Robot Wars: Build Your Own Robot is a hardback book published by Haynes[1], and written by James and Grant Cooper of Robo Challenge.[2] The book was released on 12 October 2017.[3]
Build Your Own Robot provides behind-the-scenes features on the arena, House Robots and competitor robots, as well as instructions for building three project robots.
On 28 September 2017, Robo Challenge announced on Facebook that they would produce a limited run of 25 signed copies of Build Your Own Robot, along with silk screen blueprints of the 'Robot Wars Challenger' build project included in the book. Pre-orders for the signed copies with blueprints began on 2nd October; the same date originally mentioned as the release date on Amazon UK's listing for the book.[4]
Contents[]
- Robot Wars: A history of the show, as well as information on the evolution of competitor robots and the rebooted series' format.
- Types of robots and their applications: Information on different types of robots and their uses around the world, including a brief explanation of the term 'robot'.
- Design and development of a House Robot: Behind-the-scenes information on the House Robots, including 'biographies'.
- The anatomy of a House Robot: In-depth sections on components and materials used by various competitor robots and the House Robot Sir Killalot.
- Building a robot safely: Safety information for working in workshops and when building, testing and operating robots. Includes an overview of the safety procedures used in the Robot Wars studio during filming for televised competitions.
- Build your own robot: Instructions for three robot projects - a 'Bug Bot', a 'Flip Bot' and a 'fully controllable' competitor robot.
- How to win Robot Wars: advice from roboteer Michael Oates on how to win on the show.
- Appendices: Build rules, previous series winners, selection of UK Series side competition winners, and a directory of Robot Wars competitors and contacts.
Errors and Omissions[]
Unlike most other Robot Wars publications, the Haynes Manual contains very few errors due to it being authored by Robo Challenge. Many of the errors present in the book are typographical:
- A few competitors' names are misspelt on various occasions; Supernova was spelt as Supanova, Meggamouse was spelt as Megamouse, Ms Nightshade was spelt as Miss Nightshade, Recyclopse was spelt as Recyclops and Chompalot is once spelled as Chopalot.
- Craig Colliass' name is spelt as Craig Collias.
- Androne 4000 is once referred to by its original name, Andron 4000.
- There are inconsistencies in the book regarding the gender of Dead Metal. Its profile refers to the House Robot as female, but other passing mentions in the book use male pronouns in reference to Dead Metal.
- Tauron's weapon in Series 9 is listed as a spinning drum, despite being consistently and correctly referred to as a bar spinner in its Series 10 statistics and both of its summaries.
- At various points, Pulsar and Eruption's drum weapons are referred to as discs.
- Steg-O-Saw-Us is stated to have placed fourth in Series 3, when it finished joint third with Fire Storm.
- Presumably due to space limitations, TR2, Thor, Ironside3 and Aftershock are not listed as third or fourth-place finishers in Series 8 and 9 respectively.
- MTV was listed as a producer of Robot Wars in the US, when both Robot Wars: Extreme Warriors and Robot Wars: Grand Champions were in fact aired on TNN.
- An image of the Series 8 Razer is claimed to be the Series 2 version and another image of Tornado vs Wheely Big Cheese claims to be Tornado in Series 6 when it was in Series 4.
- Mark Setrakian, builder of US Robot Wars 1995 co-champion The Master, is erroneously stated to have created the Robot Fighting League. The book most likely refers to the Syfy robot combat show Robot Combat League, which Setrakian created, not the separate robot combat governing body known as the Robot Fighting League.
- Full-body spinner Typhoon 2 is erroneously stated at one point to have had a flywheel as its main weapon.
- One of the image captions claims Shunt is attacking PP3D, when the image is actually from a battle in Robot Wars: World Series, an event which PP3D did not enter. The robot referred to as PP3D in the caption is in fact Cathadh - the competitors exclusive to the World Series are the only robots not referenced by name in the book, potentially because the World Series had not been publicly announced at the time of the book's release despite containing imagery from the episodes.
Video Interviews[]
On the Haynes Manuals YouTube channel, Steve Rendle interviews a competing team in Series 10, usually just a single member of the team, and asks them the following questions:
- What inspired the creation of your robot?
- What was the trickiest part of building your robot?
- What's the most important advice you can give to anyone wanting to build a robot to compete in Robot Wars?
- What is the highlight of being part of Robot Wars?
- How did you decide what type of weapon to incorporate into your robot?
A complete list of interviews is found below:
| Roboteer(s)/Personnel | Robot | Team | Upload date | Link |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| James Cooper | House Robots | Robo Challenge | 12 October 2017 | [5] |
| Dave Young | Apollo | Team MAD | 13 October 2017 | [6] |
| Tom Lloyds | Bucky the Robot | Team Tomco | 14 October 2017 | [7] |
| Sam Smith & Dave Moulds | Carbide | Team Carbide | 15 October 2017 | [8] |
| Tim Rackley | Concussion | Dorset Roboteering Team | 16 October 2017 | [9] |
| Mark Mellor | Deadlock | Team Cyberwar | 17 October 2017 | [10] |
| Georgina Henwood | Expulsion | Brentwood School Roboteers | 18 October 2017 | [11] |
| Gilbert Grimm | Iron-Awe 6 | Team Iron-Awe | 19 October 2017 | [12] |
| Ian Thomas | Aftershock | Team Shock | 20 October 2017 | [13] |
| JME Anderson | The Kegs | Team Terror Turtle | 21 October 2017 | [14] |
| Alex Shakespeare | Nuts 2 | Team Nuts | 22 October 2017 | [15] |
| Shane Swan, Anthony Murney & Stephen McCulla | Push to Exit | Team S.Tek | 23 October 2017 | [16] |
| Josh Valman | Rapid | Team RPD | 24 October 2017 | [17] |
| Gabriel Stroud | Sabretooth | Team Legion | 25 October 2017 | [18] |
References[]
- ↑ http://licensingsource.net/indepth/the-licensing-lookout-72/
- ↑ https://www.facebook.com/groups/UnofficialRobotWars/permalink/584105158535920/
- ↑ https://haynes.com/en-gb/robot-wars-manual
- ↑ https://www.facebook.com/robochallenge/photos/a.10152061834821997.1073741826.87643636996/10155348163226997/?type=3&theater
- ↑ Haynes Manuals interview with James Cooper (Robo Challenge)
- ↑ Haynes Manuals interview with Dave Young (Team MAD, Apollo)
- ↑ Haynes Manuals interview with Tom Lloyds (Team Tomco, Bucky the Robot)
- ↑ Haynes Manuals interview with Sam Smith & Dave Moulds (Team Carbide, Carbide)
- ↑ Haynes Manuals interview with Tim Rackley (Dorset Roboteering Team, Concussion)
- ↑ Haynes Manuals interview with Mark Mellor (Team Cyberwar, Deadlock)
- ↑ Haynes Manuals interview with Georgina Henwood (Brentwood School Roboteers, Expulsion)
- ↑ Haynes Manuals interview with Gilbert Grimm (Team Iron-Awe, Iron-Awe 6)
- ↑ Haynes Manuals interview with Ian Thomas (Team Shock, Aftershock)
- ↑ Haynes Manuals interview with JME Anderson (Team Terror Turtle, The Kegs)
- ↑ Haynes Manuals interview with Alex Shakespeare (Team Nuts, Nuts 2)
- ↑ Haynes Manuals interview with Shane Swan, Anthony Murney & Stephen McCulla (Team S.Tek, Push to Exit)
- ↑ Haynes Manuals interview with Josh Valman (Team RPD, Rapid)
- ↑ Haynes Manuals interview with Gabriel Stroud (Team Legion, Sabretooth)
External Links[]
- Robot Wars: Build Your Own Robot on the official Haynes website
- Amazon.co.uk page for Robot Wars: Build Your Own Robot
- Official downloads for the projects featured in the book
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