Tender Caress

Tender Caress
Participation Information
UK Series	2
Team Information
Team	Team 'Let's Make Things Flatter'
Team Members	Phil Thomas Rik Allen Andrew Berridge Duncan McPherson
From	Redhill, Surrey
Robot Statistics
Weight	78.7kg
Dimensions	1.20m x 0.80m x 0.40m
Clearance	38mm
Top Speed	15mph
Power	2 x 12V Batteries
Weapons	1000rpm Angle Grinder & Saw
Statistics correct as of its most recent show/competition appearance, or if not applicable, qualification attempt.

"This is the fastest in the field, at 15 miles an hour. It looks like a lurid bottle top! Its circular saw, Sinclair C5 motorised angle grinder and 8 inch long steel-pointed tip will hardly caress. Two 24 Volt C5 motors also power the drive."

— Jonathan Pearce introduces Tender Caress

Tender Caress was a robot that entered Series 2 of Robot Wars. It managed to scrape through the Gauntlet stage as Angel of Death got stuck in the ramrig. However it was easily pushed off the Sumo ring in the Trial stage.

Design

Tender Caress being built

Tender Caress was a cylindrical shaped robot, armed with an 8' steel pointed tip for ramming on the front, and two saws on the back; a Sinclair C5 powered angle grinder and a titanium saw. The robot was powered by two 12 volt motors, also from a Sinclair C5, which gave a good top speed of 15mph, but the robot had trouble driving in a straight line. The armour was aluminium, and the top armour was shock-mounted with a stainless steel mesh to reduce the shock of impact from another robot getting through to the electronics.

Etymology

In its design stage, Tender Caress was known was Whoabert, the name being taken from a work colleague's website.

The Team

Tender Caress was entered by a team of work colleagues from Redhill in Surrey. The team captain was Phil Thomas, who designed the robot. He founded the team in May 1998 by sending an email to the laboratories to find colleagues interested in entering. The robot was driven by Rik Allen, and the third team member was Duncan McPherson.

There were other work colleagues who helped build the robot; Andrew Berridge, Theo Markettos, Ben Hodson, Dave Atkinson, Graham Baker, Keith Reynold and Jason Hillsdon, the latter four all worked in the companies engineering department, and helped the team's cardboard prototype designs into metal. Andrew Berridge was credited on the statistics board, but did not appear on the show due to the limit of three team members per team .

Qualification

"After not hearing anything about our interest in applying for the competition, we suddenly recieved the fan club information but no application form. So I decided that I had had enough of waiting and sent off an email kindly inquiring why they had not sent the application form. Okay so I actually said can someone pull their finger out and sort their end out because I was sick of waiting. Strangely enough I got a phonecall from the associate producer half an hour later and she sent all the information out to us straight away. However this meant we know had two and a half months less than everyone else to build and design a robot."

— The Tender Caress website on applying for Robot Wars

Tender Caress at the rehearsals

Due to a delay in recieving the application form, the Tender Caress team started building in the first week of June. Tender Caress appeared at the Series 2 rehearsals unfinished and unpainted due to being built in a short time.. Despite this, it was a sturdy build and the robot was successful in qualifying.

Robot History

Series 2

Tender Caress in the Gauntlet

In the Gauntlet, Tender Caress started quickly, but looked a little uncontrolled. It managed to steer into the ramrig and drove halfway down the route, but then it became stuck in between Sergeant Bash and Dead Metal. It tried to escape, but was grabbed by Dead Metal. Cease was called and it had only travelled five metres. However, in fifth place, it had travelled far enough to get through to the Trial.

Tender Caress on the edge of the Sumo ring

In the Trial, Dead Metal immediately pushed Tender Caress to the side of the podium where it was stuck, Dead Metal then pushed Tender Caress out of the Sumo ring, having only lasted 6 seconds, Tender Caress was eliminated. This caused some controversy as it was the only robot in the sumo that Dead Metal did not use its circular saw on before pushing it off the sumo ring.

"Overconfidence can be a load of balderdash, couldn't it, really? Especially with Dead Metal in that sort of form- Oh, you're out!"

— Jonathan Pearce's entire commentary as Tender Caress is dumped out of the sumo ring

Series Record

Tender Caress with its team

Series	Tender Caress Series Record
The First Wars	Did not enter
The Second Wars	Heat, Trial
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

The cardboard prototype for Tender Caress' base frame, in a clip from the team's video diary shown in Robot Wars Revealed

The team visualise an early drive motor layout for their entry, in a clip from the team's video diary shown in Robot Wars Revealed

Tender Caress is driven down the corridor, with a team member as passenger, in a clip from the team's video diary shown in Robot Wars Revealed

• Tender Caress is one of twenty robots never to fight in robot combat, having only ever been in the Gauntlet or Trial.
• Tender Caress was the last robot to lose in the Trial in the Heats.
• In Episode 12 of Robot Wars Revealed, which covered Heat L of Series 2, clips from the team's video diary were shown, showing the construction and testing of Tender Caress.

External Links

• Tender Caress website (archived)