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Jurassic Park (sometimes referred to as Team Steg after the naming pattern of their robots) were a team of roboteers from Southampton who entered Series 3-5 of Robot Wars as well as the first series of Robot Wars Extreme. They competed with three dinosaur-themed robots (Steg-O-Saw-Us, Steg 2 and 3 Stegs 2 Heaven) which attained a considerable amount of success throughout the team's appearances. Steg-O-Saw-Us reached the Grand Final of Series 3 despite originally being a reserve robot, while Steg 2 reached the Semi-Finals of Series 4 and 3 Stegs 2 Heaven reached the Heat Final in Series 5.
The team had also intended to enter 3 Stegs 2 Heaven into Series 6 as Steg 3, but after losing to Atomic in the qualifiers, the team did not appear in the Sixth Wars.
The team's name originates from the 1993 film Jurassic Park, whose storyline is based around a wildlife park for cloned dinosaurs.
Design and Nomenclature[]
All of Jurassic Park's robots were designed to resemble dinosaurs, with particular design and naming influences coming from the Stegosaurus. Steg-O-Saw-Us and 3 Stegs 2 Heaven both featured green armour plating, with red Stegosaurus-style spikes on the top of the robot. While armoured in transparent polycarbonate, Steg 2 also featured red spikes on its flipper in its official Series 4 profile picture, but these were removed before it fought in that series.
The naming competition
The team were also notable for their method of deciding 3 Stegs 2 Heaven's name, which was chosen as part of a competition held in the original Robot Wars Magazine. The competition was open to naming suggestions from readers, as "the team don't (sic) just want to call it Steg 3", with the winning suggestion coming from seven-year old Mark Coucher, who submitted "3 STEGS 2 HEAVEN". Despite this, the team confirmed that 3 Stegs 2 Heaven would be renamed Steg 3 when it was planned to enter Series 6, although it ultimately lost its qualifier battle to Atomic and did not appear in the series as a result.
The Team[]
- "We got the idea when we were over at Arundel. We were down at a lake and a bunch of guys were there with remote-controlled boats and we thought yeah, we'll enter Robot Wars."
- — Rob Haesman, interviewed in the Southern Daily Echo[1]
When Steg-O-Saw-Us made its debut in Series 3, its team members were Dan King, Peter Rowe and Rob Heasman, from Hampshire; Rob Haesman was from Romsey, whereas Dan King and Peter Rowe were from Totton. The same team lineup returned for Series 4 with Steg 2. The three of them all worked together at Lewis-Berl in Totton, a company that repaired electric motors.[2] Lewis-Berl sponsored the team, giving them the money they needed to build the robot.[3]
- "We begged and borrowed the materials ourselves, but we used work equipment outside of our normal hours to work on it."
- — Rob Haesman explains the building of Steg-O-Saw-Us and Steg 2, interviewed in the Southern Daily Echo
Dan King[]
Dan King at the controls of Steg-O-Saw-Us
The original Team Captain, Dan King (Credited as Danny King in Extreme 1 and Series 5) was the driver and weapons operator for all three of the team's robot, although he was only Team Captain in Series 3. He built all three of the Steg series, being a mechanical engineer by trade[4] who worked as a mechanical fitter for Lewis-Berl[5].
He was the team's main speaker in introductions and interviews, although all the team members had speaking roles.
Rob Heasman[]
The team in Series 4
The Team Captain in Series 4, Rob Heasman was part of the team for Series 3 and 4, helping to build Steg-O-Saw-Us and Steg 2. He worked as an electrical fitter for Lewis-Berl.
However, after Series 4, Rob Heasman left the team, taking Steg 2 with him. This forced King and Rowe to build 3 Stegs 2 Heaven as a direct replacement for Steg 2.
- "He took the chassis for Steg 2. ... He just wanted to do his own thing, his kids wanted to get involved."
- — Peter Rowe on Rob Haesman's departure from the team, interviewed in 2022.[6]
Rob Heasman subsequently built Oblark with his son Mark[7]. Oblark would be entered during the first series of Extreme, alongside Stan Launchbury of Team MouseTrap. With Rob Heasman as the driver, Oblark reached the second round of the Forces Special, representing the Fire Service. Stan Launchbury asked Rob Heasman to enter Oblark with him because his own robot MouseTrap was too badly damaged in its Series 5 battle with S3 to enter. The two teams had first met during Series 3.
- "We first met the Steg team whilst waiting as reserves during the filming of the Robotwars series 3."
- — Team MouseTrap website on Team Jurassic Park [8]
Peter Rowe[]
A team member for all the team's appearances, Peter Rowe was the team captain for 3 Stegs 2 Heaven. Like Rob Haesman, he worked as an electrical fitter at Lewis-Berl, and as an electrical engineer by trade, he worked on all three of the Steg series of robots[9].
Richard Francis[]
Richard Francis joined the team after Rob Heasman left the team, having been a friend of Dan King and Peter Rowe for many years. Unlike the other three team members, he was not an engineer[10]. He helped build 3 Stegs 2 Heaven and appeared with the team in Extreme 1 and Series 5, but did not operate the robot, and only had two brief speaking roles on the televised show; a brief comment before their battle with Tornado, and briefly interviewed by Craig Charles after the Series 5 battle with Eleven.
Robots[]
| Name | Weight Class | Series |
|---|---|---|
| Steg-O-Saw-Us | Heavyweight | Series 3 |
| Steg 2 | Heavyweight | Series 4 |
| 3 Stegs 2 Heaven | Heavyweight | Extreme 1, Series 5 |
Wins/Losses[]
- Wins: 10
- Losses: 4
Series Record[]
| Main Series | Jurassic Park Series Record |
|---|---|
| The First Wars | Did not enter |
| The Second Wars | Did not enter |
| The Third Wars | Fourth Place with Steg-O-Saw-Us |
| The Fourth Wars | Semi-Final, Round 1 with Steg 2 |
| The Fifth Wars | Heat Final with 3 Stegs 2 Heaven |
| The Sixth Wars | Failed to qualify with Steg 3 |
| 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 | Entered with 3 Stegs 2 Heaven Entered with Oblark (Rob Heasman) |
| Series 2 | Did not enter |
Outside Robot Wars[]
3 Stegs 2 Heaven in April 2022
3 Stegs 2 Heaven at RoboNerd in September 2022
Though the team would retire from robot combat after their failure to qualify for Series 6, they would still keep 3 Stegs 2 Heaven, now Steg 3, in their possession. Steg-O-Saw-Us and Steg 2 had long since been taken apart and their components reused[11].
Peter Rowe would share a picture of 3 Stegs 2 Heaven in its current state on Facebook in April 2022[12] and it would later make an appearance in RoboNerd 2022 as a static display without the top panel fitted on.
Trivia[]
- In Extreme 1, Danny King was incorrectly listed as Danny Hill on the statistics board.
External Links[]
References[]
- ↑ Southern Daily Echo, 26th January 2001
- ↑ [1]
- ↑ [2]
- ↑ 3 Stegs 2 Heaven - The Team
- ↑ [3]
- ↑ YouTube - RoboNerd 2022 - Peter Rowe Interview)
- ↑ Southern Daily Echo, 26th January 2001
- ↑ Team MouseTrap website - Other Competitors (Archived)
- ↑ 3 Stegs 2 Heaven - The Team
- ↑ 3 Stegs 2 Heaven website - The Team
- ↑ Public Facebook comments between RobotManiac and Peter Rowe, April 2022
- ↑ https://www.facebook.com/photo/?fbid=10228956326632733&set=gm.1910434802569609
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