Series 2 event report
Series 2 Preparation
Before taking part in series 2 we had made some major modifications to PP3D. For all intents and purposes it was a near brand new machine. The only major parts carried over from the series 1 machine being around 14kg of the old chassis (originally it weighed 31kg) and the weapon shaft and bearing set up that supported the disc.
Thanks to our backers on the kickstarter campaign we had been able to upgrade with new batteries, weapon motor, speed controllers and disc along with spares for all these parts. Our drive motors were shock mounted properly with the same bushings that carbide had used in series 1.
We had planned to have lights fitted behind the slots on the top of PP3D however with time being short before we left for filming we prioritised the mechanics of the robot above the nice to haves. We thankfully did have time to give the chassis a new meaner paint job to go with the new top and disc.
We had been able to carry out spin up testing in the week before filming and thankfully the disc spun up beautifully. We had tried to use only 8Ah, 12cell worth of lipo batteries on the weapon however each spin up was taking 800mAh or 10% out of the battery pack. The huge strain this put on the batteries was also causing them to heat up uncomfortably. We made the last minute decision to double up our capacity and run with a total of 6 lipo packs giving us 16Ah, 12 cell or 50.4v of batteries. With further testing we became more confident that the batteries wouldn't be strained to the extreme during battle.
In fact the spin was a little too good. One of the rules for the competition states that the disc must spin down from top speed in under 60 seconds. Our best time was around 80 seconds because the bearings were spinning so free. We didn't have time to sort this before we left for filming so we bundled the robot and all the spares and tools we thought we would need into the back of the pick up. It was almost midnight by the time we got a chance to get to bed for an early start the next day.
Saturday 4th December
We left Aberdeenshire early, making brief stops off in St Andrews to drop off our cats and dog with relations for the duration of filming.
We arrived at the warehouse in Glasgow at around 1pm. We were meant to be fighting that day, only getting ourselves signed in and tech checked so that we could be ready to roll for our melee fight the next day. We got the pick up unloaded and PP3D onto a bench. We were actually shoved around the corner on the benches where the celeb bots had been placed for their filming the day before. The first thing we did was to grab the scales that they were using for tech check and weigh PP3D. 110.8kg. Ah nuts. Got some weight to lose. Ok not bad, only 800g off the robot. We spent the next three hours removing weight where it wasn't needed. Easiest thing to do was to swap on the lightest used set of go kart tyres we had. That saved a nice 400g. We skimmed another couple hundred grams off the disc and removed some of the extra pieces that made up the new top. If you look at the in garage photos vs the professional photos you will notice a couple small changes to the top panel.
We were in weight and the tech check was carried out. We passed everything bar the weapon spin down test. We initially tried to carry this out in the test arena however it had a ply wood floor that was poorly supported so would bow. With PP3Ds disc being on 10mm or so off the arena floor we needed to use the main arena to carry out the test. This meant it would have to be carried out in the morning.
We left and headed to the hotel, grabbed something to eat at a supermarket on the way back and got some shut eye for the Sunday.
Sunday 5th December
Over breakfast we puzzled how we were going to slow the disc down and get it within the 60 second limit. The options available to us were to install a brake actuated by a small servo, increase the resistance of the spinner mechanism so that it didn't spin as freely or use one of the two power solenoids on the robot to short the terminals of the motor which would turn it into a generator and turn the kinetic energy into heat in the wiring.
We realised that the third option was the most rugged option and opted for this. So a bit of rewiring was required first thing in the morning but we wheeled PP3D along to the main arena and had a successful spin down test. We're in the competition!
Just before we carried out the spin down test, one of the crew came over and asked how we would feel about changing heats as another robot wasn't quite ready for theirs. Our first question was, who are we meant to be against. There was more than one nasty spinner in the melee. In the new heat there was none. Well that's an easy choice! We accepted and we going to be in a melee with cherub, push to exit and draven.
We had our pre-match interview with Angela and all went well. They were really keen on the laser etched kickstarter backers names on our disc.
PP3D was loaded onto a trolley and off to the arena we went.
We loaded on the same side as Draven. We had a bit of prematch chat with the team and then got on with the fight. The fight itself was a bit of a blur (as they all tend to be) but we were still running at the end as were cherub. We were however smoking quite badly hence why I made the decision to get the robot to the barrier asap so the link could be pulled. As it turned out the smoking was our connectors from the battery packs. We suspected that the solenoid that we were using to brake the disc was shunted shut during one of the impacts which gave a direct short to the battery pack.
Not to worry, we didn't have any more fights that day so could take it easy replacing the wiring inside the robot and giving everything a good once over. We found out later that day that our first head to head was against cherub. An older machine but it was simple and had an exceptionally thick front armour plate which would be tough to get through.
We charged up the batteries ready for the next day and then headed back to the hotel stopping off at a harvester on the way to grab something to eat.
Monday 6th of December
You'll notice on the episode that Sarah disappears from the team leaving just Laurence and I to continue in our 1 on 1 matches. Unfortunately she caught severe food poisoning from the Harvester that meant that she spent the remainder of our time in Glasgow in the hotel room. I'm not saying don't eat at a Harvester but I won't ever be eating at a Harvester again.
That morning in the pits wasn't that eventful bar losing a team member. We loaded PP3D into the arena. When I was arming PP3D up one of the removeable links sparked and the disc tried to spin. Thankfully the locking bar stopped this from happening and we weren't in any danger as we were behind the arena barrier. The link socked was fried. Thankfully this was only one of the battery pack / solenoid systems so we decided to run the robot off one battery pack and pull the other out. As it turns out, it seems as though the shorting from the melee had caused the solenoid to stick. When we inserted the link the disc was essentially on. On to the battle! Once again I don't remember much apart from cherub ending up in the claws of dead metal allowing us to get up to full speed which then resulted in one of the biggest collisions in Robot Wars history with Cherub which stopped the match.
It was at that point that I realised that we had hit them so hard that they had then smacked the side of the arena and removed the side panel. We flew clean across the arena and came down hard. So hard that even with a pneumatic tyre and shock mounting on the motor we managed to break the gearbox plate which supported the motor. The removeable link for our weapon also came out. We still had power and control to the drive motors but with one not supporting it's weight it was spinning in circles. Thankfully for us, Cherub were also immobilised on their back.
We were given the option to go straight to a judges decision but Cherub were keen to continue the fight. I could already foresee what would happen but we weren't going to pull out and offer the win on a plate! So we restarted for 10 seconds of wheels spinning and not much else. The decision was the judges to make and they went for Cherub. I'll freely admit that I thought we had it in the bag as we had caused all the damage that ended with us both being immobilised but such is Robot Wars! We accepted the defeat and then rushed to get back to the pits to find out what we would have to do to get PP3D back in the arena.
Our next fight was with Behemoth and we had only 2 hours to get PP3D back together. Unfortunately for us our 2 hour rebuild window coincided with lunch and we needed the welder in the pits to carry out some welding for us but he was away in the canteen. Another thing not publicised is that while Laurence and I could happily weld PP3D up we weren't allowed to and had to get the production teams welder to do it for us.
In the mean time we stripped and repaired the drive motors, sorted out the removeable link issue, changed out a solenoid, tightened the weapon motor belt, pumped up the tyres and got PP3D back together. Words cannot express how frantic those two hours were with the crew coming up to us asking how long we were going to be and camera teams getting in our way trying to film interviews beside us. I was only too well aware that if PP3D wasn't back together then we would be out of the competition. It didn't help as well that we were down a team member through no fault of our own (thanks Harvester!). Through some miracle Laurence and I got PP3D back together and we were to the arena side with only minutes to spare. We hadn't had a chance to think about how we were going to fight Behemoth but that wasn't going to stop us.
PP3D span up we went in for the attack and got a few good hits on Behemoth. Then I lost forward drive. You'll notice that PP3D goes backwards towards the side wall before being smacked around by Shunt. At that point I could only go backwards. We figured out afterwards this was due to a loose servo wire on our drive electronics. Then we got a lovely fireworks display which was a real sight to behold from our point of view! We turned off the disc before Shunt had some more fun. We turned it back on and still had sparks. At that point the fight was over for us. Unfortunately the etek motor powering our disc had sheered it's mounting points and the terminal for the motor was shorting onto the chassis. Essentially we were welding using our motor and batteries! A well deserved win to the Behemoth guys and they did take a bit of a damage so they didn't escape PP3D completely unscathed.
Another robot that didn't make it out unscathed was Shunt. We took a massive section out of his hardox scoop which we were lucky enough to get to keep. We gave the house robot guys some 3mm hardox to allow them to patch the damage up.
We got back to the pits and figured out what had happened and we couldn't quite believe it. Thanks to our kickstarter backers we had a spare weapon motor and one more fight to go. I'll admit the thought crossed my mind that if we hadn't had funding from our backers then I may have been tempted to throw in the towel as the BBC only gives the teams £500 towards the costs of the robots. We had long since blown through that sum. But as our backers had put their faith in us there was no way I was going to let them down. We started repairing PP3D again albeit at a much slower pace as both Laurence and I were completely exhausted both mentally and physically. Our fight with Eruption wasn't scheduled to take place until the next day.
We left the hanger feeling down that our competition was essentially over as there was no way we could progress to the final.
Tuesday 7th of December
Over breakfast I had a sudden realisation. There was a way we could progress to the final! It required two things to happen. Behemoth to beat Cherub in their head to head and for us to damage eruption in our match so badly that they couldn't repair the robot in time to get back into the competition. With the way the points were stacked, if both these things happened then we would be back in the final and back into the competition.
Suddenly we had a new fire lit. We were still down a team member but had a new goal. No roboteer likes to go into the arena with the sole aim of completely destroying your opponent but this was our last shot and we were going to do our best to make it happen.
Going into the fight we had a brand new weapon motor, new solenoids, switched out out drive motors again and gave everything a good once over. Both teams were nervous as Eruption were only too well aware of our plan and we needed PP3D to work perfectly.
Unfortunately it wasn't to be. I don't remember much about the battle but I do remember watching as we were thrown out of the arena and all credit to Eruption they handled PP3D well!
So that was us out of the competition. We had given it our best but it just wasn't good enough. Initially I was disappointed that we hadn't got further especially with our backers behind us but at the end of the day, we had put on a good show.
PP3D is back together and running albeit with a bent chassis and other battle scars. As far as our plans for series 3 go, PP3D won't be taking part. Preparing a robot for Robot Wars takes up an incredible amount of time especially with the short time given to teams to prepare. With two series run in quick succession a lot of jobs that I had to do around our small holding were put on hold and now I need to get them done. Secondly, Sarah and I are getting married shortly after filming for series 3 takes place. In short, I will have other things on my mind at that point!
If there is a series 4 then I'm sure we will return. Will PP3D return? Right now we aren't sure. The design needs more work and we just aren't sure if it's truly a competition winning machine. We do have a couple of ideas which are perhaps even more insane and powerful than PP3D.
Before taking part in series 2 we had made some major modifications to PP3D. For all intents and purposes it was a near brand new machine. The only major parts carried over from the series 1 machine being around 14kg of the old chassis (originally it weighed 31kg) and the weapon shaft and bearing set up that supported the disc.
Thanks to our backers on the kickstarter campaign we had been able to upgrade with new batteries, weapon motor, speed controllers and disc along with spares for all these parts. Our drive motors were shock mounted properly with the same bushings that carbide had used in series 1.
We had planned to have lights fitted behind the slots on the top of PP3D however with time being short before we left for filming we prioritised the mechanics of the robot above the nice to haves. We thankfully did have time to give the chassis a new meaner paint job to go with the new top and disc.
We had been able to carry out spin up testing in the week before filming and thankfully the disc spun up beautifully. We had tried to use only 8Ah, 12cell worth of lipo batteries on the weapon however each spin up was taking 800mAh or 10% out of the battery pack. The huge strain this put on the batteries was also causing them to heat up uncomfortably. We made the last minute decision to double up our capacity and run with a total of 6 lipo packs giving us 16Ah, 12 cell or 50.4v of batteries. With further testing we became more confident that the batteries wouldn't be strained to the extreme during battle.
In fact the spin was a little too good. One of the rules for the competition states that the disc must spin down from top speed in under 60 seconds. Our best time was around 80 seconds because the bearings were spinning so free. We didn't have time to sort this before we left for filming so we bundled the robot and all the spares and tools we thought we would need into the back of the pick up. It was almost midnight by the time we got a chance to get to bed for an early start the next day.
Saturday 4th December
We left Aberdeenshire early, making brief stops off in St Andrews to drop off our cats and dog with relations for the duration of filming.
We arrived at the warehouse in Glasgow at around 1pm. We were meant to be fighting that day, only getting ourselves signed in and tech checked so that we could be ready to roll for our melee fight the next day. We got the pick up unloaded and PP3D onto a bench. We were actually shoved around the corner on the benches where the celeb bots had been placed for their filming the day before. The first thing we did was to grab the scales that they were using for tech check and weigh PP3D. 110.8kg. Ah nuts. Got some weight to lose. Ok not bad, only 800g off the robot. We spent the next three hours removing weight where it wasn't needed. Easiest thing to do was to swap on the lightest used set of go kart tyres we had. That saved a nice 400g. We skimmed another couple hundred grams off the disc and removed some of the extra pieces that made up the new top. If you look at the in garage photos vs the professional photos you will notice a couple small changes to the top panel.
We were in weight and the tech check was carried out. We passed everything bar the weapon spin down test. We initially tried to carry this out in the test arena however it had a ply wood floor that was poorly supported so would bow. With PP3Ds disc being on 10mm or so off the arena floor we needed to use the main arena to carry out the test. This meant it would have to be carried out in the morning.
We left and headed to the hotel, grabbed something to eat at a supermarket on the way back and got some shut eye for the Sunday.
Sunday 5th December
Over breakfast we puzzled how we were going to slow the disc down and get it within the 60 second limit. The options available to us were to install a brake actuated by a small servo, increase the resistance of the spinner mechanism so that it didn't spin as freely or use one of the two power solenoids on the robot to short the terminals of the motor which would turn it into a generator and turn the kinetic energy into heat in the wiring.
We realised that the third option was the most rugged option and opted for this. So a bit of rewiring was required first thing in the morning but we wheeled PP3D along to the main arena and had a successful spin down test. We're in the competition!
Just before we carried out the spin down test, one of the crew came over and asked how we would feel about changing heats as another robot wasn't quite ready for theirs. Our first question was, who are we meant to be against. There was more than one nasty spinner in the melee. In the new heat there was none. Well that's an easy choice! We accepted and we going to be in a melee with cherub, push to exit and draven.
We had our pre-match interview with Angela and all went well. They were really keen on the laser etched kickstarter backers names on our disc.
PP3D was loaded onto a trolley and off to the arena we went.
We loaded on the same side as Draven. We had a bit of prematch chat with the team and then got on with the fight. The fight itself was a bit of a blur (as they all tend to be) but we were still running at the end as were cherub. We were however smoking quite badly hence why I made the decision to get the robot to the barrier asap so the link could be pulled. As it turned out the smoking was our connectors from the battery packs. We suspected that the solenoid that we were using to brake the disc was shunted shut during one of the impacts which gave a direct short to the battery pack.
Not to worry, we didn't have any more fights that day so could take it easy replacing the wiring inside the robot and giving everything a good once over. We found out later that day that our first head to head was against cherub. An older machine but it was simple and had an exceptionally thick front armour plate which would be tough to get through.
We charged up the batteries ready for the next day and then headed back to the hotel stopping off at a harvester on the way to grab something to eat.
Monday 6th of December
You'll notice on the episode that Sarah disappears from the team leaving just Laurence and I to continue in our 1 on 1 matches. Unfortunately she caught severe food poisoning from the Harvester that meant that she spent the remainder of our time in Glasgow in the hotel room. I'm not saying don't eat at a Harvester but I won't ever be eating at a Harvester again.
That morning in the pits wasn't that eventful bar losing a team member. We loaded PP3D into the arena. When I was arming PP3D up one of the removeable links sparked and the disc tried to spin. Thankfully the locking bar stopped this from happening and we weren't in any danger as we were behind the arena barrier. The link socked was fried. Thankfully this was only one of the battery pack / solenoid systems so we decided to run the robot off one battery pack and pull the other out. As it turns out, it seems as though the shorting from the melee had caused the solenoid to stick. When we inserted the link the disc was essentially on. On to the battle! Once again I don't remember much apart from cherub ending up in the claws of dead metal allowing us to get up to full speed which then resulted in one of the biggest collisions in Robot Wars history with Cherub which stopped the match.
It was at that point that I realised that we had hit them so hard that they had then smacked the side of the arena and removed the side panel. We flew clean across the arena and came down hard. So hard that even with a pneumatic tyre and shock mounting on the motor we managed to break the gearbox plate which supported the motor. The removeable link for our weapon also came out. We still had power and control to the drive motors but with one not supporting it's weight it was spinning in circles. Thankfully for us, Cherub were also immobilised on their back.
We were given the option to go straight to a judges decision but Cherub were keen to continue the fight. I could already foresee what would happen but we weren't going to pull out and offer the win on a plate! So we restarted for 10 seconds of wheels spinning and not much else. The decision was the judges to make and they went for Cherub. I'll freely admit that I thought we had it in the bag as we had caused all the damage that ended with us both being immobilised but such is Robot Wars! We accepted the defeat and then rushed to get back to the pits to find out what we would have to do to get PP3D back in the arena.
Our next fight was with Behemoth and we had only 2 hours to get PP3D back together. Unfortunately for us our 2 hour rebuild window coincided with lunch and we needed the welder in the pits to carry out some welding for us but he was away in the canteen. Another thing not publicised is that while Laurence and I could happily weld PP3D up we weren't allowed to and had to get the production teams welder to do it for us.
In the mean time we stripped and repaired the drive motors, sorted out the removeable link issue, changed out a solenoid, tightened the weapon motor belt, pumped up the tyres and got PP3D back together. Words cannot express how frantic those two hours were with the crew coming up to us asking how long we were going to be and camera teams getting in our way trying to film interviews beside us. I was only too well aware that if PP3D wasn't back together then we would be out of the competition. It didn't help as well that we were down a team member through no fault of our own (thanks Harvester!). Through some miracle Laurence and I got PP3D back together and we were to the arena side with only minutes to spare. We hadn't had a chance to think about how we were going to fight Behemoth but that wasn't going to stop us.
PP3D span up we went in for the attack and got a few good hits on Behemoth. Then I lost forward drive. You'll notice that PP3D goes backwards towards the side wall before being smacked around by Shunt. At that point I could only go backwards. We figured out afterwards this was due to a loose servo wire on our drive electronics. Then we got a lovely fireworks display which was a real sight to behold from our point of view! We turned off the disc before Shunt had some more fun. We turned it back on and still had sparks. At that point the fight was over for us. Unfortunately the etek motor powering our disc had sheered it's mounting points and the terminal for the motor was shorting onto the chassis. Essentially we were welding using our motor and batteries! A well deserved win to the Behemoth guys and they did take a bit of a damage so they didn't escape PP3D completely unscathed.
Another robot that didn't make it out unscathed was Shunt. We took a massive section out of his hardox scoop which we were lucky enough to get to keep. We gave the house robot guys some 3mm hardox to allow them to patch the damage up.
We got back to the pits and figured out what had happened and we couldn't quite believe it. Thanks to our kickstarter backers we had a spare weapon motor and one more fight to go. I'll admit the thought crossed my mind that if we hadn't had funding from our backers then I may have been tempted to throw in the towel as the BBC only gives the teams £500 towards the costs of the robots. We had long since blown through that sum. But as our backers had put their faith in us there was no way I was going to let them down. We started repairing PP3D again albeit at a much slower pace as both Laurence and I were completely exhausted both mentally and physically. Our fight with Eruption wasn't scheduled to take place until the next day.
We left the hanger feeling down that our competition was essentially over as there was no way we could progress to the final.
Tuesday 7th of December
Over breakfast I had a sudden realisation. There was a way we could progress to the final! It required two things to happen. Behemoth to beat Cherub in their head to head and for us to damage eruption in our match so badly that they couldn't repair the robot in time to get back into the competition. With the way the points were stacked, if both these things happened then we would be back in the final and back into the competition.
Suddenly we had a new fire lit. We were still down a team member but had a new goal. No roboteer likes to go into the arena with the sole aim of completely destroying your opponent but this was our last shot and we were going to do our best to make it happen.
Going into the fight we had a brand new weapon motor, new solenoids, switched out out drive motors again and gave everything a good once over. Both teams were nervous as Eruption were only too well aware of our plan and we needed PP3D to work perfectly.
Unfortunately it wasn't to be. I don't remember much about the battle but I do remember watching as we were thrown out of the arena and all credit to Eruption they handled PP3D well!
So that was us out of the competition. We had given it our best but it just wasn't good enough. Initially I was disappointed that we hadn't got further especially with our backers behind us but at the end of the day, we had put on a good show.
PP3D is back together and running albeit with a bent chassis and other battle scars. As far as our plans for series 3 go, PP3D won't be taking part. Preparing a robot for Robot Wars takes up an incredible amount of time especially with the short time given to teams to prepare. With two series run in quick succession a lot of jobs that I had to do around our small holding were put on hold and now I need to get them done. Secondly, Sarah and I are getting married shortly after filming for series 3 takes place. In short, I will have other things on my mind at that point!
If there is a series 4 then I'm sure we will return. Will PP3D return? Right now we aren't sure. The design needs more work and we just aren't sure if it's truly a competition winning machine. We do have a couple of ideas which are perhaps even more insane and powerful than PP3D.