Psycho

For the House Robot, see Mr. Psycho.

Psycho
Psycho, as it was meant to appear
Participation Information
UK Series	4 (failed to qualify)
Team Information
Team	Team Psycho Bot
Team Members	Paul Brown Peter Wilson
From	Stoke-on-Trent, Staffordshire
Other Entries	Siren
Robot Statistics
Weight	80.7kg
Dimensions	1m x 0.9m x ~0.3m
Top Speed	13-15mph
Drive	2x Bosch 750w
Weapons	Spiked Axe
Statistics correct as of its most recent show/competition appearance, or if not applicable, qualification attempt.

Psycho was a heavyweight robot which attempted to qualify for Series 4 of Robot Wars. However, following a troubled appearance at the Robot Mayhem live event, it was unsuccessful in doing so, despite winning its qualifier against Vector.

The team who built Psycho previously appeared in Series 2, reaching the final of the Super Heavyweight Championship with Siren.

Design

"The first thing we knew we wanted in Psycho was a hard hitting axe. I have always liked mortis and felt this was an under used weapon."

— Team Psycho Bot

Psycho's design consisted of a box-shaped, two-wheel drive robot with front and rear castors plus angular front armour sections. The overall shape gave it a passing resemblance to the Series 2 incarnation of Mortis. Team Psycho Bot themselves openly expressed admiration for Mortis and its axe, so incorporated a similar weapon as its main armament. Psycho's weapon utilised a 33cm 'super duplex' head weighing 3.75kg, with the finalised mechanism weighing a total of 23kg on its own. Bosch 750W electric motors were used for both drive and weapon systems, giving the completed robot a top speed of 13-15mph.

Initially, Psycho was to be armoured in a Kevlar and carbon laminate composite material, but this was abandoned after the intended supplier - Advanced Composite Technologies (ACT) - encountered difficulties during the build process. This was substituted for Grade 2 titanium of 1, 1.6 and 1.9mm thickness, and 2014 T6 grade aluminium, both supplied by D.E.R.A. The bodyshell was to be placed on a 1-inch box aluminium chassis welded by the team themselves, which was also abandoned due to weight concerns. Instead, a new frame was created with assistance by a professional welder, incorporating 1.5mm and 3mm thick sections.

At an early stage, an electric self-righting mechanism and hydraulic (later pneumatic) lifter were also planned to be incorporated into Psycho's design. According to Team Psycho Bot's diaries, the lifter was intended to have a maximum capacity of 250kg. However, both features were initially scrapped when the initial build of Psycho - complete with a four-wheel drive system - was found to weigh 120kg when fully assembled. Simpler mechanisms for both were proposed, though the team would eventually attempt to repurpose the pneumatics for a new srimech design. Descriptions of the proposed lifter vary; while Team Psycho Bot simply described it as a 'lift', a short description from the official Robot Wars website mentions the weapon as being a pneumatic scoop.

Qualification

"During the course of the making of Psycho we have come to except that things don't always go to plan. However we never conceived the last few days would be such a total nightmare. On Saturday July the 22 we did a weight count 80.7Kg, not bad, except we had no armor, 12kg was needed! We would never bore our way out of 12kg so something had to go..."

— Team Psycho Bot

To qualify for the televised Fourth Wars, Psycho was required to compete at the Robot Mayhem live event taking place in late July-early August 2000. However, the robot was not fully assembled by the time it attended rehearsals on Saturday 22 July, weighing 80.7kg without any armour. To save the 12kg necessary for this component, Team Psycho Bot had to remove the pneumatics system originally intended for its srimech. A winch-based substitute was devised, but malfunctioned - along with the axe - during testing for its originally-scheduled appearance at the 25 July event.

Psycho thus attended the event with only its armour and partially-wired drive system, meaning that it was not ready for combat by that time. Despite this setback, the team were assisted by George Francis, Derek Foxwell and Ray Tait in fully wiring up its drivetrain. Foxwell agreed that Psycho - following further problems - would compete at the 30 July event instead.

With this extra time, Team Psycho Bot were able to get Psycho's drive and weapon systems ready for its second qualifier attempt, which enabled it to be fully armoured for the first time. The high tyre compression at full load necessitated a further modification, in which the rear castors were removed to aid with its front-heavy weight distribution.

For the 30 July show itself, Psycho faced Third Wars veteran Vector in a 4:30pm qualifier. However, another malfunction occurred with the self-righting mechanism during a last-minute test, rendering it inoperable. The robot's low ground clearance also hindered its arena entrance, prompting Mat Irvine to assist it out of its bullpen.

"3-2-1 Activate and I was away, forget the battle plans, pile into him at 15mph this was the new strategy! We out pushed him on 2 occasions and the rest of the time we were pushing him around the arena."

— A general overview of Psycho's qualifier

Psycho's fortunes improved upon the battle starting, however, slamming into Vector and consistently pushing it across the arena. However, an early impact dislodged a servo arm containing an important magnet, used to activate its axe motor. Thus, the weapon was not able to fire at all, even during a crucial moment where Psycho was preparing to strike Vector with it. With one last ram, Psycho immobilised Vector regardless, before performing what was intended to be 'a quick victory spin'.

"The fight ended with us piling into our opponent, and thus immobilising him, a quick victory spin and out. Well not quite. On the call of "cease" we err didn't, something had gone wrong, don't know what but we didn't stop, the robot failed to stop when we turned the transmitter off thus the fail safes were not working, bad!"

— Team Psycho Bot's account of Psycho's failsafe problem

Upon 'Cease' being called, Psycho failed to stop due to a suspected failsafe issue, which was later revealed to have been caused by the transmitter being switched to a different setting mid-fight. Shunt was eventually used to axe and pin Psycho against the side wall, so that Irvine could safely remove its power key. As a consequence of its axe not working, Psycho failed to qualify for The Fourth Wars despite its victory, with Vector also being unable to secure a place in the televised series.

"Nah, with no axe we looked dull and as they were looking for active weaponry we failed to make the TV series. Ho hum"

— Team Psycho Bot on their machine not qualifying

Series Record

Series	Psycho Series Record
The First Wars	Did not enter
The Second Wars	Super Showdown with Siren
The Third Wars	Did not enter
The Fourth Wars	Failed to qualify
The Fifth Wars	Did not enter
The Sixth Wars	Did not enter
The Seventh Wars	Did not enter
Series 8	Did not enter
Series 9	Did not enter
Series 10	Did not enter

External Links

• Team Psycho Bot website (archived)