- "This father-and-son from the Grimm family, have had a fairytale relationship with robot fighting! Not only do they lay claim to the original wedge flipper, they also have been happily working as team mates for over 16 years of course!"
- — Jonathan Pearce in Series 10
Team Iron-Awe is a team from Somerset that fought on the British TV show Robot Wars. They have fought with several different versions of Iron-Awe, and also Axe-Awe. Iron-Awe was a robot with an axe that fought in Series 4 whilst Axe-Awe, Iron-Awe 2 and Iron-Awe 2.1 all had an axe and a flipper. Iron-Awe 6 competed in Series 10 with only a flipper. The team also fought with a featherweight called Prince of Awe that reached the featherweight final in Series 7.
The Team
The team with Iron-Awe 6 in Series 10
Team Iron-Awe was captained by builder Gilbert Grimm, who was consistently joined by his son Robert. They would either be joined by Adrian Moore, or Ian Bilboe, in different series. Gilbert Grimm drove the team's robots in Series 4-7, while Robert Grimm was the driver in Series 10.
- "After watching the first 2 series of Robot Wars we decided to apply to take part in the series. However due to a delay in receiving the rules and other commitments we missed out on the deadline for Series 3. We spent the time coming up with a design."
- — Team Iron-Awe website on entering Robot Wars[1]
The team were not particularly successful on the televised show, only reaching the Heat Final once in four attempts, but since the show has ended, the subsequent models of Iron-Awe have proved much more successful, most notably winning the UK Championship three times with Iron-Awe 5 (2008 and 2010) and Iron-Awe 6 (2019).
The team with Prince of Awe
Team member Ian Bilboe also entered Prince of Awe in the featherweight competition of Series 7, but as it was his robot, Gilbert and Robert did not compete with him. Prince of Awe is also not acknowledged on the team's website.
Team Iron-Awe are one of only three teams to have had their robots thrown out of the arena three times, with the others being Team Vader and Team Ixion. The most famous of these was against Wheely Big Cheese. Iron-Awe 2.1 did however manage to pull off one of the biggest shocks in Robot Wars history by flipping Series 5 runners-up Bigger Brother out of the arena in Series 7.
Team Members
Gilbert Grimm
- "Building a robot from scratch is not a particularly easy thing to achieve, especially when you only have the rulebook and a TV program for inspiration. For us the mechanical design and construction of the robot was a relatively straight forward process due to an engineering background and contacts in the industry to help out. The electrical side was slightly more tricky as none of the team had any experience in this area. We ordered parts based on the suggestions from Robot Wars."
- — Team Iron-Awe website[2]
The team captain throughout the team's appearances, Gilbert and his son Robert were the main members of the team. Gilbert Grimm did most of the speaking in interviews and introductions, although he left the driving of the robots to his son Robert.
Gilbert was an experienced engineer, which helped him in the construction of Iron-Awe and Axe-Awe. He worked with packaging machinery, and used lots of parts from packaging machinery in Iron-Awe and Axe-Awe.
- "I'm a skilled engineer, currently working as a part time maintenance engineer, but I've done all sorts of equipment doing installations and packaging machinery."
- — Gilbert Grimm, interviewed by Eastern Daily Press[3]
Robert Grimm
- "It all started when I was watching Robot Wars on TV with my son, and he said I could make a better robot than the one on TV, so I did."
- — Gilbert Grimm, interviewed by Eastern Daily Press[4]
The other ever-present member of the team, Robert Grimm was the driver throughout all the team's appearances, with all the different robots.
It was him who originally suggested to his father Robert that he should enter. He shared speaking roles with his father across the series.
Adrian Moore
Joining the team when they entered Axe-Awe, Adrian Moore was a friend of Robert Grimm, having met him at university.[5]
He did not control the robots nor did he have a speaking role in the introductions or interviews. Outside of the show, he was responsible for maintaining the team's website.[6]
However, after competing with the team in Series 5, 6 and Extreme 1, Adrian Moore left the team, due to being too busy with other commitments. [7]
Ian Bilboe
After Adrian Moore left the team, Ian Bilboe took his place. He had met the team at a live event, and he joined the team after expressing an interest in their robot[8]. He competed with Iron-Awe in Extreme 2 and Series 7.
Ian Bilboe also had his own robot, Prince of Awe, which was entered into the featherweight championship of Series 7. However, he entered it separately, with neither Gilbert or Robert being part of the team.
Other
Natalie Cassidy with Iron-Awe
For the Celebrity Special shown as part of the Christmas specials in December 2000, the team were joined by the actress Natalie Cassidy. As per the rules, she had to control the machine for sixty seconds before she was permitted to hand the controls over to the roboteers. She covered Iron-Awe in L-Plates to show her lack of experience driving robots. Iron-Awe lost in Round 1 to Pussycat, and Natalie Cassidy joined the Cold Fusion Team, who were being led by her EastEnders co-star Adam Woodyatt, for the rest of the tournament.
When Ian Bilboe entered Prince of Awe into the featherweight championship in Series 7, he was joined by a second team member, who did not make any other appearances with the team. However, due to the featherweights not having their own statistics boards, his identity is unknown. The Team Iron-Awe Facebook page also claimed to be unsure of his identity when asked in 2022.[9]
The team with Iron-Awe 6
Although Team Iron-Awe consisted only of father-and-son Gilbert and Robert Grimm in Series 10, Robert's eight-month old son William featured heavily in Iron-Awe 6's VT, with Gilbert Grimm referring to him as the third team member[10].
Outside of the televised show, Shane Lale of Team Tilly has also competed with the team.
Robots
| Name | Weight Class | Series |
|---|---|---|
| Iron-Awe | Heavyweight | Series 4, 6-7, 10, Extreme 2 |
| Axe-Awe | Heavyweight | Series 5, Extreme 1 |
| Prince of Awe | Featherweight | Series 7 |
Wins/Losses
- Wins: 9
- Losses: 10
Series Record
| Main Series | Team Iron-Awe Series Record |
|---|---|
| The First Wars | Did not enter |
| The Second Wars | Did not enter |
| The Third Wars | Did not enter |
| The Fourth Wars | Heat, Round 2 with Iron-Awe |
| The Fifth Wars | Heat, Round 2 with Axe-Awe |
| The Sixth Wars | Heat, Round 1 with Iron-Awe 2 |
| The Seventh Wars | Heat Final with Iron-Awe 2.1 Featherweight Championship Final with Prince of Awe |
| Series 8 | Not selected with Iron-Awe 5 and Iron-Awe 7 |
| Series 9 | Not selected with Iron-Awe |
| Series 10 | Heat, Third Place with Iron-Awe 6 |
| Robot Wars Extreme | Appearances |
| Series 1 | Entered with Axe-Awe |
| Series 2 | Entered with Iron-Awe 2 |
Trivia
- One of Team Iron-Awe's later machines, Iron-Awe 5, was inducted into The Combat Robot Hall of Fame in 2009, as a result of its successes in live events held up to the year of its induction.[11]
References
- ↑ http://iron-awe.weebly.com/history.html
- ↑ http://iron-awe.weebly.com/history.html
- ↑ Eastern Daily Press - Meet the country’s best robot fighting family who just love making killing machines
- ↑ Eastern Daily Press - Meet the country’s best robot fighting family who just love making killing machines
- ↑ Correspondence between Team Iron-Awe Facebook page and Wiki user Drop Zone mk2, 2022
- ↑ Correspondence between Team Iron-Awe Facebook page and Wiki user Drop Zone mk2, 2022
- ↑ Correspondence between Team Iron-Awe Facebook page and Wiki user Drop Zone mk2, 2022
- ↑ Correspondence between Team Iron-Awe Facebook page and Wiki user Drop Zone mk2, 2022
- ↑ Correspondence between Team Iron-Awe Facebook page and Wiki user Drop Zone mk2, 2022
- ↑ Haynes Manuals interview with Team Iron-Awe
- ↑ The Combat Robot Hall of Fame ®, Team Run Amok website
External links
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