- "It's stuff that was going to go to the tip, and ultimately, after enough fights, it will wind up in the tip! It's just had another lease on life in the meantime!"
- — John Frizell
The Kegs was a clusterbot which competed in Series 10 of Robot Wars, built by Team Terror Turtle. The robots were built from beer kegs, and the team lived next to a pub, hence the name. Ultimately, the robot's somewhat sacrificial armour proved costly, as the robot was heavily damaged by vertical spinners Tauron and Concussion in both of its losses.
Design[]
- "The Kegs are a pair of 50kg robots, each armed with 10kg spinning bars. The two auxiliary robots are wedge-shaped doorstops designed to sneak under opponents and disable them."
- — Robot Wars: Build Your Own Robot
Keg 1
Keg 2
The Kegs was a two-part clusterbot, consisting of two middleweight robots. The robots were individually called Keg 1 and Keg 2, and were roughly equal in weight, putting each at around 50kg in weight, weighing 109kg when combined. Both were made from half of a 2.5mm stainless steel beer keg, making up the entire armour of each robot. Each half of The Kegs was armed with a 10kg horizontal bar spinner, designed to attack the underside of robots.
The Kegs in Robot Wars: The Official Handbook
Official shot of Keg 2
Both Kegs were invertible, but the otherwise identical halves of The Kegs each use very different wheels to distinguish the robots from each other - Keg 1 used lower-profile white wheels, while Keg 2 used higher red wheels. Each robot was driven by 24V, 250W Unite electric bike motors, and used 29.6V lithium polymer batteries. The Kegs lacked armour around the back of the robot, using 2.5mm curved steel for its armour, while its baseplate was made of wood, and both had a high ground clearance.
Keg 1 being used as a working beer keg
- "The Kegs is made mainly of recycled material, including a beer keg donated by the team’s local tavern, and electric bike motors for its drives."
- — Robot Wars website
As seen in The Kegs' VT, the robots were still functional beer kegs, and poured beer in a televised shot.
The Team[]
- Main article: Team Terror Turtle
The Kegs with its team
The Kegs was entered into Series 10 by an experienced team, best-known for their robot Terror Turtle. A keen environmentalist and former Greenpeace director, 69-year old team captain John Frizell built the robots and drove one of The Kegs in combat. 27-year old jeweller JME Anderson drove the other half of the clusterbot, and 63-year old jeweller Jonathan Swan was involved with the mechanics and repairs of The Kegs.
Robot History[]
Series 10[]
- "Clusterbots never win but at least you get a drink out of this one!"
- — Professor Noel Sharkey on Twitter[1]
The Kegs competed in Heat D of Series 10. Before its first battle, Dara Ó Briain talked to Team Terror Turtle about John Frizell's past association with Greenpeace, and how it correlated with Frizell's stance on robot combat in general. The Kegs' Group Battle put it up against vertical spinner Tauron, and experienced flipper Iron-Awe 6, although the returning Classic Series veteran started the battle without a working weapon.
- Dara Ó Briain: "It's the peace bit, I wonder about this..."
- John Frizell: "Well, if everybody worked out their wars by fighting robots, we'd have a hell of a lot less people killed, and certainly no animals, and definitely no whales and seals are harmed in the fighting of robots!"
- Dara Ó Briain: "I'll give you that, we use very little blubber and ambergris in the creation of our robots!"
- — John Frizell on the 'wars' in Robot Wars
The Kegs rips into Iron-Awe 6's entanglement cannon
One of The Kegs in combat with Iron-Awe 6 and Tauron
After getting their weapons up to speed, one half of The Kegs slammed into Tauron, inflicting some damage, before recoiling straight into Iron-Awe 6's entanglement cannon, bursting it. A Keg robot managed to slam into Tauron again, although it became briefly stuck on the flame pit. The Kegs largely avoided the duelling Iron-Awe 6 and Tauron, mostly staying near to each other.
- "For a peace-lover like John Frizell and The Kegs team, it's not a peace-loving looking machine, is it?"
- — Jonathan Pearce
One Keg loses its bar spinner to Tauron
Tauron launches a Keg into the air
Suddenly, Tauron drove in and ripped a bar spinner from one of The Kegs, throwing it into the wall above the roboteers' booths. This hit had immobilised one half of the whole clusterbot, but the remaining Keg could still fight on. The other half of The Kegs pressed the Arena Tyre, activating Rogue House Robot, and Sir Killalot pushed past The Kegs to attack Iron-Awe 6. During this period of distraction, Tauron blindsided the remaining Kegs machine and flung it over, also removing its bar spinner in the process. Having landed on its side, both of The Kegs had now been immobilised, and Sir Killalot pushed the beaten robot into the Arena Tyre, opening the pit. The battle would eventually be won by Iron-Awe 6, and The Kegs was relegated to the Robot Redemption Knockouts.
- "John, Greenpeace expert, loves to save his animals and his fish, wasn't in the right "plaice" at the right time. He had "sole", but it wasn't a 'whale of a time' for him, haha!"
- — Jonathan Pearce
The Kegs after being modified to use a wedge
In this round, The Kegs faced a Grand Finalist from the previous series, Concussion. The team successfully repaired The Kegs, albeit one half was modified to fight with a wedge instead of the intended bar spinner.
- "We'll have one spinner, and one wedge. I measured the front of Concussion. That the ramp will go right between their front forks. The only downside is, it's dependant on accurate driving. But hey, touch wood!"
- — John Frizell, who touches the wooden base of his robot
Concussion rips the shell from the first Keg
Both halves of The Kegs were fearful of Concussion, and fled, with one half leaving its unarmed rear end exposed to Concussion's drum, and the entire half of the keg armouring the robot was ripped away, promptly immobilising JME Anderson's half of the machine. As this was the half of The Kegs with an active weapon, the wedge half stuttered until it was cartwheeled over by Concussion, also sliding onto the floor flipper for a follow-up flip. Upon landing, the Keg was smashed by Concussion, which launched it across the arena, immobilising the active half of the robot.
- Jonathan Swan: "Steady, lads, steady!"
- John Frizell: "I think that's got it."
- — Team Terror Turtle as their robot is battered
The long-beaten Keg is eviscerated
A vengeful Concussion continued to attack, and flipped the armourless Keg over, removing its wheel alongside other vital components. Sir Killalot roasted the more composed Keg over the flame pit, spun it in circles and tossed it until the robots were officially counted out, after just 34 seconds of battling. Even after 'cease' was called, Matilda inflicted more punishment by flipping a Keg across the arena, and off-screen, eventually launching the broken shell of The Kegs out of the arena completely, launching it into the plexiglass entry gates. The Kegs was therefore eliminated in the first round.
Sir Killalot holds a Keg over the flame pit
- Dara Ó Briain: "I think you've proven that you can build a robot out of anything. Not the most powerful, or effective, in the competition, but still! You should be very proud of that!"
- John Frizell: "And ones that work every time! They didn't necessarily WIN every time, or at all so far, but they worked!"
- Dara Ó Briain: "Well listen, go and find an actual keg! Go on, I think you've earned it at this stage!"
- — A compromise in defeat
Results[]
| THE KEGS - RESULTS | ||
| Series 10 | ||
| Series 10 - UK Championship Robot Redemption Knockouts | ||
| Heat D, Group Battle | vs. Iron-Awe 6, Tauron | Lost |
| Heat D, Robot Redemption | vs. Concussion | Lost |
Wins/Losses[]
- Wins: 0
- Losses: 2
Series Record[]
| Main Series | The Kegs Series Record |
|---|---|
| The First Wars | Did not enter |
| The Second Wars | Did not enter |
| The Third Wars | Did not enter |
| The Fourth Wars | Did not enter |
| The Fifth Wars | Failed to qualify with Terror Turtle |
| The Sixth Wars | Failed to qualify with Terror Turtle |
| The Seventh Wars | Entered with Terror Turtle Middleweight Championship with Steel Sandwich |
| Series 8 | Entered with Terror Turtle |
| Series 9 | Not selected with Terror Turtle |
| Series 10 | Heat, Round 1 World Series with Terror Turtle |
| Robot Wars Extreme | Appearances |
| Series 1 | Did not enter |
| Series 2 | Entered with Terror Turtle and Steel Sandwich |
Gallery[]
Trivia[]
- On its statistics board in Heat D, The Kegs was erroneously listed as having a top speed of 90mph.
- The back of the team’s shirts read “two halves please”.
References[]
External Links[]
- The Kegs on the Robot Wars website
- Haynes Manuals interview with JME Anderson
- The Kegs' VT in Series 10
[]
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