when using a weapon like an axe you want to concentrate the force onto a smaller area as possible ( hence Axe is better than hammer ) there are masses of calculations, but all that force is applied to the area you hit with its like comparing a fist to a fist to a first with a spike, you have roughly the same kinetic force, but all that force is in a tiny area and your likely to penetrate your opponent as opposed to just denting the armour
i suppose it matters where in the swing you connect with the other robot it seems that when it hits the flat section at the top of the axe, so taking the corners off means less contact area = more chance to pen the armour also i cant help but feel that they tried to get a cross section of Thors hammer in there as wel...
Has anyone been watching the US version, Battlebots? They're in their 2nd season reboot. It's really entertaining. They have a few things that add to the entertainment value. I was going to write a big post about what things I think are better/worse between the two shows, but I'll just post some youtube clips/playlists. I think each of these has something entertaining to offer. If you want more. https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLDe0CguuqcMD6Ee3rQfJBkUCKzilzx1lF https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLDe0CguuqcMA-fu_fwgE1vIFA0IA2PsTP
Interesting to see that kinetic energy spinners aren't completely dominating like they did for some of the previous wars. Everyone seems to be aware of the spin-up-time vulnerability, and energies are being pushed higher than the mechanics seem to be able to handle (Carbine could do with a clutch to disengage the motor on impact, Mr. Speed Squared might have been better off with expendable low-friction runners rather than bearings).
It's turned out to be a real gem this ! My wife was with me last night and she ended up putting down her tablet and watched it with me We were both cheering and laughing, great entertainment. The she said "Imagine you'd spent all that time and money, you'd be absolutely gutted" and we just cracked up laughing. This was after the spinning robot smashed that robot with car wheels on it into virtual pieces. Even better it's on on a Sunday when there's absolutely nothing else on.
Shame about Thor, its an amazing robot. Strange how the ram against the wall took it out when the force of that axe sent it all over the place otherwise. This episode was a lot more entertaining that the last I think. Except that one match...
Those combined hub/wheel robots have never done well in Robot Wars I hope it gets another, longer series - I'm sure it must have got better ratings that Top Gear... ...and Jonathon Pearce's cringeworthy comment about a robot's "lithium polymer armour"...
After the first round I didn't think anything would be able to take on Speed Squared, but then the old issue with spinners is the time to get it up to speed. If they could get the spinner upto speed quicker it would be almost unbeatable.
Spinners seem to struggle with Newton's 3rd law too. Speed Squared did a grand job of smashing its own bearings.
Hypnodisc did OK years ago but yeah agreed, they usually don't do too well. They're definitely fun to watch though Yeah I hope that it gets more series too. It's fantastic fun I was really expecting my wife to get up and take her tablet into the bedroom with her usual "What s**t are you watching?" but she actually got stuck right in
Hypnodisk worked well because its disk spin up time was actually very short for a robot of its style and it was very well driven. Hypnodisk vs big brother is one of its best matches it destroys big brother and still loses. If you watch that closely you will notice how quickly BB closes it down but its still spinning at least 3/4 power. I do not like the new arena, Makes flippers pointless. Was a much better episode in general though. Another Tornado / Storm Style bot going through is not my idea of fun though. Always thought if they forced the activated weapon rule a bit more, The likes of Tornado and storm 2 would of got no where.
i dont like the arena either, both because there is nowhere to throw people out, and also i feel it is FAR to small, and the hazards are to large This is the old Arena ( from series 3 i think ) Look how much empty space there is in the arena, plenty of room for faster robots to outmanuver the shower ones and find a weakness ( or run away ) This is the new arena, Shunt now takes almost half the gap between the CPZ's i get a niggling feeling when i look at the arena / backstage map that originally they intended the arena to be somewhat bigger, i mean look at the enormous gap between the arena and the pits and compare that to how it used to be. Edit, just looked up, apparently the new arena is LARGER than the old one, the old one was 32x48 feet, while the new one is 50x50ft, it just feels so much SMALLER than the old one
I'm with you there. American TV has to have 'villains' and underdogs, and most of the contestants are cock-sure a-holes. The British contestants are genuinely humble and honest about their insecurities about their ability and the ability of their robots. But I prefer the seed and bracket system used in the US version. The battles more often end in complete and total destruction of one robot or another. The rules (allowing multi-rotors, etc.) lend themselves to more a entertaining show and battles. And I really dislike the pit and the house robots in Robot Wars. The pit is the most boring obstacle. Someone hits the button and a robot falls in and the battle is over in 15 seconds. It's at least a little unfair and, most importantly, makes for boring television. The house robots weigh 3x the other robots. There's a great design challenge in making a good robot. You have to balance your weapon power with your mobility. You have to balance weight of a good weapon vs. the weight of effective armor. But when you can be 3x as heavy, you don't have to make those compromises. What makes it worse is that the house robots obviously hold back. A robot gets shoved in the corner (where the house robots have been put in time out), and then the house robot gives it a reluctant swat on the tush before sending it back out to battle. It's like the producers know the house bots are unfair so they command the drivers to hold back, which makes for the most boring battles. As others have said, episode 2 was better than episode 1. I hope that the show lasts a few seasons so that more refined and destructive robots find their way into the later seasons. And one thing that's great about Robot Wars is that the battle-royal and round-robin(esque) fighting formats means more match ups that you don't get in the classic bracket format the US uses.
Quite enjoyed the second episode, apart from Foxic... I think they really need to have some kind of process where you prove that your robot can actually do something before being allowed to compete. Speed Squared was brilliant in the first half of the show, really unfortunate that they took so much self-inflicted damage on the spinner's bearings. It was also a shame how short the final match was, it would have been nice to see those two having a long drawn out grudge match after their first encounter... normally I'd put that down to the pit being a bad thing to have in the arena, but it looked like Thor was pretty much immobilised before being pushed in from that first bash against the walls. Hoping to see some more robots with pincers/crushers in the coming episodes.
Agree Foxic was rubbish, Speed Squared was brilliant first round proper carnage. The driver for Foxic was annoying, laying on the trolley and insulting Thor calling him a coward for not going into the CPZ (hes not stupid I wouldn't either) Only thing Foxic did of not was get wedged under shunts arm an scoot him round the arena. Thor was very well driven throughout. Thought it was a cert for the final but appears he took a big knock damaging something. Shame but least it wasn't destroyed which the guy admitted would have been heart breaking. I can see Shockwave not lasting very long against Carbide that plastic gas pipe will stand no chance. Does seem spinners are more in this time. No drum blades though as used a lot in battlebots. Is there a ruling on them or just no ones bothered?
I was on the Robot wars wiki a few days ago - I think there is one or two drum spinners in the coming episodes. One is Pulsar
I find the pit annoying, stops the robots going full on at each other. Maybe it should only come on when one robot is actually immobilised?
