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"I had no idea of the rules and regulations. I knew how to make things and I'm a fairly competent radio control enthusiast. My profession is electronic and computers, while my skill training is engineering. That's a very good combination for this project."
— Mike Lambert on deciding to enter Robot Wars, interviewed in Robot Wars: The Official Magazine[1]

Team Dantomkia was a team that entered Series 6 and 7 of Robot Wars, as well as Extreme 2, best-known for their flippers Dantomkia and DTK.

The Team[]

Team Dantomkia S6

The team's official image from Series 6

The team was captained by Michael Lambert, who was joined by his son Daniel and friend Steven Gadsby.

"It was after watching the Second Wars ... My son Thomas came up to me and said, "Dad, can we enter that?" I thought about it and decided it would be great to give it a go. I knew I could do better than the robots that I saw. So that was it, no turning back!"
— Mike Lambert, interviewed in Robot Wars: The Official Magazine
Dtkanddtk

Dantomkia & DTK at the recording of Robot Wars Series 7

They entered with two robots; Dantomkia, which failed to qualify for Series 4 before reaching the Semi-Finals in Series 6 and 7; and DTK, a featherweight version of Dantomkia which won the Series 7 Featherweight Championship.

Some of the team's most notable moments include flipping Chaos 2 out of the arena, setting the shortest battle record of eight seconds against IG-88, and breaking the record for most robots flipped out of the arena, a record that still stands today in televised Robot Wars. The team also won the Most Promising Newcomer Award in Series 6.

Although Dantomkia returned to Robot Wars for the first series of the reboot, it was not under ownership of the original Team Dantomkia, rather with Team S.Tek. Likewise, Dantomkia applied for Series 9 under ownership of Team Slam, but it was not selected to compete.

Team Members[]

Michael Lambert[]

"I’m a keen model aircraft flyer and builder. … I like anything to do with models, especially the engineering side of things. My machining background and the fact that my father has a milling machine and a lathe at home helped me to decide to compete in Robot Wars. My children were, and still are, very keen on robots. They have a keen eye on what is good and what is not. So with some trepidation, I decided to give it a go."
— Michael Lambert, interviewed in Robot Wars: The Official Magazine[2]
DantomkiaMichael

Michael Lambert with Dantomkia in 2001

The team captain and founder of the team, Mike was the main designer and builder of Dantomkia, as well as the driver. Michael was convinced to enter Robot Wars by his second son, Thomas. After initially being reluctant, he gave in.

"I said “No, definitely not!” It took 4 weeks of persuasion."
— Michael Lambert, interviewed in Ultimate Real Robots magazine[3]
Mike Lambert Dantomkia frame

Mike Lambert working on Dantomkia

Michael’s background as a service instillation engineer, as well as his experience in welding, helped him to build the robot, and he was responsible for the design.

"I’m in a lucky position as I own the robot outright, so I don’t have to answer to others… this stops all arguments."
— Michael Lambert, interviewed in Robot Wars: The Official Magazine

Having initially built a very basic box-wedge without weapons which failed to qualify for Series 4, he decided to build a flipper after talking to Ian Watts of Team Big Brother and Sam Smith of Tiberius

"I had a long hard head to head with Ian Watts of Bigger Brother and Sam Smith from Tiberious over a nice pint of beer and during this discussion I decided to make a flipper. Ian showed me how Bigger Brother worked and said that I could use his method and here I am. A Flipper robot was placed on the drawing board."
— Michael Lambert on the Dantomkia website[4]

After studying what made other robots fail and their strong points, he took the design of the original Dantomkia and added a flipper, working with Gareth Dean of the Lancaster Bombers to build a powerful flipper, getting help from Ian Watts with the design of the flipper. Ian Watts also designed a set of custom-built electronics, which controlled the weapon, failsafe and retractable rear castor[5].

"I got a lot of help from Ian from the Bigger Brother team originally – then Gareth came up with a better system, and Ian now uses it on Bigger Brother."
— Michael Lambert interviewed in Ultimate Real Robots magazine[6]

After his success on BattleBots with Spitfire, originally constructed as Dantomkia 2.0, Mike Lambert was contacted by the Robot Wars producers and was asked to attempt to qualify again, which Mike initially refused, having been bitterly disappointed by his failure to qualify for Series 4 despite winning two qualifier battles. Initially, he had been told that Dantomkia had got through after winning its two battles, but the producers later changed their minds[7]. However, he changed his mind after he was assured it was qualifiers, not auditions.

"I was so upset about not being picked that I vowed never to attend again, ... But after about six months I realised that Robot Wars is an entertainment programme, and unless Dantomkia is put up against a certain type of bot, it's a very boring fight, which is what the BBC want {sic}. So I calmed down"
— Michael Lambert on his failure to qualify for Series 4, interviewed in Robot Wars: The Official Magazine

He built a third version of Dantomkia for Series 6. Whereas the original machine took two years to build, this version took just 10 days.

MikeLambertControls

Mike Lambert at the controls of Dantomkia in Series 6

Mike was Dantomkia’s main driver. Before Dantomkia made its first televised appearance in Series 6, Mike had practiced his driving skills at many live events.

"I know Mike Lambert quite well, because obviously us roboteers, we have to get practice in outside of Robot Wars, we don’t just turn up at the event, we all get lots of driving practice, and Mike, despite being a newcomer to Robot Wars, is one of the most experienced roboteers there is! He’s had tonnes, literally 100’s of fights, so we could well be a handful for us!"
— Vinnie Blood on Mike Lambert, before Razer’s fight with Dantomkia in Semi-Final 1 of Series 6

Despite this experience, he consistently suffered from nerves, which was listed as Dantomkia’s weakness in all its appearances. In an interview in Robot Wars: The Official Magazine, he claimed competing gave him such an adrenaline rush that he would literally shake before battles. His biggest fear was always that Dantomkia would fail to work at the start of the battle.

"I usally feel physically sick … Then we have to get it ready from the next bout."
— Michael Lambert describes how he usually feels at the end of the bout in a interview in Ultimate Real Robots magazine[8]

He relied on his two team mates to look at the whole battle and suggest tactics whilst he focused on driving Dantomkia.

MikeInterviewEx2

Mike Lambert being interviewed in Extreme 2

However, his nerves barely showed during interviews, with Phillipa Forrester commenting on how calm he appeared before battles.

"You’ve not shown any, any sign of fear or nervousness before now…"
— Philippa Forrester before the Heat Final in Series 6

Jonathan Pearce also commented that his nerves did not show before Round 1 of the Series 7 All-Stars.

"…I actually think the driver’s nerves are going now. He looks confident to me!"
— Jonathan Pearce before Round 1 of the All-Stars

Though he acted confident before battles, he did admit to being afraid of certain opponents. For example, after winning his Round 2 battle of Series 6, he admitted to Craig Charles that he really wanted to avoid Chaos 2, but when interviewed by Philippa Forrester just before the Heat Final against Chaos 2, he confidentially claimed Chaos 2 was “going to be retired, big time!”.  In the Extreme 2 Challenge Belt, he admitted he hated spinners the most, having been drawn against Hypno-Disc and S.M.I.D.S.Y. in Round 1.

DTKteamR1

Mike as part of the DTK team

Michael had a lot of respect for his opponents and other fellow roboteers, and was always willing to help, giving other roboteers advice, and helping other teams to fix their robots, even if he was due to fight them. He allowed other roboteers to look inside Dantomkia and learn how it worked, and believed that “you have to beat the best to be the best”. One of the most notable examples was when he and Daniel Lambert helped to fix Wild Thing 2 before fighting them in the Losers’ Melee in the Series 6 Semi-Final.

However, Michael was not the captain of DTK, the team’s featherweight, nor did he control it. He was present for Round 1 of the Featherweight Championship, where he gave Steven Gadsby advice, but was absent for the Final due to being busy repairing Dantomkia[9].

Daniel Lambert[]

DanCelebratesFlippingChaos2Out

Daniel Lambert celebrates flipping out Chaos 2

Michael’s eldest son, Daniel was the weapons operator on Dantomkia. A student at the time, with a hobby in remote controlled models, Daniel was still living at home with Michael, and he contributed to the construction.

"Daniel and Steve Gadbsy sometimes see things that I haven’t  and we’ll discuss it"
— Mike Lambert, interviewed in Robot Wars: The Official Magazine

As well as controlling the flipper, Daniel controlled the pneumatic rear castor on the back of Dantomkia which lifted the robot up for normal driving.

DanielLambertControls

The controls of Dantomkia, as shown in Ultimate Real Robots magazine

Due to his father’s nerves and need to focus on controlling Dantomkia, Mike relied on his two teammates to look around the arena, relying on Daniel for tactical opportunities.

"Daniel tells me which is the best move for launching an attack with the flipper. Meanwhile, Steve keeps an eye on the big picture – how many points we’re ahead or behind in a melee, for instance."
— Michael Lambert, interviewed in Ultimate Real Robots magazine[10]

Daniel was also part of the team when they fought with DTK, albeit only in the final, where he took his father’s place. He was the only televised member of the team not to have a speaking role during interviews.

Steven Gadsby[]

"The challenge of designing and building a robot from scratch that is unique to the team, and overcoming design and construction problems through the evolution of each robot we build"
— Steven Gadsby, interviewed in Robot Wars: The Official Magazine about what he likes the most about building robots
SteveGadsbysS6

Steven Gadsby with Dantomkia in Series 6

Steven Gadbsy was a friend of Michael Lambert, the two having known each other since they were children[11]. Like Mike, Steven Gadsby was a welder[12].

"…Steve lives about seven miles away. About two weeks before an event, he’ll come over after work to help out."
— Michael Lambert, interviewed in Robot Wars: The Official Magazine

He helped with the construction of each version of Dantomkia, helped to prepare the robot before events and fix it between bouts.

"Mike is the main man when it comes to design and construction. We tend to bounce ideas off each other and come up with a possible solution. So far it seems to work well."
— Steven Gadsby, interviewed in Robot Wars: The Official Magazine

As with Daniel Lambert, Mike relied on Steven to look around the arena during battles. It was Steven’s job to look at the wider battle, giving advice on where to attack, and what to avoid, as well as describing how the robot was performing overall.

"I rely on Steve to be my eyes around the arena, he tells me what to attack or where to go to avoid attacks."
— Michael Lambert, interviewed in Robot Wars: The Official Magazine[13]
DTKteam

Steven Gadsby holds DTK before the Featherweight Final of Series 7

He mostly left the speaking in interviews to Michael, though he did occasionally have a speaking role. Notably, before Dantomkia’s battle against Chaos 2, he confidently claimed “No problem!”. In the Semi-Final, before the Loser’s Melee, Steven gave the interview because Michael and Daniel Lambert were busy helping to fix Wild Thing. Jayne Middlemiss also asked him questions before Dantomkia’s Round 2 battle against Scorpion, and before Round 1 of the All-Stars.

"Steve wanted his own robot so he built DTK."
— Michael Lambert on Facebook, 2021[14]

Steven had a much larger role when the team entered DTK, which was his creation. Steve was the captain of the team when they entered DTK, driving the robot and operating the flipper[15]. In Round 1, he had guidance from Michael Lambert, but Mike Lambert was absent from the Final.

Craig Charles: "Was he doing as he was told?"
Michael Lambert: "No!"
Steven Gadsby: "Same as you don’t on the big one, when I’m screaming at you?!"
— Craig Charles asks about Steven's driving after Round 1 of the Featherweight Championship

Other[]

LambertFamily

Mike Lambert, his three children, and Steve Gadsby with DTK and a pullback Dantomkia

Ian Gadbsy, Steve’s son, was part of the DTK team in the Series 7 Featherweight Championship[16], but was not credited as statistics boards were not shown for the featherweight competitors. He was interviewed by Craig Charles after Round 1.

Craig Charles: "I like the Featherweights and the little ones, cos it just seems like harder work, really."
Ian Gadbsy: "Yeah, it is, but it's more fiddly than the big one."
— Post-battle interview

Michael's other children were also interested in robots, and were part of the team off-screen. His daughter Kiara Lambert joined the team for live events[17].

"..injects boundless enthusiasm for the project. "
— Ultimate Real Robots magazine on Kiara Lambert[18]

Michael's other son Tom, who had originally asked Mike to build a robot, also contributed to the team at first, but he played Rugby, which took up his time, so he wasn't able to contribute to the team.

"Tom initially did then Rugby took over his life. He got very good at it."
— Michael Lambert on Facebook, 2021, asked about Tom's contribution to the team[19]

Robots[]

Name Weight Class Series
Dantomkia Heavyweight Series 6-7, Extreme 2
DTK Featherweight Series 7

NOTE: Dantomkia's participation in Series 8 was under Team S.Tek, not Team Dantomkia

Wins/Losses[]

  • Wins: 14
  • Losses: 6

Series Record[]

Main Series Team Dantomkia Series Record
The First Wars Did not enter
The Second Wars Did not enter
The Third Wars Did not enter
The Fourth Wars Failed to qualify with Dantomkia
The Fifth Wars Did not enter
The Sixth Wars Semi-Final, Round 2 with Dantomkia
The Seventh Wars Semi-Final, Round 1 with Dantomkia
Featherweight Champion with DTK
Series 8 Did not enter; Dantomkia entered by Team S.Tek
Series 9 Did not enter; Dantomkia was not selected with Team Slam
Series 10 Did not enter
Robot Wars Extreme Appearances
Series 1 Did not enter
Series 2 Entered with Dantomkia

Outside Robot Wars[]

In total, Michael Lambert built six combat robots, 5 versions of Dantomkia and another robot called Bad Attitude. He built the original Dantomkia, which failed to qualify for Series 4, over two years. This version attended many live events, the first being Robots@War 2000[20], before being retired in 2001[21].

Michael Lambert chose not to enter Series 5 because he still had the original Dantomkia[22].

BadAttitudeLiveEvent

Bad Attitude in a melee at Gloucester Heritage weekend

After building Dantomkia 1.0, Michael Lambert and Steven Gadsby built a robot named Bad Attitude [23]. Conceptualised using Computer Aided Design, it was similar to the original Dantomkia in being a weaponless box with a dual-spike design, but this robot was invertible. However, a number of issues made it difficult to control.

"Only machine to be totally CAD'ed and an utter failure in design concept … inability to turn. Wheels were too close together, weight balance was off. if you hit another robot and the front raised even a little then the drive wheels were off the ground. but it was very well made. I have never before or since put as much effort into a robot."
— Michael Lambert on Facebook (spelling edited)

Bad Attitude only attended one event, the 2001 Gloucester Heritage weekend organized by Alan, Ann and David Gribble, where it fought Panic Attack, Pussycat and X-Terminator in a melee. Due to the robot's unresponsiveness, Mike stripped it down and cut it up for parts.

SpitfireTeam

The Spitfire team at BattleBots Season 5.0

Mike Lambert and Steven Gadsby then worked with Gareth Dean of The Lancaster Bombers to build Dantomkia 2.0. After fighting at some live events in 2001, it was entered into BattleBots Season 5.0 under the name Spitfire.

"I have known Garfy for a few years. I built Spitfire. Unable to use the UK name so I joined Garfys existing team."
— Michael Lambert on Facebook [24]

Michael Lambert was the Spitfire captain and driver. Spitfire easily won its first three battles to make it through to the televised rounds, where it beat the legendary Vlad the Impaler 2, before losing to Surgeon General. Spitfire also took part in the Heavyweight Consolation Rumble at the end of the series.

After this, Michael Lambert built Dantomkia 3.0, which was entered into Series 6 and Extreme 2, whilst Spitfire became the property of Gareth Dean, who would later enter it into live events. Michael built Dantomkia 3.0's shell in ten days, with its insides taken from Spitfire and put into Dantomkia. Mike later built an improved version, Dantomkia 4.0, which entered into Series 7.

Lambert planned to make an antweight machine named Dant, but after Team Coyote converted a Dantomkia pullback into an antweight machine named Antomkia, he was impressed and decided not to built it.

As well as attending live events, Michael Lambert actually organised some live events at Worthing, with the help of Gary Smith of The Grim Reaper [25]

"I originally started to compete in unofficial events just to gain experience, then I saw the amount of good work that these events were doing for local communities, so I decided to attend as many as possible. Along the way, my team and family have met a lot of similar people who build robots and we have all bonded strong friendships."
— Michael Lambert, interviewed in Robot Wars: The Official Magazine[26]

Michael continued to fight with Dantomkia at live events for a couple of years after the original series ended, qualifying for the 2004 and 2005 Roaming Robot Winter Tours. Dantomkia managed to reach the finals in 2004, but fell in Round 1, and lost in the qualifying rounds of the 2005 tour[27].

LambertsMechannibals

Mike and Daniel Lambert and Steve Gadsby on Mechannibals in 2005

Michael Lambert, Daniel Lambert and Steven Gadsby also competed in the BBC show Mechannibals in 2005, where the teams had to first build a machine to time a football match, and also build an automatic juice squeezer for the half-time oranges. However, they lost. Some of the parts the team used were originally used in Bad Attitude[28]. Mike’s wife Louise and Daughter Kiara also appeared on the show[29].

In 2006, Michael decided to take a break from Robot Wars, and sold Dantomkia to Team Batter.

CyborgsScapheapChallenge

Mike Lambert with Simon and Gary Smith on Scrapheap Challenge

Michael joined Simon and Gary Smith of the Grim Reaper team when they entered Scrapheap Challenge Season 10 in 2008 under the team name, The Cyborgs. They had to build a painting machine to decorate a house, however due to breaking the rules, the team were disqualified, with their opponents winning by default[30].

Michael later returned with the team for Series 11, the final series. Entering as the ScrappyWacky Doodahs, they won the Chariot Jousting challenge. Mike was actually absent from the construction process, having been working abroad, but he was present for the jousting event itself[31].

However, Michael would return to robot combat in 2012, when he and Karoline Denisha of Team Torque built a stronger and more powerful Dantomkia Mk5 in late 2012, with the intention of entering the then-new Robot Wars live events.

The machine was finished and painted in September 2013, and competed for the first time in the 2013 European Championships. Dantomkia 4.0, which was still competing under a different team, was renamed DTK to distinguish it from the new Dantomkia. In November 2015, this version of Dantomkia was acquired by Shane Swan, who entered it in Series 8.

He later moved away from England. He now lives in Sharjah in the United Arab Emirates.

"Illness and the fact that I never had time and I no longer live in England."
— Michael Lambert explains his reasons for retiring on Facebook[32]

In 2020, Mike Lambert contributed to a livestream for RoboNerd 2020, along with Alex Mordue, Simon Harrison and Suren Balendran[33].

Steven Gadsby still owns DTK, but it has been retired due to it no longer being competitive.

"Steve has DTK in his garage. He won't sell her. Due to change in weapons etc she is no longer competitive. Her parts (drive motors and speed controllers) are no longer available so a complete redesign will be required. As good as she is she has had to retire."
— Michael Lambert on Facebook, 2021[34]

Honours[]


Trivia[]

TeamDantomkiaLogo

Team Dantomkia logo

DRG DTK

DTK with Dantomkia at the Dutch Robot Games

  • During construction of Dantomkia, Michael Lambert’s neighbours would bring him beer and help hold the metal whilst he cut it. [35].
  • All three members of Team Dantomkia were interested in computers; it was a hobby of Mike Lamberts, Daniel wanted to become a computer programmer and Steve Gadsby built computers in his spare time[36].
  • The pneumatics system that Michael Lambert and Gareth Dean created for Dantomkia proved to be quite influential, with Ian Watts of Team Big Brother copying it, along with a number of Dutch teams.
Jayne Middlemiss: "…I believe their machine is taken from your design."
Michael Lambert: "Yeah, my pneumatic system, which was rather unique, about a year, two years ago, was copied by the Dutch a while back. We went to Holland to have a robot rumble out there, and they stripped our machines apart to find out how we did things. Well, we helped them! I mean, there’s no problem at all! Camaraderie, you’ve got to beat the best to be the best!"
— Before Dantomkia’s fight with Gravity in Series 7
  • Despite the success the versions of Dantomkia that appeared on television, Mike Lambert claimed that the original Dantomkia was his favourite version of Dantomkia[37].
"easy to drive, fast, reliable and a very hard hitting robot. Its only down side was that it could not operate upside down and had no SREMECH {sic}"
— Michael Lambert on Facebook, 2013
  • Michael Lambert cited the multi-robot melees at live events as his favourite parts of Robot Wars.
"Favourite battle? No idea. I loved them all. Live event melees were the best. 10 or more in the arena, all out carnage. The best battles were always at live events."
— Michael Lambert, asked about his favourite battle, on Facebook[38]

See Also[]

References[]

  1. Robot Wars: The Official Magazine, Issue 2, Page 47
  2. Robot Wars: The Official Magazine, Issue 2, Page 49
  3. Ultimate Real Robots magazine, Issue 60, Page 11
  4. Dantomkia website, New and Improved Dantomkia (archived)
  5. Dantomkia website, Electronics (archived)
  6. Ultimate Real Robots magazine, Issue 61, Page 14
  7. Roaming Robots !! – Facebook Group
  8. Ultimate Real Robots magazine, Issue 61, Page 13
  9. Correspondence with Wiki user Drop Zone mk2
  10. Ultimate Real Robots magazine, Issue 61, Page 13
  11. Correspondence with Wiki user Drop Zone mk2
  12. BBC Mechannibals – Vs the Lamberts, King B Facebook page
  13. Robot Wars: The Official Magazine, Issue 2, Page 50
  14. Correspondence with Wiki user Drop Zone mk2
  15. Correspondence with Wiki user Drop Zone mk2
  16. Correspondence with Wiki user Drop Zone mk2
  17. Correspondence with Wiki user Drop Zone mk2
  18. Ultimate Real Robots magazine, Issue 60, Page 12
  19. Correspondence with Wiki user Drop Zone mk2
  20. Team Tornado website, Robots@War 2000
  21. Team Tornado website, Robots@War 2001
  22. Interview with Mike Lambert, Robot Wars: The Official Magazine Issue 2
  23. Roaming Robots !! – Facebook Group
  24. Correspondence with Wiki user Drop Zone mk2
  25. The Hassocks Hog website – Events, Worthing (archived)
  26. Robot Wars: The Official Magazine, Issue 2, Page 50
  27. Dantomkia on the Ultimate Robot Archive Wikia
  28. Roaming Robots !! – Facebook Group
  29. BBC Mechannibals – Vs the Lamberts, King B Facebook page
  30. Scrapheap Challenge - S10E04 - Decoration Dash on Dailymotion
  31. Scrapheap Challenge - S11E01 – Chariot Jousting on Dailymotion
  32. Correspondence with Wiki user Drop Zone mk2
  33. RoboNerd TV Livestream - interviews, panels and drop-ins with roboteers and familiar faces!
  34. Correspondence with Wiki user Drop Zone mk2
  35. RoboNerd TV Livestream - interviews, panels and drop-ins with roboteers and familiar faces!
  36. Robot Wars: The Official Magazine, Issue 2, Page 49
  37. Roaming Robots !! – Facebook Group
  38. Correspondence with Wiki user Drop Zone mk2

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