- "How can you be defensive, with a giant Brussels Sprout?"
- — Philippa Forrester
Psychosprout was an unusual spherical robot which competed exclusively in Robot Wars: The First Wars. Officially a lightweight entry from father-and-son team Chris and Toby Marsden (also collectively referred to as The Boy Sprouts), it reached the Trial stage of its Heat (Labyrinth), before a difficult start resulted in it being blocked by REALI-T and unable to progress beyond the starting area. Though it was directly eliminated from the competition as a result, Psychosprout's unorthodox design allowed it to receive the first Most Original Entry award at the end of the series.
The Boy Sprouts were originally expected to take part in Heat F of The First Wars, but were transferred to Heat E, which forced Psychosprout to take part in a different Trial in which it was less ideally suited for.
- "Mentorn put us in the wrong competition. This sounds like griping but we had been placed in the snooker ball game... which we would have made it through most probably. At the last moment we were put in the maze... which you needed a turning circle of 0 to complete. We had a turning circle of circ. 30ft"
- — Toby Marsden on the alt.robotwars Google group[1]
Design[]
- "A truly unique design! A 3-foot fibreglass sphere that rolls along through gravity. Weighing in at 24.3 kilograms, and of course, it has zero ground clearance."
- — Jonathan Pearce introduces Psychosprout
Psychosprout is carried into the arena
The 'proprietary chassis' devised by The Boy Sprouts, propelled by a modified Tamiya RC monster truck
Psychosprout was an exceptionally unusual robot with a unique design, being weaponless and having a body consisting entirely of a 3ft (or 100cm[2]) fibreglass sphere. The sphere, comprising two large halves joined together, was painted in two-tone green with two red eyes to resemble a giant anthropomorphic Brussels sprout, hence its name. This would form both Psychosprout's armour and its main method of locomotion. Toby Marsden estimated that, excluding materials for the chassis, Psychosprout's build cost was approximately £100.[3]
Psychosprout in the arena
Mobility was provided by what Toby Marsden described as a 'proprietary chassis', an internal structure comprising a modified Tamiya[2] radio-controlled monster truck with an equally spherical wireframe assembly attached to the top. As the truck drove forwards, it would in turn drive up against the inner surface of the sphere, shifting Psychosprout's centre of gravity and allowing it to roll across the arena floor in any orientation. Though Psychosprout could reach a top speed of 5mph[2], it suffered from a reportedly large turning circle of 30ft (contrary to its statistics board, which listed a zero turning circle) and could often struggle to regain momentum if it hit a stationary object or opponent. Psychosprout struggled with reception issues throughout its time on Robot Wars and was unable to reverse, due to using an unreliable 27Mhz AM radio frequency and the cage inside the machine interfering with the radio control.[4]
Weighing in at 24.3kg, Psychosprout technically competed on Robot Wars as a middleweight robot, though in its televised appearance it was classified as a lightweight for unknown reasons. Under this classification, it was 1.6kg over the original limit for this category.
Robot History[]
Series 1[]
Psychosprout rolls down The Gauntlet
Psychosprout competed in Heat E. In the Gauntlet stage, after taking a little time to decide, Psychosprout opted for the left-most route, but a brutal shunt from Sergeant Bash made Psychosprout roll into a barrier and get stuck.
- "Now, a rolling stone gathers no moss. A rolling sprout gathers a Sergeant Bash!"
- — Jonathan Pearce
Sergeant Bash rammed Psychosprout with his spike, but accidentally shoved it several feet down the course, although it did also result in Psychosprout crashing into the next barrier up, where Psychosprout was left for the rest of the run. However, this still actually benefited Psychosprout as it had finished the run with a fairly respectable distance of 9m, putting it in 4th place on the leaderboard out of 6 by the end of the round, exceeding 6th place Wharthog by over 5m. This put Psychosprout through to the trial stage of the heat, which for this heat was the Labyrinth.
- Toby Marsden: "I think there was a bit of interference from the TV cameras, that probably didn't help."
- Philippa Forrester: "You cannot blame the TV for your lack of technology."
- Toby Marsden: "Ah well, it was worth a try"
- — Psychosprout works perfectly fine in the pits
Psychosprout still at the start
However, in the Trial stage of the heat, Psychosprout ran forward for the Labyrinth and collided with REALI-T. Due to being blocked, it could not gather momentum and rolled back to the start. It did not move from then on in the Trial and was eliminated from the competition when time ran out, as it covered the least distance of the five competitors.
- "Commiserations to the Psychosprout team - their robot vegetating on the starting line, and rolling out of the competition."
- — Jonathan Pearce
Due to its unique design, the Psychosprout team won the Most Original Entry Award at the end of the series by the Judges.
Results[]
| PSYCHOSPROUT - RESULTS | ||
| Series 1 | ||
| The First Wars - UK Championship Heat, Trial | ||
| Heat E, Gauntlet | 9.00m (4th) | Qualified |
| Heat E, Trial (Labyrinth) | 0.0m (5th) | Eliminated |
Series Record[]
| Series | Psychosprout Series Record |
|---|---|
| The First Wars | Heat, Trial |
| The Second Wars | Did not enter |
| The Third Wars | Did not enter |
| The Fourth Wars | Did not enter |
| 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 |
Gallery[]
Trivia[]
Psychosprout's name misspelt on the Labyrinth results table
- Psychosprout was the only robot of its design to enter any series of Robot Wars.
- It is the only competitor to have its wheels protected by armour on all sides on TV.
- It is the only competitor to be composed entirely of one surface as a result of its spherical body on TV.
- Technically, Psychosprout was the first robot to have a body capable of acting as a self-righting mechanism, although the monster truck inside it remained upright at all times.
- The Boy Sprouts are the only team in Robot Wars to win an award and not enter any subsequent series.
- Psychosprout is one of 20 robots never to fight in robot combat, having only ever been in the Gauntlet or Trial.
- Psychosprout was one of only three Lightweight competitor robots in Series 1.
- Psychosprout's name was misspelt as Pyschosprout on the results table shown at the end of the Labyrinth Trial.
- Psychosprout came from Ludlow in the West Midlands, making it the only robot in Series 1 to originate from the West Midlands. Grunt was announced to be from Coventry, which is also in the West Midlands, but as a stock robot provided to make up the numbers, it is not truly regarded as coming from any particular county.
- Team Dalek are now making an antweight version of Psychosprout, and are making a new build of WYSIWYG.
- In the Mandarin dub aired by Taiwanese station MUCH TV, Psychosprout was referred to as 西瓜头 (Xīguā tóu), roughly meaning Watermelon Head, likely due to its paint scheme resembling the rind of the aforementioned fruit.
- Psychosprout used the same truck basis for its drive as SAT'arn.[2]
References[]
Honours[]
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