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.
Construction
Origins 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.
Modifications
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. For the series Robot Wars Extreme II, Razer's rubber front wheels were replaced with metal ones bearing small spiked protrusions.
Whereas competitors in the first series of Robot Wars had largely featured passive weapons, the second series saw a greater number of robots—including the series champion, Panic Attack—using lifting and flipping weapons designed to overturn an opponent. Lewis and Scott noted that when Razer was overturned with its piercing arm fully upright, the robot was more than halfway towards naturally rolling back onto its wheels. Therefore, rather than equipping Razer with a powered mechanism for righting itself when inverted, two wings were attached to the arm. Tensioned via cables, the wings opened when the arm was fully raised, levering Razer back onto its wheels. The unique design provided Razer with a "victory salute"—raising its claw and wings whilst standing on its tail—but had the downside of putting the machine over the weight limit of . To redress the balance, approximately 450 holes were drilled in the robot's metalwork.
From series five of Robot Wars onwards, the weight limit for heavyweight competitors was increased to . 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 .
Combat history
Series 2–4 and BattleBots Razer made its debut in the fourth heat of series two of Robot Wars, which was viewed by almost six million people on BBC Two. It had been finished late the night before the recording. Radio interference caused Razer to be hard to control in the Gauntlet stage of the competition, but it successfully navigated the obstacle course and progressed to the Trial. This phase was a robotic football match, wherein Razer scored the first goal to reach the heat semi-final. Its opponent for this one-on-one battle was Inquisitor, a box-shaped robot equipped with a rotating flail. Whilst Razer made the stronger start, crumpling Inquisitor's flail support, the cush drives in its motors sheared after an impact on the arena floor. This rendered Razer immobile and ended a promising run. Despite its relatively early exit from the competition, Razer won the Best Design award for series two. After series two, Vincent Blood joined the Razer team after being taken up on his offer to create a basic website for Razer.
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. Its next fight was against Agrippa, which Razer defeated by crushing through its opponent's electrical system. Razer's next adversary, Tazbot, beat it after flipping it onto the arena saws which severed a cable and left Razer unable to self-right. 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. It then faced Rhino in the next round, losing after Rhino's spike pierced Razer's armour, breaking the starter solenoid and knocking the radio switch into the off position. This also sent Razer into an uncontrolled spin, requiring Lewis to enter the arena to manually power Razer down. Finally, Razer competed in the 13 robot Gigabot Rumble. After the time limit expired, five robots including Razer were still mobile and the result went to an audience vote. After the crowd voted in their favour, Razer became the 1999 Gigabot Rumble Champion.
From series three of Robot Wars, the Gauntlet and Trial stages of each heat were dropped, with the whole of the main competition formed around direct combat. Razer's first battle of the series was against Backstabber. Scott lowered Razer's arm into an extrusion on Backstabber, and Lewis pushed their opponent into the 'pit', an open hole in the arena floor. In the second round, despite causing damage to Aggrobot, Razer lost due to a mechanical failure: the valve which controls the direction of hydraulic fluid in the arm jammed, causing Razer's arm to raise to its full height and refuse to lower. With its rear wheels off the ground, Razer was weaponless and immobile, and eliminated early from the main competition once more. 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.