This page gives you the information you need to know about the arenas that Roaming Robots have used in the past for all their Robot Wars related shows. They have maneufactured 3 in total, 2 for their live shows and 1 which is smaller and is still in use today for corporate usage. The first arena was a Hexagon which took a few months to design and was all an enclosed area, the 2nd combat arena is the one which is currently in use today and has a lot more effects and is more easier to construct.
Arena 1[]
The first ever Roaming Robots arena
The first ever Arena designed by Roaming Robots was in the shape of a Hexagon. It was designed to contain the fiercest of 100kg fighting robots and to suit any venue to provide entertainment whether the event was held indoors or outdoors and it was the setting of the trend for other robot arenas from future event organisers to follow. It was constructed in 2002 after John Findlay failed to qualify for Series 4 with Bannana-R-Armour as he felt he needed a place to test his robot, the arena not only provided entertainment in live shows but also was the perfect practising environment for roboteers that were about to take part on the TV Programme. The arena also travelled all over the UK and was even hired for the Dutch Robotic Games 2003 event over in Holland. Although the full configuration was in the shape of a Hexagon, it could be scaled down to a square shape as well, a good example of this was the FWSmash 2004 event and the event at Lakeside Shopping Centre organised by The Robot Zone.
Statistics[]
- Shape : Hexagon
- Size : 10m Point to Point
- Height off Ground : 0.5m
- Layers of Wood : 3
- Safety Screens : 6mm thick Polycarbonate Screens, 12 of these in total
- Roof : Builders Debris Catch-Netting (Could also be swapped for Tarpollen for outdoor events)
- Effects : A Pit and Floor Flipper
- Time to erect at an event : 14 Hours
- Weight : 2500kg
- Year Built : 2002
- Years in Use : 2002-2004
Arena Hazards[]
As mensioned in the stats, the first Roaming Robots arena had 2 hazards which provided extra entertainment for the audience of RRs shows and to keep the roboteers on their toes. It had the pit and the floor flipper
The Pit
The Pit
The pit was added as it is a notable hazard recognised from Robot Wars, it was static throughout the majority of Roaming Robots shows with the first arena but on a few occasions, it has been electrically operated by a button. When it was operated by a button, the pit at the start of a battle was covered up by a panel which was painted in yellow and black hazard stripes with a red border around the perimeter. When a competing robot pressed the pit-release button attached on the arena wall, the yellow and black panel would decend accompanied by the wailing of a siren revealing the pit. Any robot that was stupid enough to drive into the pit or got pushed in (whether of course the pit was static or button-operated) was out of the battle if they were stuck there for more than 10 seconds.
The Floor Flipper
The floor-flipper was a box-section steel arm which sat flush with the arena floor and was operated by low-pressure CO2, it wasn't necesarilly for throwing Heavyweight robots sky-high but was powerful enough to overturn one Heavyweight that crossed it but when it came to 12kg Featherweights, they would be thrown into the air.
Arena 2[]
The 2nd and Current Roaming Robots Arena
By the end of 2004, it was decided by the Roaming Robots crew that although the Hexagonal arena was still strong enough to survive combat conditions, it was time for it to retire, which of course meant that a new combat arena had to be built by Roaming Robots only that a few changes were to be made. The Hexagonal arena had the outer screens attached to the inner barriers but the new arena had its outer barriers spaced out from the inner ones which allowed flippers to throw their opponnents from the ring. More effects were also added to the new arena, was changed to the shape of a rectangle and also for the live shows was incorporated with pyrotechnic effects. The new arena was also built in a way so it is completely modular and can built to any shape or size from the 4m x 5m size for Featherweight only/Heavyweight Demo events to the full-scale configuration of 12m x 10m for the full on shows. Like the previous arena, it was also designed so it can withstand 100kg fighting machines and to suit any venue whether the event RR are holding their event indoors or outdoors. The arena was also the first to contain purpose-built house robots for their shows, namely Major Damage and Gripper.
Statistics[]
- Size : 10m x 12m
- Weight : 3.7 tons
- Number of Floor Sections : 16 (each one is modular)
- Height : 3.5m
- Height of Inner Walls : 0.5m
- Outer Arena Walls : 6mm Polycarbonate Screens (22 in total)
- Doors : Thick Steel
- Roof : Builder Debris Catch Netting (Could also be swapped for Tarpollen for outdoor events)
- Time to erect at an event : 6 Hours
- Take Down Time : 2.5 Hours
- Height of Arena off ground : 0.4m
- Number of Supporting Legs : 81
- Floor Battle Surface : MDF (64 Sheets of these in total)
- Amount of CO2 : 8kg for effects like the Pit, Floor Flipper, Angle Grinders, CO2 Jets and Arena Hammer
- Constructed : 2005
- Years in Use : 2005-Present
Arena Hazards[]
To add to the excitement of the show and to keep the roboteers on their toes, the arena was incorporated with hazards like the hexagonal arena only that more were added.
The Pit
The Pit
The pit is an arena hazard that all Robot Wars fans know of, it can play a vital role for a team to win a battle or championship. The pit at the start of a battle is all covered up, it is painted with red and yellow hazard stripes with a red border. Attached to the arena wall near the pit itself is a button in the form of a yellow tyre, to activate the pit a robot must hit the button and the yellow and black panel will decend along with sound of the pit siren and lighting system which will reveal the pit. When a robot gets pushed in or evenly stupidly drives in, an explosive located in the pit will go off and the unfortunate robot will be out of the battle or tournament if they are stuck there for more than 30 seconds or left in when cease is called. From 2005 - mid 2007, The pit was operated using an electric system but from mid 2007 onwards, it has been CO2 Powered.
The Floor Flipper
The Floor Flipper
The Floor Flipper is a panel in the arena floor which is also painted with black and yellow hazard stripes with a red border only that it is hinged. Beneath the flipper is a non-attached ram which is operated by 1000psi gas. If a dead or alive robot stays on the flipper for more than 4 seconds, the flippper will fire and launch 100kg Heavyweights across at full length of the arena, as for 12kg Featherweights, they fly considerably high, even out of the arena. When Roaming Robots used their old Hexagonal arena, a few crazy teams would stay on the flipper to be flipped just for the fun of it, but since 2005, the gas and flow-rate of the arena flipper has been upped so robots fly harder, if not out the arena itself.
CO2 Jets
The CO2 Jets are mainly just for entertainment but are never to be underestimated, they have stopped some well-known robots in their tracks. They shoot jets of CO2 gas from the arena floor and if a robot with no cover crosses them, their electronics can freeze and be shaken loose, have terminals shorted and all sorts, they can even make a robots armour brittle and easy to break.
Angle Grinders
One of the angle-grinders
Like the CO2 Jets, the Angle Grinders are mainly just for show but again should never be underestimated. There are 2 of them and they are little boxes painted in the black and yellow hazard stripes housing a pyrotechnic effect that each dish sparks out across the floor. Again they are just for show but they have been known to cause occasional fires.
The arena hammer
The Arena Hammer
The arena hammer made its debut at the beginning of 2006 and is not a hazard to be messed with. It is attached to the arena wall with a 30kg head and is powered by 2 x 80mm bore 450mm Stroke Pneumatic Rams. If a Heavyweight comes into contact with the hammer, the hammer will fire and leave its mark on the robot but Featherweights can recieve worser damage, it has even knocked a few safety links out of Heavyweights. From the 2008 Winter Tour onwards, it got removed due to Roaming Robots fitting the cages and the flippout zone.
There are 2 other hazards too which are the house robots, Gripper and Major Damage
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Upgrades[]
The second Roaming Robots arena has been the main one for providing the setup for big events like the Fighting Robots UK Championships and the Robot Rumble events and throughout its life has had upgrades added to it. For the 2006 UK Championships, it had been given shock-absorbant panels attached to all the walls for the spinner robots and some polycarbonate screens for the roof to add to the tarpollen as the event was being held outdoors. Unfortunatly, there was an incident at the event where to fight Scorpion, The Big Nipper team had fitted an anti-spinner scoop to their lifter to replace their claws, but one of the impacts from Scorpions disc hitting the scoop caused one of its own teeth to snap off and the tooth flew at 40mph up through the tarpollen roof which could have been fatal if it was an angle closer to the audience. The paintjob for the inner barriers has been changed in different ways but have always contained red, yellow and black for them. From the 2008 Winter Tour onwards, the arena had also been fitted with a flippout zone and a cage, the reason for this was because the flippers were getting too dominant as most of the fights always lasted about 4 seconds which was always considered boring for the audience. The cage was slotted into one half of the arena which made the inner-barriers higher whilst the Flippout zone was added to the other half of the arena. The Flippout zone was a platform between the inner and outer barriers that was the same level of height as the arena floor with there being a gate slotted into the arena barrier alongside the flippout zone, where if a robot got flipped out onto it, the gate would open and the robot would be given a 30 second oppertunity to drive back into the arena. However the flippout zone was removed after the Guildford event after robots which were low in height didn't give their drivers any indication to where their robot was after being flipped out which just resulted in the arena having 3/4s of it with walls that were a mix of Cage walls and the other quarter with just a space for robots to be thrown out and be out the battle which does change tactics for flipper robots about where to drive their opponent.