Qualifying 2002                                                                                                               Decimus - the Successor

In the aftermath of Robot Wars 2002......

Aside from a few scratches and deformations on the side panels, Maximus had escaped unscathed. The team had been concerned that Max would travel back to the school in several bin bags and a cardboard box.

The school was pleased to have Max back, and it was decided to feature him in the school’s summer production of   "Return to the Forbidden Planet".

However, his ball race rear ‘wheel’ was causing damage to the flooring of the stage, and the wooden floor of the hall, so he had to be a static display instead, much to the team’s disappointment.

His next appearance was set to be the school Open Evening on October 10^th, an event at which he had proved to be very popular in 2001.

After that.....we decided that the time had come to replace Max.
He was, after all, a Series 4 or 5 machine who had just tried to compete in a Series 6 contest.

Several new designs were discussed. 

We looked at Max's best attributes, which included a successful flywheel,
and a strong chassis and designed them into the new Robot concept.

Work began on designing Maximvs’s sucessor,
analysing Max’s weaknesses and strengths and
designing a faster, more capable machine.

This was given the working name of 'Decimus',
and in September 2002, the first drawings appeared.

(The first complete sketch of the ‘Decimvs’ concept)

However, all this came to an abrupt halt when we received a call from Mentorn......
They wanted to know if we would like to take part in 'Robot Wars - Extreme', and was Maximus ready for action?

Of course, we said 'yes', (but we had some work to do....!!)
The first thing was to source a better way of moving the flipper. 
Karl's dad, Mike, suggested 12 volt linear actuators.

Two of the many actuators we were offered - these were to replace
the poor window lifters and give us more power to self-right. 
We went for the black actuator - it would give us the best travelling distance,
and push the flipper out further.



(many thanks to Hollin Applications for the Actuators!)

The team sits and waits for the carnage to begin.

Phillipa is dazzled by Maximus.....

Niterider - a six wheeled ram-bot with flailing drill type thingy. 
"Makes a mess of aluminium" they warned us.

and Mr Nasty...a rather quick shiny box with a spike on the front.
Who were they most worried about? Us, it seems. 
They told Phillipa no less than four times that they were going for Maximus first.

Images from the first battle - courtesy of BBC Choice

As promised, Mr Nasty goes straight for Max

And pushes us into the sidewall

pokng holes into our aluminium along the way.

the thin side cover is bent out of shape

Refbot nudges us off the grinder

and checks that we are still active

which we are...until Nasty crushes our side panel onto a drive wheel

but by then Refbot is off to check on the broken-down Nitrider

Which Killalot is closing on

with the deadly claws

Niterider is counted out

And Killalot shows off...to extremes!

Niterider appears on the TV!

Mr Nasty was aiming to disable us by piercing our electronics, which he believed were under the rear cover.  However, all of the holes which were made in Max's shell were along the sides - where our electronics were!   He missed where he was aiming for, and hit the areas which he should have been targeting - weird?  At one point the eight inch steel spike scratched the paint off the surface of the speed controller box - how close a call was that?
Still, we survived.

Niterider's flailing thingy is a little worse for wear (it should be horizontal!). 
Note the Matilda'd area beside the wheel.

The team return from the arena after the first battle, unsure of what had happened.....

.....and we learn that Maximus is through to the next round! 
To celebrate, we cut off Andrew's head and placed it on top of the Robot.

The damage done by Mr Nasty when Max was crushed against the arena sidewall. 
The aluminium shell is pressing against the right drive wheel.

A few of the (seven) holes made by Mr Nasty's spike, and the unscathed back panel: 
1) The hole on the forward side panel missed our circuit board by inches. 
2) The hole at the rear actually continued right through a steel
chassis member and touched the side of our speed controller. 
The largest hole is our missing safety link cover.

The aluminium shell was lifted completely off the chassis at one point. Holes 3) and 4) can be seen.

Phillipa Forrester comes to interview us as we repair the damage.

Images from the second battle - courtesy of BBC Choice

Maximus enters the arena for the second time

Roobarb approaches, and we prepare to be flipped

Over we go

And the spikes,
which we needed to make the Srimech work,
become a liability

Roobarb kindly flips us forward

and the untried Srimech works!
Commentator Jonathon Pearce
became very confused as to what we were doing....?

Roobard rams us before the self-righting manoeuvre is completed

And flips us for all he's worth

again......

and again......

.....but Maximus is still going!

so Roobarb goes for the old 'outa the arena' flip

but finds that stainless steel is slippery stuff

Maximus is trapped by Shunt

And Mr Psycho pounds Max's shielding

Shuntcam sees the final blows

As Psycho's hammer stops the record-breaking disc

and then the huge claws grab the flipper

Refbot does the decent thing

But then there is the Drop Zone

where Maximus destroys a household cooker!

With the shell a little bent out of shape, Max is still relatively unharmed

even the mighty Psycho hammer can't dent his pride. 
Jonathon Pearce is impressed at the strength.

Craig Charles commiserates....

....but a good time was had by all!

The Roobarb team...through to the heat semi finals

Whilst Maximus gets ready to go home

Apparently we did do some damage to Roobarb....honest..if you look really, really close

Here....and here....these scratches

Max back on his trolley at the school....a little flatter than before. 
The steel spikes have been removed here to make him look a little less crooked.
The chassis, when examined, had suffered almost no damage at all.

Not long afterwards, we were contacted by a company which was
creating an advertising feature for Aycliffe Fabrications.
David Spensley came to the school, and was photgraphed with Maximus and the team.

Having a good knowledge of metallurgy,David was shocked by the amount of damage
that Max's shell had sustained, but was happy to offer his company's assistance with
Max's successor in 2003.

Many thanks for your continued support David!