Wooden armour was a type of armour predominantly made from tree-based structural materials. Materials used by Robot Wars robots ranged from simple planks of wood to sheets of human-engineered medium-density fibreboard (MDF).
As a cheap, light and easy to work with material, wood was first used as armour on Series 1 competitors Shogun and Prince of Darkness, along with the stock robot WYSIWYG. Ultimately, it would prove to be one of the least durable and successful armour types in the show's history, with MouseTrap, Run Away, Evolution and Bumblebot being amongst the only robots to win a battle utilising it.
Other notable robots to use wood include: The Tartan Terror, a robot made out of a whiskey cask; Brutus Maximus, one of two wooden robots to be thrown out of the arena; and Overdozer, the only wooden robot to compete in the Revival Series.
Definition[]
Wooden armour refers to any armour made from natural plant fibres, commonly those made from the stems, roots and bark of trees (excluding resins such as rubber). They can exist either as full planks of wood, or reconstructed sheets of sawdust manufacturered commercially, such as MDF. Wood was a fairly common material used for internal frames, chassis', baseplates and a limited number of components including wheels. However, for simplicity, these do not count as armour and are not listed.
Advantages and Disadvantages[]
Advantages
Wood is a good entry-level material for younger teams (such as Team Scimitar), along with those inexperienced in metalwork
- Wood and MDF are cheap and easy to work with in relation to other armour types. This reduces the cost of obtaining and creating armour from it for the robot itself.
- Wood is a very light material compared to other types of armour. This means it can either be used as a weight-saving measure to allow for heavier internal components, or thicker and more durable outer armour.
- When wood is damaged, it produces shards and splinters, which could act as an unintentional secondary weapon. For example, debris left behind can cause external damage by puncturing tyres on wheeled machines as they drive over, or cause internal issues by entering exposed gaps, and getting caught within rotary mechanisms and/or motors.
- During the design phase, wooden materials can be used to build prototype models of the planned robot. This can be useful in gauging physical design proportions and parameters before full construction starts, including the fitment of locomotion and internal components.
Disadvantages
The poorly-connected MDF sheets of Overdozer are torn apart by Dantomkia's flipper
- Wood is a highly flammable material, which makes it especially vulnerable against fire-based hazards present in the Robot Wars Arena.
- Wood is softer than most other armour types, meaning it is one of the easiest to damage.
- Apart from using screws, nails or glues, wooden armour sections are difficult to effectively join together with the same precision and durability offered by metal welding. This means that panels can be dislodged or broken off much more easily than those made from tougher armour materials, and internal components are difficult to secure onto the wooden components themselves. These can be seen when Overdozer lost side panels after being flipped by Dantomkia in Series 8, and through Brutus Maximus losing a wheel in both its appearances.
List of robots with Wooden Armour[]
Robots are listed alphabetically.
DESKTOP MODE ONLY: Robots which are not heavyweight entries are listed with a green background. Robots competing in the 1994-1997 US competitions are listed with a purple background.
| Robot | Series Appearances with Wooden armour | Details | Notes | Image |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Anarachnid | Series 3 | Whole body, minus the bottom plate, made from wood. | Joint-first wooden walkerbot to appear; middleweight. | |
| Axe-C-Dent | Series 5 | 12mm plywood sealed with perforated steel. | ||
| Bang | Extreme Warriors Season 2 | Body made from a wooden box. | Loanerbot; converted from Rot Box (see below). | |
| Brutus Maximus | Series 6-7 | Had its bicycle wheels ripped off in both its appearances. | ||
| Bumblebot | Series 2-3 | Plywood layered with steel and aluminium. | One victory in the UK Series, against Milly-Ann Bug. Robot had a mixture of wood, steel and aluminium for armour. | |
| Coffin-Bot | Extreme Warriors Season 1 | Loanerbot. | ||
| Death Warmed Up | Series 3 | Wood and decorative fibreglass. | ||
| Doom Too | Extreme 2 | Middleweight, whose predecessor was made from a light metal. | ||
| Evolution | Series 5 | MDF sheets. | Modelled on a tank; one UK Series victory against Sabretooth. | |
| Fatal Traction | Extreme 2 | Plywood and plastic armour. | One combat victory in the UK Series. | |
| Flipper | 1996 US Championship | |||
| Forklift's Revenge | Series 3 | MDF combined with steel. | ||
| Mammoth | Series 3 | Middleweight walkerbot. This incarnation also included a plastic bucket and wool for decoration representing the mammoth's 'head'. | ||
| Mini-Maul | Series 7 | Wood and 1mm steel. | Featherweight. | |
| MouseTrap | Series 4-5, Extreme 1 | Old wooden desk. | Replicated the aesthetics of a regular wooden mousetrap. Series 4 Semi-Finalist; four combat victories. | |
| Overdozer | Series 8 | 18mm MDF sheets. | Only wooden robot to compete in the Revival Series (Series 8-10). | |
| Prince of Darkness | Series 1 | Middleweight; converted from an old wheelchair.[1] Heat Arena Semi-Finalist in its only appearance, with strong performances in The Gauntlet and Snooker. | ||
| Roach | 1996 US Championship | |||
| Rot Box | Extreme Warriors Season 1 | Wooden body | Loanerbot; later converted into Bang. | |
| Run Away | US Series 1 | 3/4-inch plywood, used in tandem with a checker plate front wedge and welded steel chassis. | Conversion/upgrade of Robotica Season 1 champion Run Amok. US Season 1 Tag Team Terror runner-up with partner Tut Tut. | |
| Satoru Special 3/IV | 1996-1997 US Championships | |||
| Shapeshifter | Dutch Series 1 | Balsa wood. | Only Dutch Series robot armoured with wood. Multiple shells made and used in the series, each highly fragile in combat. | |
| Shogun | Series 1 | Wooden panels, combined with glassfibre corners. | First robot in the televised UK Series to feature wooden armour; used to keep within the weight limit in place of the originally-planned titanium.[2] | |
| The Tartan Terror | Series 5 | Made out of an old whiskey cask. | ||
| Up & Over | 1996 US Championship | |||
| WYSIWYG | 1996 Championship, Series 1 | Only competitor to fight in both the 1996 US competition and the UK Series. |
References[]
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