University of Reading

This article focuses on the team who entered Cunning Plan and Griffon into Robot Wars, not the university and its other graduates, such as Team Shock.

University of Reading
Ben and Oliver Steeples with Griffon
Participation Information
UK Series	1-3
Team Information
Team Members	Oliver Steeples Ben Steeples (Series 2-3)
Home Town	Reading, Berkshire

The University of Reading was the name given to a team that competed in the first three series of Robot Wars, named after the university of the same name. Originally a one member team captained by Oliver Steeples, who made the Grand Final of Series 1 with his original robot Cunning Plan, it soon became a two man job with the introduction of Griffon, which entered Series 2 and 3.

The Team

The university Shield

The University of Reading consisted of two members across their three series run. The captain was Oliver Steeples, who originally entered Robot Wars on his own with the featherweight robot Cunning Plan, making the Grand Final of the series. For Series 2 and 3, Oliver entered Griffon and his brother, Ben, joined the team alongside him. However, Griffon failed to repeat Cunning Plan's success. Although it won the Internet Insurrection at the end of Series 2 (after flipping Sergeant Bash over), the robot fell relatively early in both of the main competitions that it entered.

Team Members

Oliver Steeples

Oliver Steeples with Cunning Plan in Series 1

Oliver Steeples was the captain of the team and was present for every series he competed in and was always the lead speaker in interviews. According to Jonathan Pearce, Oliver was an avid fan of Star Wars and 3D cartoons. Oliver was a student at the University of Reading and decided to enter Robot Wars after seeing an advertisement for it and watching the original American competitions online.

"While at the University of Reading, in my 3rd year I saw an advert about RW and decided to apply after looking at the American RW on the web."

— Oliver Steeples on entering Robot Wars

Oliver originally built Cunning Plan in the engineering department workshop at the university with some of the parts used for the robot being purchased at the stores owned by the university itself. Cunning Plan was officially sponsored by the university and sported its shield logo on its top armour. Despite its simple design, Cunning Plan proved to be very successful, reaching the Grand Final of The First Wars but ultimately losing after it was trapped by the much heavier T.R.A.C.I.E. and was unable to move.

"Cunning Plan was my first entry into the competition called Robot Wars. It all started out as a poster in the engineering reception and turned into loads of time in the workshop"

— Oliver Steeples on Cunning Plan

Oliver Steeples at controls of Griffon in Series 3

For Series 2, Oliver constructed Griffon, a much larger and heavier machine with a lifting arm for a weapon, its specifications were jokingly referred to as 'classified' by Oliver during their interview in Series 2. Griffon was also built in the engineering workshop at the university, but unlike Cunning Plan, it was not a sponsored robot as Oliver had graduated by the time it was built. Despite sporting an active weapon, Griffon was not as successful as Cunning Plan, falling in the Gauntlet stage in its Series 2 heat and losing in the second round in Series 3. However, Griffon was able to win the Internet Insurrection battle during the Series 2 Grudge Matches special after flipping over Sergeant Bash. Oliver has credited Alan Priest, Dave Sharp, Ian Martin and Tim Holt for helping him in the construction of both robots, and ADP Plastics, Baco Metal Centres and Bosch for sponsoring him and providing parts.

"How's Griffon for a hyper-violent name? When filling in my application form, before sending off the contracts I put the name as Aggressor but In America there is already an Aggressor so Griffon was born!"

— Oliver Steeples on Griffon

During his time on Robot Wars, Oliver ran his own website where he detailed the specifications of his robots and other content. Notably, Oliver's website also contained individual profiles on all of the robots that competed in Series 1 and 2, detailing their designs and specifications and what he thought of them. Having ownership of his own website allowed Oliver to enter Griffon into the Internet Insurrection, which he would win. After Series 3 however, Oliver chose to retire from robot combat and focus on other commitments. As such, he did not enter any other series of Robot Wars.

Ben Steeples

Ben Steeples in Series 2

The brother of Oliver, Ben Steeples joined the team for Series 2 and 3 alongside the introduction of Griffon. According to Oliver, Ben was incorporated into the team because Griffon was 'too heavy to carry on [his] own'. Ben did not control Griffon at any point during his time on the show, with Oliver serving as both the driver and weapons operator.

Ben had occasional speaking roles, notably in the interview in between Griffon's Gauntlet run where he jokingly blamed Oliver for not listening to him after telling him to go down one of the other routes and avoiding the House Robots. During said interview, Ben was humorously referred to as the 'sensible brother' by Philippa Forrester.

Ben was seen working on Griffon during the team's pre-battle interview in Series 3, but rarely spoke on camera during this series. In said series, Jonathan Pearce stated that Ben was studying for a degree, but it was not specified which line of study.

Robots

Name	Weight Class	Series
Cunning Plan	Featherweight	Series 1
Griffon	Heavyweight	Series 2-3

Note: Cunning Plan was a featherweight robot, but it competed in the main competition of Series 1 as all weight classes were grouped together for that series.

Cunning Plan (Series 1)

Griffon (Series 2)

Griffon (Series 3)

Wins/Losses

• Wins: 4
• Losses: 2

Series Record

Series	University of Reading Series Record
The First Wars	Grand Final with Cunning Plan
The Second Wars	Heat, Gauntlet with Griffon
The Third Wars	Heat, Round 2 with Griffon
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

Gallery

Dozer, one of three robots built by the University of Reading at the first AWS

The original Odyssey

Odyssey 2, the third robot from the University of Reading that entered the first AWS

Odyssey 2.1

Odyssey 3

The team's current antweights: General Mayhem, Private Iron and Gross Incompetence

Anteater, another of the University of Reading's ants.

Type 0, a walking Antweight

Outside Robot Wars

Oliver Steeples in 2015

Oliver (left) with co-builder Lee Towersey and their R2-D2 replica on Artsnight in September 2016

Oliver Steeples built three of the six antweights in the first Antweight World Series: Dozer, Odyssey and Type 0. He still builds and competes with antweights occasionally, including two-time Antweight World Series champion General Mayhem, and a four bar lifter antweight called Mini G which took design cues from Griffon.

Oliver was also contracted to manufacture R2-D2 models for Star Wars: The Force Awakens, an opportunity which came about due to his membership in the R2-D2 Builders Club. Incidentally, Oliver was introduced by Jonathan Pearce as a "Star Wars fan" when Cunning Plan first entered the arena in Series 1. In April 2015, Oliver Steeples was interviewed by StarWars.com at the Star Wars Celebration event in Anaheim, California where he talked about the origins of the R2-D2 Builders Club and how he became a droid builder for the movie.

Cunning Plan in June 2022

Throughout 2016, Oliver would make appearances both on television and at the WonderCon event. In September of that year, Oliver appeared on BBC's Artsnight with his R2-D2 replica and co-builder Lee Towersey. That same year, Oliver stated that he still owns Cunning Plan and it is fully functional, with it currently being stored in his shed with some of its metal parts now rusted. Meanwhile, Griffon was disassembled for parts long ago.

Trivia

• Will Thomas of Team Shock would later introduce himself as a cybernetics student at the University of Reading in the Series 8.
• Rory Mangles and Alex Shakespeare of Team Nuts also studied cybernetics at the same university, a matter mentioned by Jonathan Pearce during Nuts' campaigns in Series 8 and Series 10.

External Links

• Oliver Steeples' website (Archived)
• Oliver Steeples IMDb page