Project One was a robot that competed in the first series of Dutch Robot Wars. It featured somewhat of a wire-frame chassis that offered minimal protection to its vital components; the team sacrificed armour plating to allow more weight for the weaponry. Like many robots in Dutch Series 1, Project One was built on a very tight schedule, and was finished just six hours before being brought to the studio. Project One was very similar to the famous UK competitor Mortis, not only because of its appearance and armament, but because a great deal of money and engineering had gone into it. Also just like with Mortis, many people had high expectations for this robot, expectations upon which it ultimately failed to deliver.
After Dutch Series 1 the axe was removed, the armour was improved and the pneumatics for the lifter were adapted. The only outing for this version of Project One was the Dutch event in Zwolle, December 2001. Some of Project One's frame was used in Project Two: Hex'em, but what is left of it resides in the team's garage; "Castle Black". The huge ram for the lifter was passed on to the Shapeshifter team, and used in the version of their robot that entered Dutch Series 2 . The drive motor was mated to a hydraulic pump by Kos, and installed in Scarab.
The Team
Project One was built and entered by Team Mad Science, which was made up of Dutch roboteer WJ Dijkstra and his Belgian teammates Greg Cathalina, Mario "Maddox" de Jongh and Babeth van Son (who did not appear on TV because of the three team members limit). After Dutch Series 1, the team split into two for Dutch Series 2. Team captain WJ worked on his own to build Gravity and Elevation, which was one third of the clusterbot √3, while Maddox and Babeth formed Team Warlocks which built Project One's sequel robot Project Two: Hex'em. Maddox was also a team member of both Tough As Nails and Scraptosaur at various stages and is now a member of Team RCC along with Babeth, who was also a team member of Flextreme.
Robot History
Dutch Series 1
- "The big guy with the beard (Maddox) pointed out a pneumatic valve which if hit would disable the robot, but it was so well protected we would never be able to reach it."
- — Karl Jones of Blue, incorrectly predicting the outcome of their match with Project One.
Both robots started sluggishly, with Blue tapping the rear of Project One with its ineffective spinning disc. Project One's axe, and later its lifting arm landed on Blue, failing to cause any damage. Finally, after repeated blows, Project One's axe caused superficial damage to Blue's armour then ripped off the entire right hand side protection of Blue. However, Project One at this point broke down completely and was counted out. It was unable to restore its position in the main competition when it lost to Enderbot in the losers melee.
The sluggish movement in the first fight was due the fact the speed controller was set at 50 amperes, not 150 amperes, making the starter motor almost powerless. The total breakdown was because the huge anderson link, used as a removable link, fell out. In hindsight, gaffatape should have been applied to reduce that possibility, alas, the robot was not powered up by the team members, but somebody from the arena crew. For the second fight, the speed controler was removed, unleashing the full potential of the heavily reworked, overvolted starter motor. Unfortunatly, the 3kw+ motor did prove too much for the gearing of the steering, stripping the teeth from the nylon gear, locking the wheel into a 30° angled position. After showering the arena crew with splinters from the wooden floor it could get in the arena, and after a few moments Sir Killalot came out to play. Project One ended up between claw and lance and played havoc with the axe on Killalot's mask and breastplate.
Results
| PROJECT ONE - RESULTS | ||
| Series 2 | ||
| Dutch Championship Heat, Round 1 | ||
| Heat C, Round 1 | vs. Blue | Lost |
| Heat C, Loser's Melee | vs. Enderbot, Flextreme | Lost |
Wins/Losses
- Wins: 0
- Losses: 2
Dutch Series Record
- Series 1: Heat, Round 1
- Series 2: Entered with Project Two: Hex'em and Gravity
UK Series Record
- Series 1-6: Did not enter
- Series 7: Entered with Gravity