UK Edition
Robot Wars: How the deadly new House Robots were born
On the outskirts of Birmingham, a square, red-brick factory that has been producing little wheels for the last 80 years has just created four destructive machines, designed to destroy the hopes of dozens of contestants on the new series of Robot Wars, which is back this weekend after a 12-year hiatus.
In a workshop of 3D printers, welding machines and wire cutters, the descendants of the factory's founder have built the next generation of Robot Wars' House Robots to be faster, stronger and scarier than the originals.
When BBC producers tasked Robo Challenge with creating Robot Wars' evolved fighters back in December, James Cooper, who co-founded the company with his father and brother, knew the machines would need a significant upgrade.
"We knew with the advancements in technology the original House Robots weren't up to the game," says Cooper, co-founder of creative engineering company Robo Challenge. "They'd get completely torn apart by the new competitors."
So the family-run business set about making them heavier, more powerful and a lot more destructive. The team at Robo Challenge, which has been around since 2007, worked through the day and night readying its fleet. Drawing on previous work creating everything from a five-foot tall armed mechanical spider to a world record-breaking jet-powered luge, Cooper was determined to make the robots almost impossible to beat.
Take Matilda, for example, whose main feature was her pneumatic flipping tusks that could "more or less" roll competitors over. In the original series, Matilda was often picked on by larger robots that could in fact flip and roll her, according to Cooper. The show's makers had to eventually add a fly wheel to her rear to make her more formidable.
The upgraded Matilda won't suffer such humiliating scenes. "We now use full pressure Carbon Dioxide in her tusks so it really explodes," says Cooper. "She can jump robots six-foot in the air. Bearing in mind the competitors can weigh up to 110 kilos, that takes a lot of power."
Advances in technology have helped both the team and house robots become more aggressive than ever. A decade ago, competitors used car batteries to drive their robots, making them heavy and sluggish. Now, light weight batteries and motors mean the robots can be faster and more agile.
When the six-week-long series begins this Sunday, Cooper will secretly be rooting for DeadMetal. "DeadMetal's my favourite, because that's the one I worked on," he says.
To lace the House Robots with extra ferocity, Robo Challenge divided its engineers into three teams that were in charge of separately creating Matilda, DeadMetal and Shunt. But they regrouped when it came to making Killalot, a 741kg monster fronted by a pincer with 2.5 tonnes of grip, and two arms that can each lift 300kg.
As well as power and speed - Killalot can travel up to 10mph - the team have given the robot more personality. "Originally his face was covered in a knight's mask. We wanted to reveal part of who he was and what his character was," says Cooper. So they removed part of the helmet to show a robotic head and the sinister character beneath.
"It looks like he's been away, been battling elsewhere and come back bigger, stronger, hardened."
In the days before the show is set to air, Cooper says he feels "nervously confident".
"There are some really good competitors, but the House Robots are plenty powerful enough. They’re almost too powerful," he says. "The competitors would have to do something really special to overpower them."
Although Cooper isn't technically a competitor himself, he can't help but let the desire to crush the other teams' robots seep out. "The real thing we want to celebrate is the teams in their garages and sheds creating and developing their robots," he says.
"We love seeing the things they produce - but we’ve definitely built the house robots to smash them up."