Psychosprout

Psychosprout
Psychosprout
Participation Information
UK Series	1
Team Information
Team	The Boy Sprouts
Team Members	Toby Marsden Chris Marsden
Robot Statistics
Weight	24.3kg
Dimensions	1 metre sphere
Top Speed	5mph
Power	Tamiya Monster Truck
Weapons	None
Statistics correct as of its most recent show/competition appearance, or if not applicable, qualification attempt.

"How can you be defensive, with a giant Brussels Sprout?"

— Philippa Forrester

Psychosprout was a large blue and green fibreglass sphere that competed in Series 1 of Robot Wars. It was meant to be a giant brussel sprout with two red eyes. Father and son team Chris and Toby Marsden were the recipients of the first Most Original Entry award. Inside Psychosprout, an upgraded remote control monster truck was attached to a wire frame. As Toby Marsden drove the truck, it shifted the centre of gravity and allowed the giant sprout to roll along. Due to the limited innards, Psychosprout was a lightweight class robot.

Interestingly, on the TV show, Psychosprout's name was misspelt as Pyschosprout. The Boy Sprouts were originally slated to be in Heat F, but were transferred to Heat E, forcing the robot to take part in a much less favourable trial.

"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 30ft"

— Tony Mardsen on the Altavista forum

Today, Team Dalek are now making a new build of WYSIWYG, and are making an antweight version of Psychosprout.

Robot History

Series 1

Psychosprout rolls down The Gauntlet

In Heat E, after 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.

"A rolling stone gathers no moss. A rolling sprout gathers a Sergeant Bash!"

— Jonathan Pearce

Sergeant Bash rammed Psychosprout with its 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

The incorrect "Psychosprout" spelling

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 very unique design, the Psychosprout team was awarded with the Most Original Entry Award, at the end of the series, by the judges.

Results

The RC Monster Truck and rollcage inside Psychosprout

Psychosprout is carried into the arena

Wins/Losses

• Wins: 0
• Losses: 1

Series Record

• Series 1: Heat, Trial
• Series 2-7: Did not enter

Trivia

• Unsurprisingly, Psychosprout was the only robot of its design ever to enter Robot Wars.
  • It is the only machine to have its wheels covered by armour on all sides.
  • It is the only machine to have one surface of the entire robot.
• Technically, Psychosprout was the first robot to have a body-shape srimech.
• The Psychosprout team (the Boy Sprouts) is the only Award winning team not to enter a 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 machines in Series 1.
• The results board shown on the TV screen at the end of the Labyrinth trial had actually mis-spelt Psychosprout's name.
• Psychosprout was from Ludlow in the West Midlands, making it the only robot in Series 1 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.