Rottweiler

For the similarly named super heavyweight competitor, see Bottweiler.

Rottweiler
Participation Information
UK Series	2
Team Information
Team	Team UK Robotics
Team Members	Dominic Rott Werner Rott Bill Blakey
From	Torquay
Other Entries	Constrictor (Series 7)
Robot Statistics
Weight	79.8kg
Dimensions	1.24m x 1.65m x 0.68m
Clearance	50mm
Top Speed	10mph
Power	2x 12V batteries (18Ah)
Drive	2x 24V wheelchair motors
Weapons	Hardened steel spikes
Statistics correct as of its most recent show/competition appearance, or if not applicable, qualification attempt.

"It may growl and prowl, but its top speed of 10mph is the slowest in the heat. Its high ground clearance of 50mm could leave it vulnerable to a flip. Its shell is 5mm thick, and the hardened steel spikes are 15cm long. I wonder if Rottweiler's bark is worse than its bite!"

— Jonathan Pearce introduces Rottweiler

Rottweiler was a heavyweight robot that was entered by Team UK Robotics in Series 2 of Robot Wars. It was eliminated in the Trial stage of its heat and was never seen fighting another competitor robot. The team later built a new robot, Constrictor, which competed in the Seventh Wars.

Design

" It's main weapon was going to be its strength and power - The idea was that it would be powerful enough to push all the other robots out the way with the spikes or stab the spikes into them and immobilise them."

— UK Robotics website on Rottweiler

The underside of Rottweiler

Rottweiler was a triangular prism shaped robot, with a 5mm thick shell and a picture of a Rottweiler dog on the front. To complete the dog theme, it was armed with rows of 15cm spikes around the edge of its shell, resembling a dog collar. It had a high ground clearance of 50mm and was slow at 10 mph.

Construction started when Werner Rott bought an electric wheelchair, which the team took apart for the wheels and electronics. It narrowly weighed over the weight limit for Heavyweights at the time, and was noted as having a high centre of gravity.

"We thought it stood a good chance but the robot had several problems which were not discovered until it was too late: The circuit board which controlled the motors could not take the current the motors were using. The castors were not positioned very well so sometimes, when the robot was on an uneven surface, the castors would touch the ground but the powered wheels wouldn't. The steel used for the spikes was not hard enough so the spikes would bend if to much force was put on them. The robot would not drive in a straight line. We did not have enough driving practice."

— UK Robotics website reflects on Rottweiler

The team's image of Rottweiler, with spikes added digitally

Etymology

The robot itself was named after the family's surname, Rott, while directly referencing the rottweiler breed of dog.

Qualification

"I saw Robotwars On TV and thought it would be good fun to enter as I have always liked electronics and making small robots."

— Dominic Rott on the UK Robotics website

Rottweiler as it appeared at the Series 2 auditions

Like many robots at the Series 2 auditions, Rottweiler attended the auditions in an unfinished state, with unpainted wooden armour. Despite catching fire in its audition, Rottweiler was still chosen to compete.

"At the auditions, the people checking it for safety were watching us demonstrate it - after about 2/3 minutes the wires got too hot and went up in smoke. Even so, we still managed to get chosen for the filming in the end"

— UK Robotics website

Rottweiler 2, which failed to qualify for Series 3

After the Second Wars, Team UK Robotics built an upgraded version of Rottweiler, called Rottweiler 2, which failed to qualify for Series 3. The team missed the Series 4 auditions because they were on holiday, then decided that Rottweiler was too outdated to enter Series 5, so they decided to retire it.

"...unfortunately we were not able to make it to the series 4 auditions because of a 2 week holiday on the Greek island, Skiathos. Because we have missed 2 series, the two year old design (that doesn't even have a self righting mechanism) would be no good against series 5 quality robots. For this reason Rottweiler 2 has been abandoned in its current state."

— UK Robotics website

Robot History

Series 2

Rottweiler competed in Heat I and was the fourth robot to run the Gauntlet. It attempted to take the centre route, only to immediately collide with the partition barrier. It then spun on the spot before charging up the ramp, only to get caught on the barrier.

"Plenty of spikes, plenty of weaponry...hahaha, plenty of spin"

— Jonathan Pearce as Rottweiler spins

Rottweiler's spike is cut

The house robots then came in and Sergeant Bash cut into Rottweiler's armour with his saw. Matilda then tried to flip Rottweiler, nearly freeing it from the barrier, but she fell off the ramp and became stuck. Rottweiler was unable to escape before Sir Killalot came up the ramp and clamped hold of one of its spikes. Cease was called, but Sir Killalot's attack continued, cutting the spike off completely. In total, Rottweiler had only gained 3.5 metres worth of distance, putting it in danger of going out.

"Rottweiler, bit of a puppy really, so far!"

— Jonathan Pearce as Sir Killalot closes in

Luckily for Rottweiler, Cruella only managed to travel 1.9 metres, guaranteeing Rottweiler a place in the next round. Ultimately, Rottweiler finished the Gauntlet in fifth place and progressed through to the Trial.

Rottweiler was the last of the five remaining robots to compete in the Joust trial against Matilda. As fellow competitor Prometheus had been pushed back from its starting position by 2.10 metres, Rottweiler was seemingly guaranteed a place in the Arena stage so long as it progressed up the ramp or maintained its starting position

Rottweiler is humiliated in the Joust

"Young Dominic, you haven't got much to do, just go forward and you're through."

— Jonathan Pearce

However, Rottweiler failed to move in the opening seconds and when it eventually did, it turned sideways, ran into the arena wall and became stuck before even making the ramp. Matilda tentatively approached Rottweiler and lifted it with her tusks before pushing it back to the entry gate. Rottweiler scored a negative distance of 2.80 metres, even further back than Prometheus, resulting in its elimination.

"The spikes won't help Rottweiler here, and his bark was worse than his bite! Get back to the kennels!"

— Jonathan Pearce as Matilda rams Rottweiler

Series Record

• The wheelchair the team used for parts
• The Rottweiler team
• The frame of Rottweiler during construction
• Rottweiler 2 retired

1/4

Series	Rottweiler Series Record
The First Wars	Did not enter
The Second Wars	Heat, Trial
The Third Wars	Failed to qualify with Rottweiler 2
The Fourth Wars	Did not enter
The Fifth Wars	Did not enter
The Sixth Wars	Did not enter
The Seventh Wars	Entered with Constrictor
Series 8	Did not enter
Series 9	Did not enter
Series 10	Did not enter

Outside Robot Wars

Rottweiler 2, among other Robot Wars competitors such as Killertron, Wheely Big Cheese, Eye of Newt, Tor, St. Agro and Miss Struts, took part in the 2000 Children in Need event which consisted of tug of war, battles and sumo matches

Trivia

"the night before the filming at about 11pm and we had just figured out why it had been running so slowly that day. The answer - the brakes burned out because we put too much power into them but it wasn't our fault because we assumed the brakes on a 24v motor would be 24v but we found out later it was 12v, never mind we thought, we just wont have any brakes for Robotwars. But it got worse the circuitry was not at all suitable for the current the motors needed anyway but with the motors fighting against the brakes the whole circuit board would blow up in minutes. Anyway, a few phone calls later we were on the road to recovery - Thanks Bill for coming round at 11:00 at night in the pouring rain to sort out the brakes"

— UK Robotics website

• Rottweiler's electrics had to be repaired after burning out the night before filming.
• Rottweiler is one of 20 robots never to fight in robot combat, having only ever been in the Gauntlet or Trial.
• The TV show claimed that Rottweiler only had a single 12V battery for power, but it in fact used two.
• Team member Bill Blakey was absent for the recording of Rottweiler's heat.
• Team UK Robotics' later appearance with Constrictor in Series 7 is the longest gap between consecutive appearances for any team in Robot Wars, joint with The General's gap between Series 3 and 2016.

External Links

• Rottweiler on the UK Robotics Website
• Rottweiler 2 on the UK Robotics Website