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Tyke was a competitor in German Robot Wars. Although Tyke encountered various technical problems throughout its campaign, it was able to qualify for the Grand Final and finish in fourth place.

Being a Dutch robot, Tyke was originally going to be entered in the second series of Dutch Robot Wars, but the team ran out of time and missed the entry date. Team captain Börge van Gurp also had a German passport, as his mother was from Germany, so the team entered Tyke into the German series instead. On the show the team was said to be from Celle, which was the city in which Börge's German grandparents lived, whilst Börge in fact studied at Technical University Delft.

Design[]

Tyke

Tyke without its stripes painted on

Tyke was a yellow wedge-shaped robot, with blue stripes, armed with static spikes. Driven by two wheels, the robot was invertible and had spikes in the wheels to increase traction. Although Tyke was wedge-shaped, the spikes on the end of the wedge meant that Tyke would require its opponent to have a high ground clearance to get underneath. The robot was powered by 8x 6V 8Ah Hawker Cyclon monoblocks batteries, with 750W 24V Bosch GPA750 motors driving each wheel[1]. The robot's symmetrical shape would later be used by a robot from a fellow German series competing team, Reaper NP2.

Tykes insides

Tyke in the pits without its top armour

The team faced many issues while building Tyke, such as discovering that their drive motors did not provide enough power, and home-made speed controllers that failed to work. The robot was unfinished when the team left for England, and they only got it moving a few hours before the show, having picked up a new speed controller at the location. As such, it was untested, and the intended weapon, an axe/flipper arm, did not get built.

Etymology[]

In English, tyke is another word for a mischievous child.

The Team[]

"We are a group of three West Brabant students and we are building a robot. With this robot we plan to participate in various events. Our end goal is to participate in the Dutch version of Robot Wars. In addition, however, we will also participate in events of, for example, the Dutch Robot Games Association, of which we are also a member."
— Team Vangudehoo website (Translated from Dutch)[2]

Tyke was constructed and entered by Team Vangudehoo, a team of students from West Brabant. The team's captain was Börge van Gurp, who was studying Aerospace Engineering at the Technical University Delft. The other two members were Edwin de Hoon, a Mechanical Engineering student at the Hogeschool Brabant Breda and Christian van der Stap, who was studying Electrical Engineering at the Hogeschool Brabant Breda in Breda[3].

The team's name Vangudehoo, is a portmanteau of the three team members' surnames: van der Stap, van Gurp and de Hoon.

Robot History[]

German Series[]

Tyke gets rammed

Tyke is immobilised by Son of Armageddon

Tyke pitted by SOA

Tyke is pitted by Son of Armageddon

At the beginning of the fight, Tyke reversed a little but was immobilised after Son of Armageddon rammed it into the arena side wall and was lifted a little and attacked by Growler. Tyke was eventually tossed around some more and then pitted by Son of Armageddon; however, it was fortunately spared from elimination by Thorgrim, who had not moved at all, and had been counted out seconds before Tyke had been pitted. The judges ruled that Thorgrim had been immobilised first, and thus Tyke could progress to the next round.

GolemTyke

Tyke pushes Golem

Tyke did rather better in its second battle against Golem. Tyke began the battle by being shoved around by Golem; however, Tyke quickly fought back, and not long after that, Golem broke down. Tyke remained out of the way whilst Mr. Psycho and Shunt attacked its defeated opponent, and eventually Golem was pitted, securing Tyke's place in the Grand Final.

TsunamiFlipsTyke

Tsunami flips Tyke

In its Grand Final match, Tyke was pitched against Tsunami. In the early part of the battle, Tyke was flipped over again and again by its opponent; however, Tsunami began to smoke midway through the battle. Unfortunately for Tyke, this did not seem to affect Tsunami, which continued to attack Tyke until it broke down. Tyke was counted out by the Refbot, thrown by the floor flipper, and eventually pitted by Growler, eliminating it from the competition.

TykeArenaWall

Tyke is stranded on the arena wall

TykePit

Tyke is pitted

Tyke's final appearance was in the Third Place playoff against Son of Armageddon. Tyke was immediately flipped over, and then spent a large amount of the fight running away from its opponent. Eventually caught, Tyke was pinned up against the arena wall, but was freed by Refbot. Tyke then opted to press the pit release button, and attempt to push Son of Armageddon in, but Son of Armageddon launched an attack of its own, pitting Tyke. As a result, Tyke was placed fourth overall for the series.

Results[]

TYKE - RESULTS
German Robot Wars
German Championship
Fourth Place
Heat A, Eliminator vs. Son of Armageddon, Thorgrim Qualified
Heat A, Final vs. Golem Won
Grand Final, Eliminator vs. Tsunami Lost
Grand Final, Playoff vs. Son of Armageddon Lost

Wins/Losses[]

  • Wins: 2
  • Losses: 2

Series Record[]

German Series Tyke Series Record
German Robot Wars Fourth Place

Outside Robot Wars[]

Spike

Spike, Team Vangudehoo's robot built after Robot Wars

After Robot Wars, the team, now going by the name Team Spike, built a robot named Spike (a box shape with a spiked axe, hence the name), which participated in the Annihilator in the 2006 Roaming Robots UK Championship, finishing runner-up to Dantomkia.

Trivia[]

  • Tyke is one of four Grand Finalists to have an even win/loss ratio, alongside Bodyhammer, Rosie the Riveter and The Revolutionist.
  • Tyke was sponsored by; Brabant University of Applied Sciences, which provided financial sponsorship and technical advice, AmEuro Metals, which provided materials for the robot, P.A.M. de Hoon metalworking, which offered the team production facilites, helped build the robot and also provided materials, Roks Montage Holland, who helped the welding of the robot and offered materials, and Festo, which gave them a discount on pneumatic components[4].

References[]

External Links[]

Navigation[]

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