- "The team claim that Orte has no weaknesses, stating: “It’s a nightmare in metal.” They rate themselves as having a 10/10 chance of winning the competition."
- — The Robot Wars website
Or Te (alternatively Or Te! or Orte as spelt on TV and the official website), was a heavyweight robot that competed in the Series 8 of Robot Wars, and the successor to former Grand Finalist Bigger Brother. It lost its Group Battle after having its power link dislodged by Supernova, immobilising it within the opening seconds of the battle.
Design
- "Orte is a powerful Flipper and Rammer with a large 10cm piston ram to hit other robots with. The robot’s armour is “double-skinned,” meaning that if its Hardox surface armour is removed or damaged it can fight on, with a second layer lying underneath."
- — The Robot Wars website
Or Te in Robot Wars: The Official Handbook
Or Te enters the arena in its Series 8 heat
Much like its predecessor Bigger Brother, Or Te is a silver high box-wedge shaped robot armed with a powerful pneumatic flipper tipped with spikes. The flipping arm was powered by a CO2 10cm bore plunger, which caould lift up to 300kg, and allow the robot to self-right using a fraction of its full power. The flipper was machined out of a solid billet of aluminium with 30mm walls, and extends up to 150mm vertically when fired. A sacrificial cap was also added to the flipper after the prototype broke from only a few test firings[1]. Or Te was powered by four lithium polymer batteries, with two connected in series, and in parallel, alongside a custom 'Wotty' speed controller. Or Te was armoured in 5mm HARDOX steel, with a layer of Grade 5 titanium directly underneath, essentially giving the robot "double-skinned" armour. Like Bigger Brother, Or Te is described as a "nightmare in metal", and according to the team, had 'no weaknesses'.
- "Initially called Bigger Brother 2, Orte is the successor to Ian Watts’ robot Bigger Brother, which competed in the original series of Robot Wars. Captain Ian’s design of Orte was inspired by stealth fighter jets, and he says that it has the “speed, agility and firepower of one.”"
- — The Robot Wars website
Etymology
The name "Or Te!" is Latin for "Oi, you!", and various different spellings have been used in official media, including Or Te (used by the robot's official Facebook page), Or Te!, and Orte (used by official Robot Wars media).
As the successor to Bigger Brother, Or Te was originally named Bigger Brother 2 in concept, before later adopting the Or Te name.
The Team
- Main article: Team Big Brother
Or Te with its team
Or Te was entered into Series 8 by the Brighton-based Team Big Brother, a team best-known for the former Robot Wars runner-up Bigger Brother. 56-year old Ian Watts captained the team for this series, and was Or Te's weapons operator. His 12-year old son Sam Watts was the driver of Or Te in battle, and the team was completed by 18-year old student James Crawford and teacher Jennie Barker.
Qualification
Or Te was selected to compete in Series 8 based on the experience of Team Big Brother. However, Or Te was not chosen by the producers to return for Series 9[2]. For Series 10 of Robot Wars, Or Te was given the option of interchangeably attaching the mace weapon first used by Big Brother in place of the flipper, and attempted to qualify alongside The Swarm, but only The Swarm was chosen to compete[3].
Robot History
Series 8
Or Te had problems before its first round battle with veterans Big Nipper and Supernova and newcomers TR2 began after the antenna for its receiver broke off in the pits. Luckily, this was rectified before the battle began.
- Angela Scanlon: "How long will it take to fix?"
- Sam Watts: "About five minutes, maybe less."
- — Fears turn to confidence in the pits
Supernova's knock-out blow on Or Te
As the battle began, Or Te saw an immediate threat in Supernova, and charged into it, but was followed by Big Nipper, which pushed it towards the arena wall. Supernova intercepted, landing a heavy blow on Or Te, ripping off part of its armour and dislodging its power link. This immobilised Or Te only a few seconds into the battle, putting it out of the competition. Or Te was ignored for the remainder of the battle, which was eventually won by TR2 and Big Nipper over Supernova.
- Angela Scanlon: "Or Te, you hardly got out of the blocks, what happened? One fatal blow, it seemed?"
- Ian Watts: "Something fell off! We think the link fell out, the safety link that all robots have to have, we think it fell out."
- — Ian Watts on a quick defeat
Results
| OR TE - RESULTS | ||
| Series 8 | ||
| Series 8 - UK Championship Round 1 | ||
| Heat 3, Group Battle | vs. Big Nipper, Supernova, TR2 | Eliminated |
Wins/Losses
- Wins: 0
- Losses: 1
Series Record
| Main Series | Or Te Series Record |
|---|---|
| The First Wars | Did not enter |
| The Second Wars | Did not enter |
| The Third Wars | Entered with Big Brother |
| The Fourth Wars | Entered with Bigger Brother |
| The Fifth Wars | Entered with Bigger Brother |
| The Sixth Wars | Entered with Bigger Brother |
| The Seventh Wars | Entered with Bigger Brother |
| Series 8 | Heat, Round 1 |
| Series 9 | Not selected |
| Series 10 | Not selected Entered with The Swarm |
| Robot Wars Extreme | Appearances |
| Series 1 | Entered with Bigger Brother |
| Series 2 | Entered with Bigger Brother |
Outside Robot Wars
After Series 8 of Robot Wars finished, Or Te later appeared at a Robots Live event in Stevenage event in October 2016. Although it was a static exhibit outside the pits, its predecessor, Bigger Brother, also fought at the same event. Or Te competed at the Cannock event where it lost three of its battles, usually losing its link in the same fashion it was defeated on television.
Or Te throws Behemoth in the Burgess Hill Robots Live! event
In 2017, Or Te fought at the Burgess Hill event run by Robots Live. It fought Suspension, Nuts 2 and Weird Alice, but after initially putting its flipper to good use, it was turned over by Weird Alice and its jammed flipper could not right it. It fought in various other battles, and put on a stronger performance than in previous appearances, but still failed to win a battle, being thrown out of the arena by Apollo and Behemoth in two separate battles.
Or Te in August 2019
Or Te was retired after this appearance, but later made an appearance at Robonerd in August 2019 in a largely disassembled state, alongside Ian Watts' other machines.
References
External Links
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