«Robot Wars» жекпе-жегінің «Razer» роботы

Combat robot from Robot Wars

Razer is a combat robot that competes on the British television series Robot Wars. It was constructed by Simon Scott and Ian Lewis from Bournemouth; the team later expanded to include webmaster Vincent Blood. Razer was designed and constructed in 1998 to participate in the second series of Robot Wars, but subsequent modifications and improvements enabled it to remain competitive until its retirement after the second series of Robot Wars Extreme. Despite gaining a reputation for being unreliable, it was champion of the fifth series of Robot Wars, runner up in the sixth, and won the first two Robot Wars World Championships. Razer's weapon is a piercing arm which exerts approximately three tonnes of pressure per square inch (465 kg/cm2, ) at its tip. The arm was designed to pierce opponents' armour plating and break their internal components, rendering them impaired or immobile. This weapon was inspired by the principle of the fly press—a piece of machinery used to bend and pierce metal—and maximises damage through the use of hydraulics. The arm is also an integral element of Razer's winged self righting mechanism, which rolls the robot back onto its wheels if inverted. In later series of Robot Wars, an interchangeable hook was attached to the arm to lift robots immune from being pierced. The popularity of crushing and piercing weaponry in robot combat events is attributed to Razer, which inspired many imitations. With a record of 40 wins and 6 losses (one through concession) in the UK Robot Wars series, Razer is recognised as one of the most successful competitors in the programme's history. It was featured on Robot Wars merchandise including a DVD and video games, and had a pull back toy created in its image—one of which was later modified by Ian Lewis to function as a fully radio controllable miniature version of the team's original heavyweight machine. Razer also competed in the American television series BattleBots, winning three of its five head to head battles and the 1999 Gigabot Rumble. The team behind Razer later constructed a new combatant called Warhead specifically for this competition. After retirement, Razer appears in non combat demonstrations as part of Robo Challenge educational displays and events. It returned to active combat in the 2016 revival of Robot Wars but lost in the first round.

Razer was designed and built by Ian Lewis and Simon Scott who, after watching the first series of Robot Wars, agreed that combat robots had potential to be considerably more destructive than the pioneering machines on display. Their choice of weapon was a piercing arm attached to a hydraulic ram and powered by a pump, itself powered by a motorcycle starter motor. This was based on the principle of the fly press, a piece of machinery used to bend and pierce metal through progressive force. Razer's hydraulic system pumped pressurised liquid, as opposed to pneumatics where a force is generated by the controlled release of a pressurised gas. Razer's arm was often said to exert nine tonnes of force; however, it was the hydraulic ram which produced up to nine tonnes of pressure per square inch (1,395 kg/cm2, ) at its output, and this was geared down to three tonnes per square inch (465 kg/cm2, ) at the tip of the arm.

This iteration of Razer competed in the second series of Robot Wars, successfully passing the Gauntlet and Trials stages of its heat before being defeated in battle by a robot called Inquisitor. The cause of Razer's immobilisation in this fight was the shearing of nylon cush drives—cushioning blocks designed to prevent stress fractures—in the machine's drive wheels; these were replaced with more robust metal ones for future competitions. As the Robot Wars television series evolved and grew, Razer's design was revised and refined to counter weaknesses and take advantage of rule changes; by series four, Lewis estimated that Razer had taken 1,500 hours to build, at a cost of £1,600. Razer's four wheeled drive train used a skid steering arrangement, whereby the wheels on one side of the robot rotated faster than those on the other to turn the machine. Also, the weight of the robot was biased towards the rear so that its weapon stayed facing its opponent as Razer turned. However, the solid rubber rear wheels used in series two provided too much traction and were reluctant to 'swing' the machine. For the third series, Razer used custom made aluminium drive wheels which incorporated rollers, reducing the amount of force required for simultaneous forward and sideways movement. These wheels were later upgraded with a stronger titanium construction, whilst the level of oversteer in the drive system was reduced through the implementation of an electronic gyroscope. To redress the balance, approximately 450 holes were drilled in the robot's metalwork. This allowed for improvements to the chassis and bodywork of Razer including new titanium outriggers, and thick armour panels versus before. The most noticeable alteration to this version of Razer was a redesigned front scoop. This enclosed the front wheels to reduce side on impact damage, and greatly decreased the robot's ground clearance to reduce its vulnerability to being flipped, whilst also making it easier to get underneath opponents to crush them. This iteration of Razer won the first Robot Wars Extreme All Stars championship and series five of Robot Wars, alongside mounting a successful defence of its World Champion title. By the time of Razer's Robot Wars Extreme II appearances, the machine weighed , was long, and reached a top speed of It had been finished late the night before the recording. Despite its relatively early exit from the competition, Razer won the Best Design award for series two. Before series three of Robot Wars, Razer was entered into the American robot combat programme BattleBots in Los Angeles after the team won an international scholarship along with fellow British robots, Killerhurtz and Mortis. Razer's first battle was against Voltarc. It flipped Razer, but Lewis self righted and Scott pierced Voltarc's armour. Razer was given the victory on a crowd's vote. Razer dropped into the "best of the rest" competition. Therein it faced Kill O Amp which was defeated after Razer pulled a wheel off before crushing its opponent's battery. Outside of the main UK championship, Razer won the concurrent Pinball Warrior Tournament side event and retained the Best Design award. Immediately after filming series three, Razer participated in the International Championship. Following forfeiture by Prometheus, its scheduled first opponent, Razer beat the Dutch representative Techno Lease and Irish entrant Diotoir to win the tournament. Razer also fought in the direct to video First World Championship, representing England. Dominant victories over the Scottish robot All Torque and fellow English entrants Chaos 2 and 101 put Razer into the Final against compatriots Behemoth. In a very closely fought contest that was not without moments of controversy, Razer won the fight on a split judges decision, the tournament and its associated title. In the first round of its series four heat, Razer progressed alongside Robochicken from a three way battle in which Velocirippa was eliminated. In its next battle against Milly Ann Bug, Razer methodically removed all of its opponent's wheels, rendering Milly Ann Bug unable to move. In a post battle interview with host Craig Charles, Blood likened this attack to "pulling the legs off a spider". Early on in its heat final against Pussycat, Razer malfunctioned. Stuck in forward drive, it careered into the arena side wall with the rear wheels spinning but unable to steer. Pussycat severely damaged the back end and wheels of Razer, until Dead Metal of the house robots pitted the machine. Although Scott and Blood were gracious in defeat, Lewis turned his back on the fight, left the control booth immediately afterwards, and refused to be interviewed by Craig Charles. Lewis accused the Pussycat team of breaking a gentlemen's agreement that both teams would not seriously damage the other's machine. However, seeing that Razer's wheels were still spinning, Team Pussycat were unaware that Razer was in fact immobilised. Razer also took part in the Pinball Warrior and Sumo Basho side tournaments of series four; its performances were underwhelming in both events, scoring 95 points in the former having abandoned the run partway through to attack Sir Killalot, and lasting less than five seconds in the latter.

Razer's next appearance came in a Robot Wars Christmas special called the Southern Annihilator. Six robots fought at the same time until one was eliminated, either through immobilisation or judges' decision. The remaining five robots then fought again, eliminating another, and so on until one robot remained and was declared the winner. Razer outlasted Vercingetorix, Spawn of Scutter, Behemoth and Attila the Drum to set up a final against Onslaught. An attack by Razer's arm on one of Onslaught's rear wheels saw its adversary shed a tyre, lose grip, and drive into an area patrolled by Matilda. The house robot flipped Onslaught onto its side, rendering it immobile. Assured of victory, Razer proceeded to attack Matilda, causing horrific damage to Matilda's bodywork and rear shell, and then pushed her over a flame pit to set her on fire. It next took part in the All Stars tournament of Robot Wars Extreme, beating Gemini, Behemoth and Firestorm 3 to establish a grand final against Tornado. In their first competitive encounter, Razer repeatedly pierced Tornado's low, flat body, eventually breaking their drive chain. Tornado was immobilised, and Razer won a second consecutive trophy. Its only other battle in Extreme was a grudge match with Pussycat, in response to the accusation that the Pussycat team had broken an agreement with the Razer team during their series four heat. Razer punctured Pussycat's body and lifted it with the arm but Pussycat fell and escaped. In doing so, Pussycat impacted the steel guard around Razer's front right wheel and jammed the metal into the wheel itself, rendering Razer completely unable to move and it was subsequently counted out. Ian Lewis of Team Razer competed in a seven way melee featuring antweight robots—miniature machines that weighed less than and fitted into a four inch cube. Lewis's robot for this battle was Razzler, a modified Razer toy. Razer's next tournament was the Second World Championship. Its title defence began with qualification from a melee against Diotoir, Flensburger Power and The Revolutionist. It then beat fellow English representative Tornado in the semi final before facing walking robot DrillZilla in the final. Being classed as a walking robot, DrillZilla could ignore the normal weight limit and thus had thick armour; knowing that they would be unable to pierce this, Razer concentrated on inflicting cosmetic damage to its opponent's rubber feet. This proved enough to secure victory on a judges' decision, enabling Razer to retain its World Champion title. On a 12 battle victory streak,#tag:ref|Razer's grudge match with Pussycat was filmed after series five but broadcast before as part of Robot Wars Extreme. Their next opponent was Spawn Again, which was armed with a pneumatic flipper. Equipped with a new lower front wedge, Razer was able to get underneath Spawn Again and crush it until it broke down. In the quarter finals, Razer faced S3, a cylindrical robot with a vertical spinning blade. Razer's arm sliced into S3's weapon controls, stopping the disc, which allowed Razer to dominate the fight and win on a judges' decision. Team Razer faced Firestorm 3 in their first battle of the series grand final, in a rematch from the All Stars semi final from earlier that year. Whilst victory in the earlier battle had been relatively straightforward,