Robot Club

Robot Club, the Department of Chemical Engineering and Biotechnology’s unique take on the BBC’s 90s show ‘Robot Wars’, has crowned its first champion.

DeBrie’s three-person team of Alastair Robinson, Simon Rihm and Yuetong Jia saw off strong competition from six other teams to be named the series one champions this week.

Sparks flew, batteries died, and a fan favourite emerged as the event designed to encourage and promote a ‘hands on’ approach to learning was a huge success.

The well-designed yellow and orange chassis held up under enormous pressure from the power of second-placed Buzzkill and fan favourite Bar Fight in third, alongside strong contention from Timberwolf, CryBaby, Dominion and Demolisherinator.

The competition was whooped and cheered by nearly 100 people lining the ‘bear pit’ area outside the department, creating a cauldron of noise worthy of the name.

The veritable display of design, engineering and athletic manoeuvring of all teams, in an attempt to destroy and outlast other teams sparked immediate discussion of series two.

For a large proportion of the British public, Robot Club is a format that will be instantly recognisable - albeit on a much smaller scale – with an open arena in which robots emerge from their taped corner to battle it out for supremacy.

Makerspace manager Josh oversaw the creation of the fully-covered arena to ensure sparks were contained and the only danger posed was to the robots, with the reason why becoming apparent in the first heat.

Team Dive Bar’s Bar Fight, piloted by Muriel, quickly gained supporters as the robot with the vertical spinner took chunks out of anything nearby, including the floor of the arena. The noisy and intimidatory robot impressed as the first to progress to the Semi-Finals from Heat One.

Meanwhile The Despicables’ Demolisherinator fell victim at the first hurdle, with the audience only seeing a glimpse of Ollie Dennison’s hard work as the robot was unable to return for the Redemption Fight.

Buzzkill and Dominion lost the battle in Heat One and were entered into Redemption Battle One, with only one team able to progress to the Semi-Finals.

The complexity of Radhika, Jasper, Anna and Jessica’s Buzzkill saw off the dizzying tactics of Jon’s full body spinner, to progress to the Semi-Final.

In Heat Two, eventual winners DeBrie showed their class early, winning the heat and progressing directly to the Semi-Final. A big hit on Team Taurus’s Timberwolf, designed and built by Josh and expertly piloted by Andrea and Yutong, saw a wheel torn off and the stylish robot lying prone in the middle of the arena. Finally Team CryBaby’s robot showed promise with a dangerous vertical spinner weapon on the front and a speedy pace around the arena, but struggled to make an impact as they joined Timberwolf in Redemption Battle Two.

Edward and Benjamin’s weapon failed them in this fight, with the drive belt snapping and leaving them unable to pack a punch in attack. Timberwolf took advantage, flipping the robot and leading to a judges decision to see them in the next round.

Semi-Final One was contested by DeBrie and Bar Fight, while Semi-Final Two saw Buzzkill and Timberwolf battle it out.

Bar Fight came undone at this stage, with its creator learning the hard way why you should not install cheap components – and further demonstrating the educational underpinning of the event, as the battery ran out of juice midway through the fight. The robot was counted out, to the entertainment and frustration of the crowd.

Meanwhile in Semi-Final Two, Timberwolf was unable to capitalise on the moment Buzzkill managed to upend itself, with a fast movement causing the fast little robot to end up on its side. Righting itself in time, it got away and, despite looking largely second best to Timberwolf, managed to trap the flipper robot against the side and progress to the Final.

A close fight between DeBrie and a heavily-bandaged Buzzkill was ultimately won by the impressively unmarked DeBrie as Buzzkill ground to a halt, unable to move, with seconds to spare.

In the Third-Place Playoff battle, Bar Fight was awarded the win in a narrow, split decision by the judges. The crowd could see that Bar Fight had more fire power, tearing the façade off Timberwolf, before the robot then drove across the metal and became stuck. A perfect way to wrap up the chaos, brilliance and fun of the Robot Club’s first competition.

It could not have taken place without the hard work of the teams involved, as well as the time of judges Clemens, Joanna and Zach, presenter Jessica and arena designer and Robot Club leader Josh, who gave hours of time to help.

CEB Head of Department Clemens Kaminski said: “It was a brilliant event – I think everybody had a blast of a time and Jessica has a huge media personality, which really added to the whole event.

“Well done all for what surely will become a regular event.”