- "...I'm hoping that my Pants will stay intact until the end."
- — Peter Collier before the Extreme 2 Antweight Final
Pants (also stylised on the robot as PAnts or pants!) was an antweight robot from Team Panda which competed in both series of Robot Wars Extreme. One of the earliest robots built for its weight category, it competed in the Antweight Championships of both series, being thrown out of the arena by Combatant in the Extreme 1 melee, but making the final in Extreme 2 before losing to Anty B there.
Design
Peter Collier with the Extreme 1 version of Pants
Pants was a two-wheeled robot with a rounded wedge-shaped chassis, and a servo-driven axe as its weapon. The axe enabled the robot to hit and grab opponents, although it tended to raise the robot's chassis off the floor when it hit opponents taller than itself. Pants' wheels were also completely exposed, although they allowed the robot to reverse back upright whenever it was flipped over.
The Extreme 1 Pants close up
Pants from Extreme 2 in the arena
In Extreme 1, Pants was painted black, and feature a copper strip at the front, side panels made from plasticard, and two SD200 servos as drive motors. For Extreme 2, these motors were replaced with modified HS81 servos, which noticeably improved the robot's speed and manoeuvrability, while the axe shaft was made out of carbon fibre. Pants' colour scheme was also altered to pink with black side and bottom panels, a black axe and small underwear graphics on its top armour; a tiny swinging disco ball was also attached to its axe head.
Pants was the inspiration for Team Panda's heavyweight, Big Pants (later known as Hot Pants):
- "Hot Pants is the massively re-built disco version of Big PAnts. This time the ball drops somewhere between the original Panda concept (with an axe - not completed for series II) and the MPM systems (same drive and using pneumatics). The idea itself is an interesting one - can you take an antweight robot and re-build it at full heavyweight size. No-one has tried this to date, so it will be interesting to see how things get along."
- — Big Pants page on the Team Panda/Robotwars101 website[1]
Robot History
Extreme 1
Pants made its first televised appearance in the Antweight Melee, broadcast at the end of the first series of Extreme. It faced Anto, Combatant, Anty B, Legion, Razzler and Little Nipper.
Pants (top-left) is thrown out of the arena by Combatant
Pants started by driving slowly towards the centre of the arena and pursuing Razzler. Pants axed Razzler as the latter attacked Legion, but was attacked itself by Combatant, whose spinner briefly launched it off the arena floor. It appeared to struggle for mobility shortly afterwards, and axed Anty B before being flipped over – and out of the arena – by two consecutive blows from Combatant's spinner.
- "Who's that that's gone out of the arena completely – the mini arena? I think it was Pants that went flying out!"
- — Jonathan Pearce during a replay of Pants' demise
As a result, Pants was swiftly eliminated from the melee, ultimately losing the Antweight Championship to Combatant.
Extreme 2
In the second series of Extreme, Pants again competed in the Antweight Championship, broadcast as part of the Robot Rampage episode. In its heat, it faced Buzzant, Lower, Militant, Minimalistic and Serpant.
Pants axes the back of Militant
Buzzant slices into the toppled Pants and Miliant
Pants axes Serpant
Straight away, Pants darted to the centre of the arena before attacking Lower, only to back away and attack Militant instead. It dragged and pushed Militant across the arena using its axe, ramming it into the wall and CPZ and immobilising Militant on one side as a result. Pants continued axing and pushing Militant, eventually leaving it in another CPZ and getting its axe stuck behind Militant's left wheel. This caused Pants to drag Militant over while lifting itself onto the wall, before it continuously dragged itself forwards while trying to retract the axe. However, it eventually broke free and axed Serpant, at one point dragging itself forwards once again. Pants bumped into the wall twice before axing Serpant a few more times, eventually winning the heat on a Judges' decision along with Lower.
In the Antweight Final, Pants and Lower faced Combatant and Anty B.
Anty B flips Pants over
Pants, seconds before being thrown by the Floor Flipper
The former two immediately turned and drove into each other, with Pants being shoved into the wall by Lower before driving away and avoiding Anty B. It then approached Combatant as it was being pinched by Lower's crusher, missing its wheel with its axe, before being flung across the arena by Combatant's spinner. Pants landed next to Anty B, and avoided the action as Combatant became immobilised by a collision with Anty B. It axed the now-eliminated Combatant while Anty B lifted Lower onto it, before axing and being lifted onto its back by Anty B. Pants reversed back onto its wheels, but was quickly pinned against Combatant by Anty B, and stayed out of the action as the latter relentlessly attacked Lower. It was briefly seen driving around the Floor Spinner, before rejoining the battle by reversing towards Anty B. However, Pants was flipped over a second time, and despite re-righting itself once more was pushed around by Anty B until it was left motionless on and thrown by the Floor Flipper. It landed upright, spinning around in circles, but played no further part as Anty B immobilised Lower as well.
- "Pants... immobilised, on the Floor Flipper... and gone! Spinning away, but I don't think they can play any further part."
- — Jonathan Pearce as Pants is flung by the Floor Flipper
As a result, Pants lost the battle – and the Antweight Championship – to Anty B.
Results
| PANTS - RESULTS | ||
| Extreme Series 1 | ||
| Antweight Championship Lost | ||
| Antweight Championship | vs. Anto, Anty B, Combatant, Legion, Little Nipper, Razzler | Lost |
| Extreme Series 2 | ||
| Antweight Championship Final | ||
| Round 1 | vs. Buzzant, Lower, Militant, Minimalistic, Serpant | Qualified |
| Final | vs. Anty B, Combatant, Lower | Lost |
Wins/Losses
- Wins: 1
- Losses: 2
Series Record
| Main Series | Pants Series Record |
|---|---|
| The First Wars | Did not enter |
| The Second Wars | Entered with Panda Monium |
| The Third Wars | Not selected with More Panda Monium |
| The Fourth Wars | Failed to qualify with Big Pants Failed to qualify with More Panda Monium |
| The Fifth Wars | Failed to qualify with Big Pants |
| The Sixth Wars | Entered with Hot Pants |
| The Seventh Wars | Entered with Thunderpants |
| Series 8 | Did not enter |
| Series 9 | Did not enter |
| Series 10 | Did not enter |
| Robot Wars Extreme | Appearances |
| Series 1 | Antweight Championship |
| Series 2 | Antweight Championship |
Outside Robot Wars
Completed in 1998, Pants was one of the first antweight robots to be built, and along with fellow Team Panda antweight Cannon Fodder was among those which competed in the first Antweight World Series. Although it lost in the first round there, it continued to compete in live combat events for several years after. Its most notable achievements include reaching the final rounds of AWS 3 and the European Antweight competition of AWS 12, where it lost to Combat Ant and Hades respectively.[2]
During its career, Pants was also equipped with an interchangeable lifting scoop, made out of 1.5mm aluminium and enabling the robot to become invertible. Peter Collier also produced replicas of the robot for customers, as well as plans and construction kits based on its design.[3]
Pants was finally retired on 16th November 2009 after getting destroyed by Kwijebo during Antweight World Series 30, making it the last of the original antweights to compete in robot combat.
Trivia
- Pants was the only robot from Team Panda to win a Robot Wars battle, qualifying for the Extreme 2 Antweight Final along with Lower.
- Of the three antweights to compete in both Antweight Championship events, Pants was the only one not to win the title.
- Pants was the first non-heavyweight robot to be thrown out of the arena in a televised battle, and the only antweight competitor to have been defeated this way.
- According to the Team Panda/Robotwars101 website, Pants' name stands for Panda Monium's Antweight Sister.[4]
References
External Links
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