- "How can you be defensive, with a giant Brussels Sprout?"
- — Philippa Forrester
Psychosprout was an unusual spherical robot that competed exclusively in the first series of Robot Wars. At the time, it was a Middleweight. It was entered by father and son team Chris and Toby Marsden, and reached the Trial stage, where it was eliminated. However, its spherical design enabled it to receive the first Most Original Entry award at the end of Series 1.
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 Trial that was less suited to its design.
- "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
Design
Psychosprout is carried into the arena
The RC Monster Truck and rollcage inside Psychosprout
Psychosprout was an exceptionally unusual and unique robot, with its body consisting of a large, weaponless blue and green fibreglass sphere with two red eyes themed around a giant Brussels sprout. Inside the sphere, the robot featured an upgraded radio-controlled monster truck attached to a wire frame, which when driven shifted the robot's centre of gravity and allowed the sphere to roll along the arena floor. Because of its primitive internals, Psychosprout was classified as a lightweight robot.
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.
- "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
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 very unique design, the Psychosprout team was awarded with 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
The Boy Sprouts, Toby and Chris Marsden, at the controls
| 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 |
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.
- It is the only competitor to be composed of entirely one surface as a result of its spherical body.
- 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.
Honours
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