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Robot Wars Returns - Sunday 8pm BBC2

Gotters

By Gotters,
in Film, TV & Radio

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cubik

cubik

Posted
Posted

I've never watched Battlebots but really enjoyed that - I'll record it next time and fast forward through the adverts though.

 

It does suit the US sports presenting style, there was no holding back like there is in Robot Wars and I like the screws on the edges of the arena, a very nice and potentially destructive touch. Didn't miss having house robots as they were pretty ineffective in the last series of Robot Wars anyway.

 

Shame about team Razer or whatever they're called now, they didn't really do a lot.

 

What's the weight limit on Battlebots compared to Robot Wars?

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Dig Dug

Dig Dug

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The weight limit for battlebots is 250lb (113kg), which surprised me as the robots on battlebots look bloody huge compared to the ones on robot wars. I've heard before that flipper only bots aren't allowed on battlebots because they don't count flippers as weapons, it's explain why there are so many robots that can't self right on the show.

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Gotters

Gotters

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Their rule set seems to generate a crazier set of robots for sure, I don't think the robots are necessarily 'better' on the evidence of the first episode, but they are definitely not just conforming to the narrow types you tend to see in the UK show. 

 

Some of the robots look quite big, like that one the lady with the pink hair and tats was running, but it was all fins and spoilers not a super dense tightly packed armored tank. Thought those Brits (and their robot) reminded me of team Razer - lovely looking robot and beautifully built.

 

Definitely recording to zap the ads next week, this 8pm Sunday slot just seems perfect for this type of show (think Top Gear has trained me into thinking that)

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jonathanhoey

jonathanhoey

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14 hours ago, Dig Dug said:

The weight limit for battlebots is 250lb (113kg), which surprised me as the robots on battlebots look bloody huge compared to the ones on robot wars. I've heard before that flipper only bots aren't allowed on battlebots because they don't count flippers as weapons, it's explain why there are so many robots that can't self right on the show.

 

I could be wrong but I think the 250lb limit was for the old Battlebots show and it's been higher since the relaunch (which is currently on its second series).

 

I downloaded the rulebook for entrants a few weeks ago but it's on my computer at home so I can't check it just now.

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mushashi

mushashi

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On 31/08/2016 at 13:26, beenabadbunny said:

* I agree with the various comments, most recently Bacon Horsemeat and JPickford's, about women. I'm sure someone else noted that it also seems very white and middle-class. Not sure whether the BBC can do anything about these things or whether it essentially has to try and play the hand it's dealt, but it would certainly be refreshing to see more diversity than "I've built this robot, this chap here will drive it, and here's my girlfriend".

 

 

This just seems reflective of the skillset required to practically compete in this sort of hobby, majority of engineers are white and male, and they get paid reasonably so are more likely to be middle-class too. The general stats hardly favour the likelihood of women entering this hobby in great numbers either:


 

Quote

 

Only 9% of the engineering workforce is female.(1) And only 6% of registered engineers and technicians (i.e. CEng, IEng, EngTech) are women.(2)

 

The UK has the lowest percentage of female engineering professionals in Europe, at less than 10%, while Latvia, Bulgaria and Cyprus lead with nearly 30%.(3)

 

15.8% of engineering and technology undergraduates in the UK are female.(4) Compare with India: where over 30% of engineering students are women on engineering courses account for over 30% of the students.(5)

 

 

 

It was nice to see Thor get picked as the wildcard as he was unlucky to lose his heat really, shame he got killed by the spinner early and was effectively out of it. The short filming time of this series works against most of the robot designs, they'd be better with more time to repair, otherwise it's more a war of attrition and unlucky hits.

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  • 3 weeks later...
hmm

hmm

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Thanks for the BattleBots recommendation. Watched the first episode of the latest series tonight and thought it was brilliant. I did enjoy this recent RW, having never really watched it that much in its earlier incarnation, but BB is better in every respect.

 

Did find the last fight a little bit tough to watch - it was basically an extremely weak knight in a wheelchair being slowly burned by a dragon.

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sir podger

sir podger

Posted
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15 hours ago, JohnC said:

Two Christmas Specials coming. Each episode has 4 celebrity teams. They design and build their robots with help from contestants from the series.

 

No word on dates or who the celebrities are.

 

Hopefully being the BBC they will actually be celebs as opposed to someone who once appeared on an episode of reality tv for 30 seconds.

 

Having a famous person drive the bot does nothing for me. putting a few of the more worthless ones in there with the bots would be better. I would prefer a crossover with scrapheap challenge (the Robert Llewellyn version) instead.

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T Pot

T Pot

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Filming of Season 2 was last week. Some cool robots in it. Spinners seem to be the best weapons to go with this time round. There's an interesting bit with one machine breaking itself. One battle was stopped at the end, restarted, then the opposite team announced as winner. TV is likely going to use part of the footage to make the "losers" look like bad losers.

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  • 2 months later...
cubik

cubik

Posted
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Some good battles and I'm glad it's back but it's still 20 minutes too long. I don't need multiple recaps of something i watched 15 minutes ago or the constant slow motion clips of the roboteers walking towards and away from the arena.

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jonathanhoey

jonathanhoey

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I do still love Robot Wars but I wonder how much of that is nostalgia for my childhood, to be honest. I really do think that Battlebots is better in every significant way. 

 

Main thing for me is that the Battlebots rules stipulate that every machine must have at least one offensive weapon, and it must be deemed by the BB judges to be capable of causing significant damage. 

 

Means every match is far more exciting. You don't end up with crap like Jellyfish - a "clamp bot" whose whole game plan is to grab hold of enemy machines and drive them into the pit (which is another RW fixture that I have no love for). 

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