and also to clog up any cutting weapons that got through the polycarbonate, and a baseplate was added, constructed from aluminium. The wheelchair motors and wheels were retained from the original version, but the batteries were changed, with the two 12 amp batteries being replaced by our 7-Amp-hour valve regulated lead-acid batteries. The robot still had analogue proportionally-controlled power electronics, mounted on an aluminium plate, but according to Owen Barwick, they were "a little more complex than last year". The armour was also changed, now having 5mm cold-formed polycarbonate sheet. The ground clearance was no longer adjustable, being set at 15mm, and the rear skirt from the original machine was modified, now being hinged in the middle. In addition to the lifting forks, the cutting saw arm was refitted and upgraded, now equipped with two interchangeable cutting discs - a reinforced abrasive disc and a diamond-edged circular saw with a diameter of 12 inches. The movable arm was 3' long, and driven by a 2.6 kW motor However, despite both being the two types of cutting disc originally considered eligible according to the team's website, the latter was not used, likely as a result of a general ban on hardened steel blades which resulted in Pussycat being disqualified at a later stage of Series 3.

"The cutting arm was added at long last, and it had been re-designed to be much more powerful than it would have been in Series 2. The blade is interchangeable, so we could use either a reinforced abrasive disc, or a diamond edged saw (the only two types allowed in the competition). The lifting forks were made longer and stronger, and made of hardened steel (EN24), of the type used in Aerospace drive shafts. So everything in the robot from the previous year had been removed, replaced or re-worked, about the only original parts were the wheels and their gear boxes. The gear boxes for the weapons were strengthened (the gearbox on the forks last year is what caused them to become loose during the battle with Vercingetorix), and made lighter. However they were still extremely fiddly, and we wished we'd made the choice to go pneumatic."

— The Haardvark website on adding a weapon for Series 3

The Series 3 Haardvark was also repainted black with the team's artwork, logo and mantra featured on the robot's armour, and cost £1,648.19 to build. At 80.2kg, it weighed 0.4kg more than the Series 2 incarnation, and 0.8kg over the original Heavyweight limit.

Etymology

Haardvark's name was an obvious pun on Aardvark, and the word 'hard'. Its team had originally intended to name the machine Armourdillo, but reconsidered their decision once they found that the name had been 'taken by another robot'. "Haardvark" was thus settled upon instead.

"Where there is harmony, may I bring discord
Where there is calm, may I induce fear
Where there is tranquility, may I summon chaos
Where there is order, may I wreak havoc
I am the necromancer and the rivet lancer
the soul taker and the circuit breaker
the foe fighter and the brain biter

I am
HAARDVARK
and you're toast"

— Full version of "Haardvark's Mantra", a slogan on the machine

The Team

"The reason we got into this mess was Owen's fault, since an offhand comment led him to commit to building a remote-controlled box on wheels. We applied to enter Robot Wars shortly after the end of the first series. He asked two of his colleagues at Lucas Aerospace to join the team - Mike and Liz. None of us had had anything to do with remote control before. Mike came the closest to that, as he is an electronics engineer; Owen and Liz are both mechanical engineers."

— The Haardvark website on entering Robot Wars

Team Haardvark in Series 2

Team Haardvark in Series 3

The cardboard cut-out of Mike Evans in Series 3

Team Captain Owen Barwick decided to enter Robot Wars on the recommendation of his wife, who also subsequently helped with the building of the robot. Barwick formed the team with two colleagues from his workplace, TRW Lucas - Mike Evans and Liz Harrison. Owen Barwick built the chassis and weapons for Haardvark, whilst Mike Evans did the electronics, being an systems engineer at TRW Lucas Automotive. He had experience building autonomous robots, and had previously worked in the same place as Owen. Liz Harrison and Owen Barwick were both mechanical engineers at TRW Lucas Aerospace, another division of the same company. The team were sponsored by Lucas, who provided £1,000 to build the original Haardvark, and more for the robot's re-development for Series 3

"Because the three of us all worked for the same company, we thought we'd try and get some sponsorship. We asked and we got it, to the tune of £1,000. This enabled us to buy the remote control system (at £200), the gears for the weapons systems gearboxes (at just over £300), the wheels (£50) and the batteries (£70). The rest of the money soon became absorbed as time went on."

— Haardvark website

Liz Harrison only appeared in Series 2, and in Series 3, Steve Farley joined the team. Steve Farley was a graphic artist, who did the art for Haardvark, as well as providing the armour. He had been a long-time friend of Mike Evans.

During Series 3, team member Mike Evans could not attend filming because he was in Australia, so the team brought along a cardboard cut-out of him.

"Mike was there, in one form or another. Actually he was in Australia with his girlfriend for three weeks. Therefore we made a cardboard cut-out of him to get his face on telly again since he'd put so much work into the electronics. We even got his Robot Wars T-shirt and ID badge. Philippa was particularly pleased to see him, and seemed to prefer him in two dimensions. In fact, Mike got more air time than Owen or Steve!"

— The Haardvark website on Mike Evans' absence

Qualification

A partially-finished Haardvark at the Series 2 auditions, originally named Armourdillo

Haardvark successfully applied for both Series 2 and 3 by attending the auditions. During the former, it was present without its weaponry or external armour, and was referred to on the Tinweb 'Dangerous Machines' website by its working name "Armourdillo"..

Haardvark without armour the day before filming, before the arm and saw were removed

Haardvark qualified for Series 2 despite being unfinished, but the robot was only just finished in time for the filming; the robot was overweight, forcing them to remove the cutting saw on an arm the day before filming, the robot's armour was only put on the day of the filming, and the robot was not working during testing.

"It was put on later that night, at about 3am, and we had to get up at 6 to drive to London for the filming! By this time, we had managed to get the robot to move under remote control, but each time we did, after 20 seconds the circuitry would start smoking and all control would be lost. So we went to the filming with a non-functional robot... At the filming, we checked in, unpacked the robot and carried right on building and fiddling with the electronics. Suddenly, it decided to start working, and it worked well! So we bolted the armour on, and the BBC effects department sprayed it white (the only colour they had left)."

— The Haardvark website on finishing Haardvark

Robot History

Series 2

"According to its stickers, its mission is to bludgeon, carve, destroy, disembowel, decapitate and violate, with a cutting disc and front scoop! It's nippy at 12mph, but its tag as a full-on annihilation unit could be a little on the large side Craig."

— Jonathan Pearce introduces Haardvark

The Haardvark team came to filming full of concern, because before Haardvark went to the filming, the robot was not working properly, and it was only repaired on-site. On top of this, Oliver Steeples asserts that during Haardvark's arena introduction, it rolled off the side of the stage and injured a crewmember.

"We had a bit of a scare with the robot, because we had forgotten to feed the aerial through to the outside of the armour. So it was very prone to interference, and ran around by itself for a while. However the BBC edited the worst bits out, so we didn't look too stupid. Short work with a drill sorted that problem out, and someone gave us a short length of yellow pneumatic tubing to protect the aerial. Then we sat down and got the lifting forks to work, something which we'd left until we had got the robot to actually move around. It's a simple mechanism: the motor drives the forks until they reach a certain point, where they contact a microswitch which stops the motor. None of this proportional control lark."

— The Haardvark website on filming the parade

Haardvark gets past The Sentinel

Dead Metal pits Haardvark

Nevertheless, Haardvark made its first appearance in the final Heat of Series 2, Heat L, where it was the second robot to run The Gauntlet. It started quickly, turning to the left-hand route with The Sentinel, where it paused for a moment to line up its charge. When it was facing straight down the course, it darted forwards, driving past The Sentinel and passing it before the arm could swing round. However, beyond The Sentinel, Dead Metal was by the Pit, blocking the route, so Haardvark swerved. Dead Metal pinned Haardvark against The Sentinel, and grabbed it in his arms. Dead Metal pulled Haardvark away from The Sentinel, and The Sentinel's arm swung over, hitting the back of Haardvark and pushing it closer to the Pit. Dead Metal finished Haardvark off by pushing it into the Pit.

"Oh well, that wasn't much "hard verk" for the House Robots, was it?"

— Jonathan Pearce as Haardvark is pitted

Despite this, Haardvark had covered 10.6m, meaning it was assured a place in the next round, having beaten Vercingetorix's distance, and it ultimately finished top of the leaderboard.

"Not that bad considering that this was only the second time that Haardvark had moved under remote control! Another reason for our robot ending up there was that the control circuitry had burned out again."

— The Haardvark website

The Haardvark team were almost forced to withdraw after this, as the robot's control circuitry burned out during the Gauntlet run, and when the team tried to repair it, Mike Evans caused the robot's control board to overheat. Fortunately, the team were able to replace it with the servo used for the weapon, so they were not eliminated. The Trial for this Heat was Sumo, and Haardvark was the last robot to take on Dead Metal, but due to the change of servo, it was only able to move forwards and backwards.

"At this point we realised what the problem was - the left-hand motor was faulty and under high loads was shorting out and causing huge voltage spikes to pass through the delicate proportional control circuitry. Consequently the robot steered hard left when the circuits burned out, probably why the robot steered straight into the pit! So rather than replace the piece of blown circuitry, Mike decided to tackle the problem in a different way. Unfortunately in the process he blew up the rest of the control board by short-circuiting the robot's batteries through the main power relay. ... So all of a sudden we were out of the running, with a completely defunct control system, and not much time until the Trial ... As a quick-fix solution, Mike re-routed the signal from the lifting forks' servo so that now it controlled the motors. Now you may be thinking, "but the forks only go up and down!", and you'd be right. Therefore all we could do is convert the up/down signal into forwards/backwards. No steering. So we're up against Dead Metal, and we can only go forwards and backwards at full power."

— The Haardvark website

Haardvark pushes Dead Metal back

Unusually, they started the trial with the robot facing away from Dead Metal, and reversing into him. It started well, getting its rear sloping panel under one of Dead Metal's arms, and with a concerted push, managed to force Dead Metal back, and actually managed to push Dead Metal close to the edge.

"That's a good early assault, look at this for a push! Liz Harrison's loving this!"

— Jonathan Pearce as Haardvark pushes Dead Metal back

However, Dead Metal turned, stopping Haardvark's momentum, and Dead Metal turned around to Haardvark's side. Haardvark drove forwards to line up another charge, but as it was unable to turn, it could not line up the attack properly, so it merely reversed towards Dead Metal, and Dead Metal spun, hitting Haardvark's side with its arm, and pushing it to the edge of the platform.

"Dead Metal almost on the edge, or was it a dummy to draw on Haardvark there?"

— Jonathan Pearce as Dead Metal turns the tables on Haardvark

Haardvark is pushed off the Sumo ring

Haardvark drove back and forth, but due to the control problems, it could not drive away from the edge, so Dead Metal charged in and pushed it off the platform, falling off himself in the process. Haardvark lasted 17.60 seconds, which was enough to finish second and go through.

"Wow, amazing! You do realize that our controller's been not terribly good, we had a big burn-out, so we only had forwards and backwards control on that, so we're thrilled that we got through, and we took Dead Metal with us!"

— Liz Harrison on their win in the Sumo

In the arena stage of the heat. In the Heat Semi-Final, Haardvark was placed up against fellow newcomer, yet also heat favourite, Vercingetorix. The team managed to to repair the robot's drive, but they had no chance to test the robot, so they went into the battle not knowing if it respond to the controller, or even work at all.

"Immediately after that round we set about adding steering to our 'new' control system. Compared to what we started with, we now had scrappy bits of wire connecting microswitches to relays, all held together by gaffer tape. All we could do for the first face-off, against Vercingetorix, was add one extra switching relay, so we could now control the left and right motors independently. However the motors were only running at half power. Fortunately for us, Vercingetorix was suffering from a serious interference problem."

— The Haardvark website

Haardvark rams Vercingetorix. Note that the forks are getting stuck in the floor.

At the start of the battle, Haardvark came in much quicker than its opponent. As Haardvark drove straight at Vercingetorix, Vercingetorix drove forwards a little, then stopped and raised its lifter. Vercingetorix was having control problems from the beginning, and as Haardvark closed in, Vercingetorix was only turning on one wheel. Haardvark rammed into the front of Vercingetorix, pushing it back a little, but couldn't get much of an advantage, so reversed. Vercingetorix was now immobile due to transmitter problems, and Haardvark drove back into the front, getting the forks underneath and pushing, but couldn't force Vercingetorix back far.

"Haardvark, the faster and heavier of these two 'bots, of course fighting, as are all our competitors for the last place in our Series Semi-Finals. Bit tentative early on, there are front prongs on Haardvark, and again"

— Jonathan Pearce as Haardvark rams Vercingetorix

Haardvark reverses into Vercingetorix

Haardvark drove round to Vercingetorix's side and rammed into it, but as it did so, its forks were snagging on the floor. It reversed for another charge, but as it rammed into Vercingetorix's side, the forks snagged on the floor, lifting its own front up, so Haardvark reversed. After turning around, Haardvark drove back into Vercingetorix's side, then reversed for another push, but as it drove back at Vercingetorix, the forks snagged on the floor and almost became caught. As Haardvark drove into Vercingetorix's side, the forks caught in the floor, lifting the front of the robot up, and forcing Haardvark to reverse. It tried to drive forwards, but one of the forks was still caught in the floor, preventing it from driving forwards, so Haardvark kept reversing, pulling the forks free of the floor.

"Oop, something went there, did you see the forks just dug into the ground? I don't think that was planned! But Vercingetorix can't get away here! It seems to have been immobilised! Ooh look, there is something wrong with the forks! They shouldn't prong in like that, almost impaling itself, Haardvark, on the floor of the arena!"

— Jonathan Pearce as Haardvark's forks get caught in the floor whilst attacking the immobile Vercingetorix

Haardvark blocks Vercingetorix from escaping the PPZ

Haardvark turned around, and to prevent its forks becoming caught in the floor again, it reversed into Vercingetorix, which regained some mobility, only to drive forwards towards the PPZ. Haardvark got behind it and blocked its escape. As the House Robots surrounded Vercingetorix, Haardvark turned and pushed Vercingetorix fully into the PPZ, with help from Shunt, who axed the top of Vercingetorix. Haardvark turned away from Vercingetorix, allowing Shunt and Sir Killalot to push it onto the Flame Pit, before Sir Killalot picked it up with his lance and carried it to the Pit.

"This was quite a relief for us, as Vercingetorix was by far the superior robot in design and function. But they had an Achilles Heel. During this battle the motor driving the lifting forks slipped off the gearbox. This meant that the forks kept digging into the ground whenever we tried to go forwards. A minor inconvenience - all we did was drive backwards. In the end it was a single loose bolt which caused that particular problem."

— The Haardvark website

Sir Killalot dropped Vercingetorix in, confirming Haardvark as the winner.

Craig Charles: "Haardvark!"

Owen Barwick: "Yeah, even harder!"

Craig Charles: "Next fight now, this is a biggie!"

Owen Barwick: "It is!"

Craig Charles: "Are you feeling confident?"

Owen Barwick: "We'll do it, yeah. We'll have to fix those forks."

Craig Charles: "Yeah, I mean you've got to fix those forks, because they were stopping you advancing, weren't they, at certain stages."

Owen Barwick: "Well, they're a little bit loose, and they've broken now obviously, so we'll sort them out."

— Post-battle interview

In an interview, only shown in Robot Wars Revealed, the team expressed their relief at winning, believing that Vercingetorix would have won the battle had it been working.

Owen Barwick: "We won!"

Mike Evans: "Didn't expect that at all!"

Owen Barwick: "{If} Their transmitter had been working, they'd have beaten us, we reckon."

Mike Evans: "The stuff that was thrown at them was just incredible, and they still survived."

Owen Barwick: "Yeah, never get through that shell, good motors! We were just having problems, but we've fixed them!"

— Team Haardvark discuss the battle with Vercingetorix in Robot Wars Revealed

Haardvark was then through to the Heat Final, where it was placed up against another newcomer Havoc. Mike Evans declared that Haardvark's power would be increased for this battle, to increase its top speed. However, before the battle, the team were forced to borrow relays from other teams after burning out all of their own.

"We had also run out of relays, because that faulty left-hand drive motor was burning these out at an astounding rate. We managed to borrow from some from the other teams, including Matilda. The House Robot guys weren't that bad! Before our battle with Havoc, we adapted Haardvark so that it would now drive forward at full power, but still at half power in reverse."

— The Haardvark website

Haardvark tries to push Havoc towards the pit

In the battle, the two robots charged forwards, but both swerved to drive past each other. The two competitors stopped and turned to face each other, and Haardvark rammed into Havoc's front corner. Haardvark rammed Havoc, trying to push it towards the Pit, but Havoc turned to get side-on to Haardvark, then drove away.

"Will the extra power be decisive here, for Owen Barwick, Mike Evans and Liz Harrison, the Haardvark team?"

— Jonathan Pearce in the early moments of the battle

Matilda lifts up Haardvark with her tusks

Haardvark reversed up the arena for another attack, and Havoc tried spinning on the spot to attack with its mace but Haardvark rammed into it as it spun, hitting the side and stopping its spinning, the mace having no effect. Haardvark drove past Havoc, and Havoc turned to try and get at Haardvark's side, but Haardvark turned to get behind Havoc. Haardvark pushed Havoc down the arena, close to the Pit, but Havoc reversed, swerving away from the Pit. Haardvark kept pushing, nearly forcing Havoc onto the Flame Pit. Havoc tried driving forwards to get away, but Sir Killalot blocked its path. Havoc reversed onto the Flame Pit, but quickly drove away, whilst Haardvark drove into the arena centre. Dead Metal drove after Haardvark, so Haardvark drove to the other side of the arena. Havoc rammed into Haardvark's side, but Haardvark simply kept going, driving into the PPZ, by the mace. Matilda came in behind Haardvark and lifted it up a little with her tusks, but she quickly reversed, letting Haardvark fall off and drive away.

"Haardvark spins away quickly! Into space, looking now to again go on the attack!"

— Jonathan Pearce as Haardvark gets away from the PPZ

Haardvark pushes Havoc into Shunt

Haardvark drove into the arena centre, then turned around and charged at Havoc, slamming into its side. Havoc tried to turn away, but Haardvark pushed against its side, pushing it close to the PPZ. Havoc turned as Haardvark tried to push it into Dead Metal, but Haardvark reversed to block it as it tried to get away. Haardvark then turned around, and drove into the back of Havoc, pushing it into the PPZ. Shunt hit Havoc with his axe and lifted it up with his scoop, then pushed it against the wall, before turning it onto its side.

Craig Charles: "What was your game plan?"

Mike Evans: "The game plan was to try and stay in for as long as possible! We've got no game plan whatsoever!"

Craig Charles: "So, you've won your Heat, you're through to the series Semi-Finals! Are you going to change the robot at all?"

Mike Evans: "We can try and get it working, yeah! We've got some forks we haven't been able to get working yet, so we'll have some real power then!"

— Post-battle interview

As a result of this victory, Haardvark was through to the Semi-Finals.

"So against all odds, Haardvark had made it into the semi-finals! We hadn't used our weapons, we'd had almost no practise, and we'd had plenty of problems!. Put it down to having an excellent electronics engineer on the team, decent driving and a healthy dose of good luck!"

— The Haardvark website

In a post-battle interview with Philippa Forrester, the team expressed their surprise at reaching the Semi-Finals. Only part of this interview was shown in Heat L, with the full interview being shown on Episode 12 of Robot Wars Revealed.

Philippa Forrester: "You enjoyed that, didn't you?"

Owen Barwick: "Oh yeah! Pretty fairly matched fight really!"

Philippa Forrester: "How are you feeling, you've just gone through this whole time in a state of disbelief, haven't you!"

Liz Harrison: "Yes, I have really, I'm amazed we've got this far! It's brilliant"

Owen Barwick: "All we gotta do now is get those forks working on the front, which should be about an hours job, and then we'll be fighting - properly!"

— Post-battle interview. Only the part with Liz Harrison was shown in Heat L, with the full interview being shown in Robot Wars Revealed

Prior to the robot's appearance in Semi-Final 2, the Haardvark team's electronics engineer Mike Evans was called back to work, leaving it at a disadvantage from the start.

"We've had another setback, our electronics engineer has had to go back to work, his manager won't let him have the day off, so we're down to the two of us now, which means that I get to take over the electronics side, so he's drawn me a little plan of what I've got to fit together to get the electronics working for the weapon, and I'm frantically trying to get it to work now!"

— Liz Harrison

Haardvark abandons its run down the middle route

In the Gauntlet stage, Haardvark was the last robot to run, and had to beat Plunderbird 2's run of 0.9 metres. Haardvark went straight for the centre route, slamming into the brick wall and creating an opening. Haardvark reversed a little for another charge, then drove through the brick wall, but found its way was blocked by the sphere, which Shunt pushed in front of it. Haardvark quickly turned around, but as it tried to drive back up the course and pick another route, but it drove onto one of the dislodged bricks from the wall, which became caught under Haardvark's front, causing it to became stuck.

"Liz Harrison, rarely a Heat of Robot Wars. Splendidly supportive of the robot, very excitable - nothing to be excited about here!"

— Jonathan Pearce as Haarvark gets stuck

Matilda drags Haardvark back to the start as time runs out

Haardvark turned to get free, helped by Matilda pushing its side as she drove over the ramp. Haardvark drove round to the left route, and though Matilda pushed at its side to try and stop it, she was briefly blocked by the bricks and the fence, giving Haardvark a chance to escape. Haardvark drove around an Arena Spike as it shot up, and tried to get past The Sentinel.

"This is a great run through so far actually on this near side now!"

— Jonathan Pearce as Haardvark makes progress down the left route

However, The Sentinel blocked its path, and Matilda came around behind it. Haardvark tried to get around the end of The Sentinel, but Matilda got her tusks under its back and dragged it back up the course.

Ken Burtt: "Come on Matilda! Come on, you can do it!"

Bryan Kilburn: "We promise not to kill you if ya get us through!"

Jonathan Pearce: "Can Haardvark hang on? Have they reached far enough?"

— The Plunderbird team watch hopefully as Matilda drags Haardvark back

Time ran out, and due to Matilda pulling it back, Haardvark had only covered 2.4 metres, but this was still enough to surpass Plunderbird 2's run of 0.9 metres.

Haardvark was through to the Trial stage, which for the Semi-Finals was Pinball, where it was the last robot to run the course.

"We're just re-wiring, ready to go in to do the Pinball machine. We're about sorted on the forks as well, so we've got to do a quick test on that to make sure that it's working, and hopefully we're gonna do it!"

— Liz Harrison on repairs to Haardvark before the Pinball Trial, in an interview only shown in Robot Wars Revealed

Haardvark in the Pinball

It started by turning right, driving past the brick wall, knocking past one but not knocking it over, then knocked over the set of barrels behind it. Haardvark quickly turned around and hit the brick wall, knocking over four of them. Haardvark drove across the arena, but bumped into ramrig at the front. It quickly corrected itself and drove through the other brick wall, knocking over many bricks, then knocking over the barrels.

"Aiming for the bricks and the barrels. Steady tactics, most robots have used them so far."

— Jonathan Pearce as Haardvark knocks over the second set of bricks and barrels!

Sir Killalot picks up Haardvark

However, as it turned around and tried to drive down the course, Sir Killalot came over, pushing it back and trapping it in the corner. He then got his lance under Haardvark, hooking its bottom on the tip and lifting the whole robot up. Sir Kilalot dropped Haardvark onto its side, leaving it immobile and ending its run.

Craig Charles: "You look a bit nervous."

Owen Barwick: "I was to start with, 'cause of that big brute!"

Craig Charles: "Do you think you've done enough?"

Owen Barwick: "Honestly, no!"

Craig Charles: "How do you feel?"

Liz Harrison: "Well, I wish we had another go at that Sir Killalot, we could go get him!"

— Post-Trial interview

Having scored 160 points, they just managed to surpass G.B.H., who scored 145.

"Yez look very disappointed, and I can tell you that unfortunately... you've scored 160 points! You're through!"

— Craig Charles toys with the Haardvark team's emotions before telling them the good news

In the Arena stage of the Semi-Final, Haardvark was placed up against the fifth seed Cassius

Liz Harrison: "We've just been told we're up against Cassius, of all people. Pretty powerful robot, it's gonna be tough against them!"

Own Barwick: "That was the one robot we didn't want to go up against, and that's the one we've drawn, so... I guess we're gonna be finishing soon!"

Liz Harrison: "But it would be nice to go out with all weapons blazing!"

— Pre-battle interview, only shown in Robot Wars Revealed

However, Haardvark was at a serious disadvantage from the start of the battle, as the robot's forks were not working, and the machine was only able to go in reverse.

"Back in the pits, and we were ten minutes away from getting the forks to work again, when we were called up to face our next opponent in battle - Cassius! The one robot we didn't want to meet. Haardvark was placed on the stage, and Owen did a quick check of the controls before the face-off started. Our robot wouldn't move forwards! It moved backwards fine, but still only at half power. Panic! No time to fix it, and by then we were rather fed up of messing with switches and relays anyway. It was going to be either a ten second fix, or a half-hour job. So we left it, turned Haardvark around, and prepared to drive backwards at Cassius, for all it was worth!"

— The Haardvark website

Cassius flips Haardvark over

As 'Activate' was called, the two competitors charged at each other, with Haardvark reversing at Cassius, which got straight under Haardvark and flipped it onto its side. Cassius drove into Haardvark, knocking it over onto its back, and pushed it to Sergeant Bash, then flipped it into the PPZ, flipping it back upright.

"Cassius slammed into Haardvark, flipping it into a pirouette and onto its side without hesitation. Cassius soon came back to turn us completely on our back, but then decided that a dead opponent was less fun than a limping one, so Cassius flipped us back on our wheels. Nice of Cassius to do that, because we almost got away."

— The Haardvark website

Sir Killalot holds Haardvark over the Flame Pit

Haardvark reversed out of the arena centre, where Cassius was waiting for it. Cassius got underneath again, lifting Haardvark up with its flipper and pushing it into the PPZ, where Shunt axed Haardvark. Haardvark escaped, driving down to the centre of the arena, and Cassius charged into it. Haardvark turned around, and Cassius suddenly could only spin around in a circle. Haardvark reversed into Cassius' side, and managed to push it into Sir Killalot, who got his lance under Cassius, revealed that a drive chain had fallen off, causing it to lose drive on one side. Sir Killalot dropped Cassius on top of Haardvark, then got his lance under the back of Haardvark, lifting both robots up together. Cassius slipped off, but Sir Killalot's hooked onto Haardvark's sacrificial armour.

"Haardvark lifted now! That's not fair, surely! Just picked up so effortlessly by Killalot! What a mean, horrific brute he is!"

— Jonathan Pearce as Sir Killalot lifts Haardvark up

Haardvark on the Flame Pit while Dead Metal backs into the Pit

Sir Killalot carried Haardvark over the Flame Pit, and dropped it onto the back in the flames, and as it had no self-righting mechanism, Cassius was declared the winner of the battle.

"Into the flames, and there dangling, the remote control aerial! Ooh, melting, blistering, buckling and smoking and smouldering the dreams of the Haardvark team!"

— Jonathan Pearce as Haardvark is left on its back

Shunt and Sergeant Bash came over to further punish the immobile Haardvark, with Shunt axing its underbelly. Meanwhile, Cassius took on Sir Killalot, getting underneath and lifting it with its flipper, so Shunt rammed it against the wall. 'Cease' was called, and Cassius went through to the Grand Final, whilst Haardvark was eliminated.

"We were at the far end of the arena, with Sir Killalot closing in, and we just managed to push Cassius into Sir Killalot, but because we could only drive in the one direction, we couldn't get away. So instead of Cassius being picked up by Killalot, it was Haardvark! (Not that it would have made much difference with the self-righting mechanism!) So in the end we were dumped unceremoniously by Killalot, upside down on the flame pit, and toasted. At least we went out in a blaze of glory! Actually, there was hardly any damage to our robot at all. The insides of Haardvark are completely flame-proof, and the only part severely burned was the cut-off switch which, because it must be external, didn't stand much of a chance. The only other problem was that one of the 9Kg batteries came out of its mounting and fell on the circuit boards when we were turned upside down. Even then it did no damage to any vital parts."

— The Haardvark website

Series 3

"Hardy after the last wars, has hardened steel lifting forks, 5mm thick polycarbonate shell, uses two electric scooter motors, and cost exactly £1648.19 to build."

— Jonathan Pearce introduces Haardvark.

Haardvark returned in The Third Wars as one of the competitors in Heat G. In its first-round battle, it used its abrasive grinding disc as its main armament against series newcomer Henry, though Mike Evans was absent from filming and replaced by a life-sized cut-out of his likeness.

"If Haardvark rely on Mike for some sort of advice, they're in trouble. They look the favourites though, don't they? The more penetrating, with that circular saw blade."

— Jonathan Pearce at the start of the battle, speaking of Mike Evans, who was unable to attend filming

Henry is sliced into by Haardvark

Haardvark slowly moved across the arena towards Henry, which did not move away to begin with, then drove forwards a little, turned and span around. Haardvark closed in, Henry charged at it, getting its front wedge under Haardvark's front. Henry pushed Haardvark back, but its front spike became caught in the arena floor, allowing Haardvark to slide off the front wedge, then bring its disc down on Henry's front. The cutting disc failed to cut into Henry's front, and Matilda came out of her CPZ, getting under Henry's side and lifting it free from the floor with her tusks. Henry sped around Haardvark, only for the front spike to become caught in the arena floor again. Haardvark turned around and got behind Henry, but as it tried to attack with its disc, Shunt and Matilda came out to help Henry get free. Once it was, Haardvark got at Henry's side, but Henry reversed away before Haardvark could bring its cutting disc down. Haardvark drove after Henry as it reversed up the arena. Haarvark caught up to Henry, but Henry spun back and forth, making it difficult for Haardvark to line up its disc.

"Turning, out of danger's reach from Haardvark. Spinning, good control and steering there from Tom Moye, but little damage or aggression on the part of Henry. Again, that circular saw seems to be Haardvark's main weapon."

— Jonathan Pearce

Haardvark comes to a stop in the remaining seconds

Henry reversed against Haardvark, pushing it back. Haardvark got at Henry's side and brought its disc down onto its top, but Henry reversed away. Haardvark drove after it, and Henry backed away to the arena wall. Haardvark drove into its front as it tried to get away from the wall, brought the disc down onto Henry's front and pushed it against the arena wall. The disc still failed to do any damage, so Haardvark reversed into the arena centre, and Henry drove after it. Haardvark tried to bring its disc down on Henry, but Henry began spinning. Henry drove to Haardvark's side, prodding it with its front spike, then reversed away as Haardvark turned to try and use its disc. Haardvark drove after Henry, driving into its side, and brought its disc down on Henry's top.

"There the great logos on Haardvark - Volotile, Violent "veally"? It looks a bit "vobbly" to me on occasion."

— Jonathan Pearce as Haardvark brings its disc down on Henry

It looked like the battle would go to the Judges, but then, with only a few seconds left, Haardvark broke down. Shunt came out of his CPZ and pushed Haardvark and Henry apart, and Henry rammed into the immobile Haardvark. In the last 10 seconds, Henry span around, then turned around and rammed into Haardvark's side as 'cease' was called.

"Henry on the attack, and that'll count if it goes to the Judges, and it looks as if it may well go to a Judges' Decision... oh no! I don't know! I think Haardvark's immobilised! It's stood, stock still, and I think Haardvark's out here and Henry must have won it, right at the death! That's unbelievable! What a shock!"

— Jonathan Pearce as Haardvark breaks down

The fight went to the Judges, but Henry was given the win due to still being mobile. The Judges' decision was not seen or referenced when the show was aired.

Philippa Forrester: "Wow, we can't believe it, Haardvark out so soon!"

Owen Barwick: "Oh well."

Steve Farley: "We didn't have the electronics guy!"

Philippa Forrester: "Terrible, I know! {addressing the cut-out of Mike Evans} Next year, you should come! It's not fair to leave these two on their own!"

— Post-battle interview

According to the Haardvark website, a lot of Haardvark's attacks on Henry were cut from the battle.

"The reason our robot was immobilised eight seconds before the end of the bout was because one of the drive motor fuses blew. What you didn't see in our fight with Henry was a whole 3 minutes and 15 seconds, during which we were hammering Henry into the ground! His team had a control problem which looked to us like interference, but they also had a very powerful hydraulic motor and wheels with incredible traction. So when it did occasionally move, Haardvark was having difficulty pushing it around. Henry's spike dug into the arena floor twice as well, and on those occasions, Haardvark set about Henry with the circular saw, since he couldn't be pushed out of the floor. But none of this was shown! Still, there's no justice in battle or war. Because Haardvark died so close to the end of the bout, and Haardvark had been so aggressive and done a good deal of damage, it went to a judges' decision (also not shown!). By default Henry won, and fair enough - that's the rules. Next year we'll put in bigger fuses! ... The forks were working as well, unlike in series two! They also survived unscathed, being made of aerospace-grade hardened steel as they are. Unfortunately though, the times when we were using the forks on Henry were not broadcast."

— The Haardvark website

Results

Wins/Losses

• Wins: 2
• Losses: 2

NOTE: Haardvark's successful Gauntlet and Trial runs are not included

Series Record

Series	Haardvark Series Record
The First Wars	Did not enter
The Second Wars	Semi-Finals, Arena
The Third Wars	Heat, Round 1
The Fourth Wars	Did not enter
The Fifth Wars	Failed to qualify with Haardervark
The Sixth Wars	Failed to qualify with Haardervark
The Seventh Wars	Did not enter
Series 8	Did not enter
Series 9	Did not enter
Series 10	Did not enter

Gallery

Haardvark during construction

A tray of Haardvark's heat-treated bearing housings, in a clip from the team's video diary shown in Robot Wars Revealed

A partially-complete Haardvark performs an 'off-road' test, in a clip from the team's video diary shown in Robot Wars Revealed

Matt Irvine highlights the arm-mounted saw originally built for Haardvark in Robot Wars Revealed

Haardvark, burnt after its Series 2 battle with Cassius

Haardvark's logo in Series 2

Haardvark's logo in Series 3

Trivia

Official Series 3 photo

• Various other workers of Lucas Aerospace helped make metal parts for Haardvark, including three who used the experience as part of their apprenticeship training.
• Haardvark's motors were provided by "Ideas in Action Mobility Centre", and Scope, the pneumatics were provided by SMC Pneumatics, and Wolferal provided the circular saw.
• Rex Garrod of Team Cassius provided the team with technical advice and various small parts during the build.
• Haardvark's Gauntlet run in the Series 2 Semi-Finals is the least distance covered by a robot that went past the Gauntlet stage.
• Haardvark was the last robot to be introduced in the main competition of the Second Wars and subsequently became the only "last robot" to win a heat.
• Haardvark inadvertently caused one of the major accidents of the Second Wars, as during the preview roll out it reversed off a ledge and managed to injure one of the safety advisers.
• In Episode 12 of Robot Wars Revealed, which covered Heat L of Series 2, clips from the team's video diary were shown, showing Haardvark's bearing housings being heat-treated in a kitchen oven by Mike Evans and testing of Haardvark.
• Throughout Robot Wars Revealed Episode 12, and in the recaps in Episode 14, the robot's name was misspelt as Hardvark, despite it being spelt correctly in the main series, and for most of Episode 14.
• Robot Wars Technical Manual said the following about the team's experiences while filming Series 2:

"The worst moment for the Haardvark team came when they tired [sic] to test the circuitry, and it immediately blew up. In fact, during the Wars, the team checked out of their hotel every morning, assuming that they would be knocked out that day! With a certain amount of embarrassment mixed with relief, they had to ask for their rooms back several times."

— Robot Wars: Technical Manual

• Haardvark is one of two robots to come first in the Gauntlet without completing it, the other being All Torque.
  • Its distance of 10.6m was also the lowest of any robot to come first in the Gauntlet in Series 1 or 2.
• In Series 3, Haardvark had the message "Haircut, sir?" written on the arm.

External Links

• Haardvark website (archived)