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Off-Topic => Real Robotics => Real Robotics Discussion => Topic started by: Urjak on April 23, 2012, 09:43:30 PM

Title: What ever happened to the Robot Wars House Bots?
Post by: Urjak on April 23, 2012, 09:43:30 PM
I have been wondering this for a while, and have yet to come across a satisfactory answer. I am hoping one of you robot combat aficionados would know something.
Title: Re: What ever happened to the Robot Wars House Bots?
Post by: Natef on April 23, 2012, 09:44:23 PM
I believe they were sold to charity.
Title: Re: What ever happened to the Robot Wars House Bots?
Post by: Urjak on April 23, 2012, 09:53:22 PM
I believe they were sold to charity.

What exactly would a charity do with them?
Title: Re: What ever happened to the Robot Wars House Bots?
Post by: SKBT on April 23, 2012, 09:57:43 PM
My best bet was that the production company gutted them for parts and that the parts ended up in some other animatronic creation for another TV show.

I don't have any direct contacts with anyone who competed on RW so I can't even ask around. But we could ask the worlds #1 leading self proclaimed expert on robot combat who hasn't been to an event in years...   
Title: Re: What ever happened to the Robot Wars House Bots?
Post by: Badnik96 on April 23, 2012, 09:58:46 PM
i honestly don't know. Most likely they were sold for scrap, pretty sad if you think about it.

 Wait, didn't Matilda get rebuilt for Roaming Robots or is it a remake?
Title: Re: What ever happened to the Robot Wars House Bots?
Post by: Resetti's Replicas on April 23, 2012, 10:02:58 PM
A remake.  If you know what you're doing, Matilda isn't hard to recreate, just two 750 W motors and some skill molding fibreglass
Title: Re: What ever happened to the Robot Wars House Bots?
Post by: HurricaneAndrew on April 24, 2012, 07:02:34 AM
I would bet SKBT is right. Look at how Jamie Hyneman and Adam Savage are always building things from the parts of their past robotic creations and other television props. I know that they didn't pioneer this. I have robbed parts from my retired pulling tractors to build new ones several times, myself.
Title: Re: What ever happened to the Robot Wars House Bots?
Post by: Tweedy on April 24, 2012, 11:14:08 AM
yeah there is still matilda running as the featherweight house robot but there is a mr psycho style house robot called major damage that runs as the heavyweight house robot and they did a have a growler style robot called gripper but the shell was recently sold and is to become a heavyweight.
robots live uses a bot that has the same shape and body as dead metal but with pincers and a hammer that runs as a featherweight house robot
Title: Re: What ever happened to the Robot Wars House Bots?
Post by: Vertigo on April 24, 2012, 12:55:28 PM
My best bet was that the production company gutted them for parts and that the parts ended up in some other animatronic creation for another TV show.
That is very likely considering that all they had to sell Jonno was the shell of Matilda. They didn't even have the tusks.

Apart from that, none of us know what has happened, but what SKBT said is probably the most likely outcome.

yeah there is still matilda running as the featherweight house robot but there is a mr psycho style house robot called major damage that runs as the heavyweight house robot and they did a have a growler style robot called gripper but the shell was recently sold and is to become a heavyweight.
robots live uses a bot that has the same shape and body as dead metal but with pincers and a hammer that runs as a featherweight house robot
None of these have any connection to Robot Wars whatsoever. The only remaining part of Matilda is the shell, the rest is a completely different robot. There were actually two versions of gripper, one was a featherweight house robot about 6 or 7 years ago, but it was scrapped very quickly and a heavyweight house-robot version was made for the 2007 UK champs. This was also scrapped, and the parts from this were used to build Major Damage, along with parts from other robots, such as Tilly 101. Battle axe was based on the first version of Dead Metal with the overhead saw, but for obvious health and safety reasons they used a pathetically weak powered hammer instead. Unlike on robot wars, the plain purpose of our house robots these days is to provide a show, none can to any sort of damage whatsoever to a robot (except perhaps a very badly built feather), unlike on robot wars where they could actually do some damage. If anything they are just a nuisance in blocking your view to your robot! The reason for this is that the show relies on robots, and due to the low amount of "entertaining robots" around these days, event organisers cannot afford to be breaking any. There are certainly very few entertaining (or "good") feathwerweights these days and this is mostly the reason that Matilda is so pathetic. I certainly know that Explosion and several other feathers can absolutely pulverize it :P
Title: Re: What ever happened to the Robot Wars House Bots?
Post by: GoldenFox93 on April 24, 2012, 01:09:12 PM
I believe they were sold to charity.

What exactly would a charity do with them?
Well, considering there's been an increase in the amount of orphans in recent years...
Title: Re: What ever happened to the Robot Wars House Bots?
Post by: HurricaneAndrew on April 25, 2012, 01:30:00 AM
I believe they were sold to charity.

What exactly would a charity do with them?
Well, considering there's been an increase in the amount of orphans in recent years...

I see... Sort of the same idea as ending world hunger by resorting to cannibalism.

interesting.jpeg
Title: Re: What ever happened to the Robot Wars House Bots?
Post by: Phoenyx on June 21, 2012, 02:24:16 AM
I know this thread's been dead for a while, but I have an update for it. I contacted John Findlay of Robots: Extreme Wars (assuming that there was a connection) about the fate of the House Robots, and he told me that Chris Reynalds, the builder of these machines, believes that they are still in the possession of BBC. The original e-mail:
Quote
Hi Sean,


Thanks for the mail.

The honest answer is nobody really knows what happened to them, however I am led to believe that they are still at the BBC somewhere.

That's what Chris Reynolds the creator thinks anyway.

Regards

John

Sent from my iPhone

On 21 Jun 2012, at 02:33, [Name and e-mail redacted] wrote:

> First of all, I feel your pain about having your website hacked.
>
> Anyway, I'm really curious to find out what happened to the house robot known as Sir Killalot. I have heard rumors of it being cannibalized for special effects work, sold as scrap (a sad ending), sold at a charity event or just being mothballed. It has historical (and in some cases personal) value to many people worldwide, likely more-so than the other house robots. By any chance do you know what happened to it?

I think we may have made progress in locating the house robots. The version of Matilda in that one competition doesn't count - it's a replica.
Title: Re: What ever happened to the Robot Wars House Bots?
Post by: System32 on June 21, 2012, 06:37:00 AM
I'm now imagining an incredibly terrible horror movie where the house robots gain sentience and start killing people who wander into the BBC warehouse.
Title: Re: What ever happened to the Robot Wars House Bots?
Post by: HurricaneAndrew on June 21, 2012, 06:51:30 AM
I'm now imagining an incredibly terrible horror movie where the house robots gain sentience and start killing people who wander into the BBC warehouse.

"Mechanical Vengence"

In theaters Christmas 2012.
Title: Re: What ever happened to the Robot Wars House Bots?
Post by: TeamXtreemer on June 21, 2012, 07:01:22 AM
in a world,
 where robots are not your friend...
Title: Re: What ever happened to the Robot Wars House Bots?
Post by: Phoenyx on June 21, 2012, 07:13:11 AM
That would make a good "haunted-house horror" movie.

However, I'm personally interested in purchasing Sir Killalot or Dead Metal and restoring it to full operational condition. Hey, dead metal even qualifies for Superheavyweight tournaments, though it's a bit small for that.
Title: Re: What ever happened to the Robot Wars House Bots?
Post by: System32 on June 21, 2012, 07:18:08 AM
I think Shove and Shunt also fit.
 
I'd love to see a Shunt/DM fight.
Title: Re: What ever happened to the Robot Wars House Bots?
Post by: Phoenyx on June 21, 2012, 07:25:08 AM
I think Shove also fits.

Actually, most of them do (only Sir Killalot and Mr. Psycho don't - they'd qualify for the proposed experimental class from the ill-fated Battlebots 6.0), but again they're all a bit small for the Super-Heavyweight class, weighing in at a little above 220 Lbs. They would have trouble against bots like Diesector, Toro, New Cruelty, Atomic Wedgie, etc.
Title: Re: What ever happened to the Robot Wars House Bots?
Post by: System32 on June 21, 2012, 07:57:13 AM
They are mostly hollow though.
Title: Re: What ever happened to the Robot Wars House Bots?
Post by: Mecha on June 21, 2012, 10:07:46 AM
Shunt deserves to rot in a fiery junkyard for cheating. :bigsmile:
Naa, im kidding. i bet all the robots are in somebody's garage right now.
Title: Re: What ever happened to the Robot Wars House Bots?
Post by: HurricaneAndrew on June 21, 2012, 12:16:24 PM
I think Shove also fits.

Actually, most of them do (only Sir Killalot and Mr. Psycho don't - they'd qualify for the proposed experimental class from the ill-fated Battlebots 6.0), but again they're all a bit small for the Super-Heavyweight class, weighing in at a little above 220 Lbs. They would have trouble against bots like Diesector, Toro, New Cruelty, Atomic Wedgie, etc.

Are any of those robots that you mentioned even active anymore? Even if they are, they would have had to been updated quite a bit to still be competitive in this day and age.
Title: Re: What ever happened to the Robot Wars House Bots?
Post by: RammingSpeed on June 21, 2012, 12:17:16 PM
Shunt deserves to rot in a fiery junkyard for cheating. :bigsmile:
Naa, im kidding. i bet all the robots are in somebody's garage right now.

When did Shunt cheat?
Title: Re: What ever happened to the Robot Wars House Bots?
Post by: SKBT on June 21, 2012, 12:28:32 PM
I think Shove also fits.

Actually, most of them do (only Sir Killalot and Mr. Psycho don't - they'd qualify for the proposed experimental class from the ill-fated Battlebots 6.0), but again they're all a bit small for the Super-Heavyweight class, weighing in at a little above 220 Lbs. They would have trouble against bots like Diesector, Toro, New Cruelty, Atomic Wedgie, etc.

Are any of those robots that you mentioned even active anymore? Even if they are, they would have had to been updated quite a bit to still be competitive in this day and age.

340's are dead. The class hasn't been run since 09' and even then only two robots competed in it.

Inertia Labs completely left the sport years ago but still makes an 1lb kit.
Cruelty was gutted and sold (builder still competes)
Wedgie's builder now competes in 4x4 racing.
and Disector's builder still occasionally competes when tv or big money is involved.
Title: Re: What ever happened to the Robot Wars House Bots?
Post by: Vertigo on June 21, 2012, 02:35:51 PM
The version of Matilda in that one competition doesn't count - it's a replica.
Well, the shell used was one actually made pre-series one for Matilda. A few shell were made so that it could be quickly repaired if broken etc.

I believe the one on Matilda now was owned by one of the roboteers (possibly Alan Gribble), but the rest of the robot is not the same.
Title: Re: What ever happened to the Robot Wars House Bots?
Post by: GoldenFox93 on June 21, 2012, 08:47:45 PM
The version of Matilda in that one competition doesn't count - it's a replica.
Well, the shell used was one actually made pre-series one for Matilda. A few shell were made so that it could be quickly repaired if broken etc.

I believe the one on Matilda now was owned by one of the roboteers (possibly Alan Gribble), but the rest of the robot is not the same.
Right, so that'd explain the smaller tusks and things. Too bad they're not pneumatic, either.
Title: Re: What ever happened to the Robot Wars House Bots?
Post by: HurricaneAndrew on June 21, 2012, 11:17:48 PM
It would seem that Goldenfox has called Vertigo out, proving that Vertigo actually doesn't know it all in the process...

GF deserves some rep for this... Can someone with such ability +1 him on my behalf? Thanks in advance...
Title: Re: What ever happened to the Robot Wars House Bots?
Post by: Vertigo on June 22, 2012, 01:57:15 AM
The version of Matilda in that one competition doesn't count - it's a replica.
Well, the shell used was one actually made pre-series one for Matilda. A few shell were made so that it could be quickly repaired if broken etc.

I believe the one on Matilda now was owned by one of the roboteers (possibly Alan Gribble), but the rest of the robot is not the same.
Right, so that'd explain the smaller tusks and things. Too bad they're not pneumatic, either.
They're still pneumatic to my knowledge
Title: Re: What ever happened to the Robot Wars House Bots?
Post by: System32 on June 22, 2012, 04:01:28 AM
From my memory of the RW documentary, Matilda's head was mostly sculpted. The eyes and tusks were made out of more durable parts and were seperate, but there were several faces. I remember they said they made five or seven initially.
Title: Re: What ever happened to the Robot Wars House Bots?
Post by: Phoenyx on June 22, 2012, 05:11:37 AM
They're still pneumatic to my knowledge

Exactly. The old design just had a different mount for the pneumatic cylinders. The new mount put less strain on the cylinders and mechanically increased the power and leverage of the tusks.
Title: Re: What ever happened to the Robot Wars House Bots?
Post by: GoldenFox93 on June 22, 2012, 09:46:49 AM
The version of Matilda in that one competition doesn't count - it's a replica.
Well, the shell used was one actually made pre-series one for Matilda. A few shell were made so that it could be quickly repaired if broken etc.

I believe the one on Matilda now was owned by one of the roboteers (possibly Alan Gribble), but the rest of the robot is not the same.
Right, so that'd explain the smaller tusks and things. Too bad they're not pneumatic, either.
They're still pneumatic to my knowledge
Really? Last time I'd checked, they ran on electric power.
 
 
GF deserves some rep for this... Can someone with such ability +1 him on my behalf? Thanks in advance...
Very kind of you   :approve:
Title: Re: What ever happened to the Robot Wars House Bots?
Post by: NFX on June 22, 2012, 09:58:47 AM
The version of Matilda in that one competition doesn't count - it's a replica.
Well, the shell used was one actually made pre-series one for Matilda. A few shell were made so that it could be quickly repaired if broken etc.

I believe the one on Matilda now was owned by one of the roboteers (possibly Alan Gribble), but the rest of the robot is not the same.
Right, so that'd explain the smaller tusks and things. Too bad they're not pneumatic, either.
They're still pneumatic to my knowledge
Really? Last time I'd checked, they ran on electric power.
 
 
GF deserves some rep for this... Can someone with such ability +1 him on my behalf? Thanks in advance...
Very kind of you   :approve:

Matilda's tusks were Hydraulic in The First Wars, but they appeared to be changed to pneumatics for Series 2, as they were a lot faster with lifting machines. If you saw Matilda in the House Robot introductions in the later wars, her tusks were definitely firing with the ferocity of a pneumatic system.
Title: Re: What ever happened to the Robot Wars House Bots?
Post by: GoldenFox93 on June 22, 2012, 10:04:10 AM
Matilda's tusks were Hydraulic in The First Wars, but they appeared to be changed to pneumatics for Series 2, as they were a lot faster with lifting machines. If you saw Matilda in the House Robot introductions in the later wars, her tusks were definitely firing with the ferocity of a pneumatic system.
Yes- in the First Wars House Robot introductions, they lifted and lowered very slowly. But yes, I did see the later introductions as well- I remember her throwing a brick into the air with her tusks for the Series 5 introduction. Gives a sense of how much the House Robots improved over time, really   :approve:
Title: Re: What ever happened to the Robot Wars House Bots?
Post by: NFX on June 22, 2012, 10:12:48 AM
Matilda's tusks were Hydraulic in The First Wars, but they appeared to be changed to pneumatics for Series 2, as they were a lot faster with lifting machines. If you saw Matilda in the House Robot introductions in the later wars, her tusks were definitely firing with the ferocity of a pneumatic system.
Yes- in the First Wars House Robot introductions, they lifted and lowered very slowly. But yes, I did see the later introductions as well- I remember her throwing a brick into the air with her tusks for the Series 5 introduction. Gives a sense of how much the House Robots improved over time, really   :approve:

Keep in mind that the crew were only given six and a half weeks to design and build all four House Robots for the first wars. Plus, with the level of technology at the time, they were probably going to be a bit rubbish compared to nowadays. As the wars progressed, and as the technology available became more advanced, they could build upon what they already had, which you can especially see in how Dead Metal and Sergeant Bash improved, just from Series 1 to 3. I actually preferred the style of the original four House Robots, rather than the later four (with the exception of Refbot), where they made them look like stuff.
Title: Re: What ever happened to the Robot Wars House Bots?
Post by: Natef on June 22, 2012, 01:16:11 PM
What about in series 2 when Robo Doc hit matilda? I think CO2 came out.
Title: Re: What ever happened to the Robot Wars House Bots?
Post by: JoeBlo on June 23, 2012, 12:32:29 AM
IIRC at the time of Matilda's rebuild, the tusk system was also changed..


I think it was along the lines of having them push up rather then being pulled up..


In all honesty, Matilda was the only worthwhile house robot in the end out of the original four (or dare I say all?)
Title: Re: What ever happened to the Robot Wars House Bots?
Post by: System32 on June 24, 2012, 10:44:45 AM
Not really, I'd argue that Dead Metal would beat Matilda very easily. Faster, wide stance, decent weapons...
 
Title: Re: What ever happened to the Robot Wars House Bots?
Post by: Resetti's Replicas on June 24, 2012, 11:36:25 AM
But the flywheel, one hit from that would kill just about anything.  The house robots were't designed to take hard knocks, notice how rare it was that anything but a flipper would have a go at them
Title: Re: What ever happened to the Robot Wars House Bots?
Post by: JoeBlo on June 25, 2012, 09:20:35 AM
Not really, I'd argue that Dead Metal would beat Matilda very easily. Faster, wide stance, decent weapons...


I see your point... but an assfull of flywheel made short work of most robots..


Matilda was the only one really dealing knockout blows come later series.. others could put on a show but really did nothing...



Title: Re: What ever happened to the Robot Wars House Bots?
Post by: Mr. AS on June 25, 2012, 09:28:20 AM
Matilda was the only one really dealing knockout blows come later series.. others could put on a show but really did nothing...
weeee im sir k im just going to pick you up and spin you around a little doing little to no damage then just drop you in the pit
Title: Re: What ever happened to the Robot Wars House Bots?
Post by: GoldenFox93 on June 25, 2012, 09:49:58 AM
weeee im sir k im just going to pick you up and spin you around a little doing little to no damage then just drop you in the pit
On the flipside, you had WASP and Vortex Inducer   :cool:
Title: Re: What ever happened to the Robot Wars House Bots?
Post by: HurricaneAndrew on June 25, 2012, 09:51:32 AM
"The Pit" always pissed me off in the American Robot Wars.

Everyone always went apesh** chanting "PIT! PIT! PIT!" so they would get to see the pyrotechnic effects when a robot was put in it, but it couldn't have consisted of more than a gram of black powder...

Robot Wars always seemed to be more about showmanship than the actual combat.

Actually... Were the house bots in the American versions the same actual robots as the European series? I know they had the same names and looked the same.
Title: Re: What ever happened to the Robot Wars House Bots?
Post by: Mr. AS on June 25, 2012, 09:55:03 AM
weeee im sir k im just going to pick you up and spin you around a little doing little to no damage then just drop you in the pit
On the flipside, you had WASP and Vortex Inducer   :cool:
they had sh** for armor, im pretty sure dropping a feather on them would completely smash their internals
Title: Re: What ever happened to the Robot Wars House Bots?
Post by: Mecha on June 25, 2012, 10:02:22 AM
"The Pit" always pissed me off in the American Robot Wars.

Everyone always went apesh** chanting "PIT! PIT! PIT!" so they would get to see the pyrotechnic effects when a robot was put in it, but it couldn't have consisted of more than a gram of black powder...
LOL
Title: Re: What ever happened to the Robot Wars House Bots?
Post by: SKBT on June 25, 2012, 10:26:26 AM
"The Pit" always pissed me off in the American Robot Wars.

Everyone always went apesh** chanting "PIT! PIT! PIT!" so they would get to see the pyrotechnic effects when a robot was put in it, but it couldn't have consisted of more than a gram of black powder...

Robot Wars always seemed to be more about showmanship than the actual combat.

Actually... Were the house bots in the American versions the same actual robots as the European series? I know they had the same names and looked the same.

Robot Wars was the WWE of robot combat. The whole idea that you had to audition to compete and the number of robots that didn't work and were of low build quality prove it.

It was also rigged and scripted. The producers had the power to choose who would win. The heats were hand picked based on entertainment value of each bot and how famous a bot was. They could also intervene with the house robots or arena. There were also cases of builders (revolutionist) being told to run at 1/2 power so that it wouldn't damage the housebots.

The robots in both American and British robot wars were the same.
Title: Re: What ever happened to the Robot Wars House Bots?
Post by: Jonzu95 on June 25, 2012, 10:27:26 AM
Sir Killalot was always my favourite House Robot. ;)
Title: Re: What ever happened to the Robot Wars House Bots?
Post by: Ducky on July 19, 2015, 03:13:45 PM
Bump!

Was at the Barnsley Robot Wars Live Event today and I had chance to speak to John Findlay in the interval regarding the original House Robots, here's what he had to say:
John "We think we know where they are, it's currently a legal battle to obtain them, two of them (didn't have chance to ask which) have been in Las Vegas" (I assume with some rich memorabilia collector or something like that!)
Me "ahh wow making some headway then!"
John "well yeah"
Sounds a bit promising at least compared to our previous news! :mrgreen: Puzzling that its a legal battle when they own the rights! I assume the people that have them don't want to give them up or something.
Title: Re: What ever happened to the Robot Wars House Bots?
Post by: Badnik96 on July 19, 2015, 03:23:49 PM
And now I have a mental image of Mr. Psycho moonlighting as a slot machine. Thanks for that.
Title: Re: What ever happened to the Robot Wars House Bots?
Post by: G.K. on July 19, 2015, 03:39:01 PM
Refbot dealing out blackjack...
Title: Re: What ever happened to the Robot Wars House Bots?
Post by: Jaydee99 on July 19, 2015, 04:18:51 PM
I was at Barnsley too today!!! I'm sure they're kept with the builder where they should be, may have to check it again though...
Title: Re: What ever happened to the Robot Wars House Bots?
Post by: cephalopod on July 19, 2015, 04:22:40 PM
I imagine the battle is probably less legal and more monetary...
Title: Re: What ever happened to the Robot Wars House Bots?
Post by: RedAce on July 19, 2015, 04:26:05 PM
Damn. Now I wish I was in Barnsley right now. I mean, it's Vegas with the House Robots. What more can I ask for?
Title: Re: What ever happened to the Robot Wars House Bots?
Post by: 090901 on July 25, 2015, 02:25:31 AM
Puzzling that its a legal battle when they own the rights! I assume the people that have them don't want to give them up or something.
Well if someone paid money for them after the show ended I doubt they would want to give them up.
Title: Re: What ever happened to the Robot Wars House Bots?
Post by: Badnik96 on January 11, 2016, 02:16:54 AM
Sgt. Bash and the original Matilda were found earlier this month. Not entirely sure where.
Title: Re: What ever happened to the Robot Wars House Bots?
Post by: cephalopod on January 11, 2016, 05:09:43 AM
Picture was taken early last year :P
Title: Re: What ever happened to the Robot Wars House Bots?
Post by: The Red Blur on January 11, 2016, 05:53:58 AM
Well, if anyone sees wheely big cheese going cheap, please tell me. I need it.
Title: Re: What ever happened to the Robot Wars House Bots?
Post by: cephalopod on January 11, 2016, 08:17:44 AM
Hahahahahah the current owner has outwardly said even though they won't do anything with it, they refuse to sell to someone who will. Even if they did, define cheap :P
Title: Re: What ever happened to the Robot Wars House Bots?
Post by: Resetti's Replicas on January 11, 2016, 09:30:53 AM
Sgt. Bash and the original Matilda were found earlier this month. Not entirely sure where.
. Most likely just the shells.  Chris Reynolds the house bot handler said that their partswere camnibalized for other projects.
Title: Re: What ever happened to the Robot Wars House Bots?
Post by: The Red Blur on January 13, 2016, 05:15:51 PM
Hahahahahah the current owner has outwardly said even though they won't do anything with it, they refuse to sell to someone who will. Even if they did, define cheap :P

Hmm... Define cheap... Well, I'll give him a pot noodle, if you think that'd cover it. Without hot water, obviously, I'm not that generous.
Title: Re: What ever happened to the Robot Wars House Bots?
Post by: Scorpio on January 13, 2016, 05:39:59 PM
https://gametechmods.com/forums/index.php?topic=18594.0 (https://gametechmods.com/forums/index.php?topic=18594.0)
There's a good chance we'll be seeing them again.

Actually, most of them do (only Sir Killalot and Mr. Psycho don't - they'd qualify for the proposed experimental class from the ill-fated Battlebots 6.0), but again they're all a bit small for the Super-Heavyweight class, weighing in at a little above 220 Lbs. They would have trouble against bots like Diesector, Toro, New Cruelty, Atomic Wedgie, etc.

On that note, if the House bots DO come back to TV, I'd like to see them become proper SHWs. Hell, by current Battlebots standards, Shunt and one other House Bot (I forget whether it was Bash or Dead Metal) are legit HWs - though probably not entirely competitive.