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"Let's see if the Deutsche dog's got real bite!"
Jonathan Pearce introduces Delldog in the UK version of the UK vs Germany Special

Delldog (also spelled as Dell Dog) was a German robot which competed in German Robot Wars and the UK vs Germany Special, also broadcast as part of Series 6 of the UK Robot Wars.

The robot's performances in both of its appearances were compromised by a malfunctioning spinning weapon; in its heat of the German Series, it lost in the first round to Hydrotec and Not Perfect, although it performed better in the UK vs Germany Special, reaching the second round before losing to Das Gepäck there.

Design[]

"Rotation without limits."
— The Delldog website
Delldog

Delldog in the UK vs Germany Special

Delldog was an invertible, circular-shaped robot with two pairs of driven wheels on the top and bottom. Around its silver and blue body was a flywheel rim, featuring two tips made of angle iron, each of which had spikes on three sides. The weapon weighed 25kg and rotated at 1,000rpm, meaning it delivered 13,500 Joules on impact, but frequently suffered from reliability issues with its own motor. To make up for this, Delldog would frequently use its four-wheel drive and 11mph top speed to ram and push other robots.

The robot was armoured in F53 aircraft aluminum alloy, and was powered by two 12 Volt Hawker Genesis batteries which drove 2 Bosch GPA 750 Watt motors, which gave a top speed of 11mph. The wheels, of which it had four on each side, were taken from scooters. The weapon was powered by a 4.5 horsepower Magmotor S28[1].

The Team[]

TeamDelldog

Team Delldog at the controls

Team Delldog comprised three team members from Homburg and Neukirchen in Germany. The team captain was Stephan Duhl, a computer scientist, who came up with the idea for Delldog as well as working on the electrics for the machine. Thomas Dietz was the chief mechanic and responsible for the build of the machine, while Susanne Kribelbauer, a student at the time, was credited for testing and designing the robot, as well as providing English support for the team[2].

Qualification[]

Delldog qualifiers

Delldog at the German series auditions

In order to qualify for the German series of Robot Wars, all German competitors were required to attend an inspection run by Derek Foxwell in May 2002, to receive safety advice, and pointers with the build. A relatively complete Delldog attended the event, albeit without paint or side armour. As German Robot Wars had fewer applicants than the number of spaces for competitors, Delldog was automatically accepted for the German series.

Robot History[]

German Series[]

Delldog faced Hydrotec and Not Perfect in its melee in the German series. During the pre-match standby, it was discovered that the weapon's locking mechanism was still on, so Delldog was driven over to the arena side where Derek Foxwell & team captain Stephan Duhl removed it.

"I to Thomas .. "test the swing ring" ... and then the shock... the swing ring didn't turn! Looking down... a safety bolt was still in the ring. Tommy and I each put one on independently and together we removed one without seeing the other. Susanne supports her from the cabin ... "STOP, HOLD ON" ... luckily Derek was standing there and canceled the start of the fight via radio. Then it got really embarrassing: ...open both garage doors ... drive the bot in and try for a minute to get the wedged bolt out. In the background you can hear the English presenters explaining our shameful act to the audience. As far as we know, there has never been a start aborted before.Tscha...there is always a first time. Later on TV we got off pretty well. Thanks to the data master and his team for the positive cut. The reality of this action was cruel!"
— Susanne Kreibelbauer on the Delldog website[3]
DerekFoxwellDellDog

Derek Foxwell works on Dell Dog

DellDogPit

Dell Dog is pitted in the first round

Once the battle began, Delldog spun up and hit Not Perfect. Its weapon motor began smoking, and the ring stopped spinning. After this, Delldg collided with Sir Killalot, causing it to bounce towards the pit. Hydrotec capitalised on this and gave Delldog a shove down, eliminating it from the competition.

"In our Mag engine, the collector (The part that picks up the current from the brushes and passes it on to the internal coil) has dissolved. However, we suspect that it happened in the clash with Sir Killalot .. because you see the DM smoke."
— Delldog on their broken weapon, on the German Roboteers Association[4]

Delldog also took part in the Germany vs England Special. This competition was also broadcast during Robot Wars: The Sixth Wars as the 'UK vs Germany Special'. In Round 1, it fought loanerbot, Dynamite. However, the team couldn't replace the burned out Magmotor, so it was forced to fight weaponless.

"Ah, right. That's handy. Er, no spinning ring with spikes then. Er, vulnerable when static. The robot absolutely defenseless now. Hmm."
— Jonathan Pearce after learning about the robot's broken weapon
Delldog dynamite

Delldog pushes Dynamite towards Dead Metal

Delldog was able to push Dynamite into Dead Metal. The House Robot sawed through Dynamite's shell and when it let go of it, it laid immobile. Dynamite was shredded by the House Robots, and Delldog was through to Round 2 to decide who would fight the British representative in the final.

There in the German qualifier for the final, Delldog faced Das Gepäck. Which was really a Dutch competitor, but was drafted in due to the lack of German competitor.

Sgt Bash Delldog

Delldog is stuck on Sgt. Bash's jaw

Das gepack delldog

Das Gepäck pits Delldog

At the start of the battle, both robots collided and Das Gepäck shoved Delldog into Mr. Psycho. Delldog escaped, but then Das Gepäck pushed it into Sgt. Bash. The House Robot buried his claw into Delldog, actually lifting it up. Das Gepäck pressed the pit release button as Mr. Psycho knocked Delldog off of Bash's claw with the hammer, then smashed it a few more times, before Refbot counted Delldog out of the competition. Once Delldog had been counted out, Das Gepäck pushed Delldog down the pit.

Results[]

DELLDOG - RESULTS
German Robot Wars
German Championship
Heats, Eliminator
Heat B, Eliminator vs. Hydrotec, Not Perfect Eliminated
Germany vs England Special
Representing Germany, Round 2
NOTE: This competition was also broadcast during UK Series 6
Round 1 vs. Dynamite (GER) Won
Round 2 vs. Das Gepäck (GER) Lost

Wins/Losses[]

  • Wins: 1
  • Losses: 2

Series Record[]

German Series Delldog Series Record
German Robot Wars Heat, Round 1
Germany vs England, Round 2

Gallery[]

Outside Robot Wars[]

DellDog 2004

Delldog at Roaming Robots 2004 in Liverpool

Delldog competed frequently at live events between 2003 and 2005, boasting a taller spinning ring with improved teeth, following its final appearance on Robot Wars. competed at Roaming Robots in the United Kingdom to not a lot of success, fighting robots such as Mute and Tough as Nails in the process.

Horus pits

Horus in the pits at the 2003 Dutch Robot Games

In 2003, The Delldog team would also build a second heavyweight named Horus. it was a long, blue box-shaped invertible shuffler, in a similar vain to fellow German competitor Ansgar 3. Horus would compete at the Dutch Robot Games in 2003, fighting only in non-competition rumbles against Black Hole and Snake Bite, both of which were won by the four-wheel drive pusher version of Black Hole[5].

Team Delldog would go onto compete until the late 2000s in the various Mad Metal Machines events hosted in Germany. They would compete in all three classes hosted at the time with a variety of machines including: Schnappi, a featherweight armed with a lifting arm. Gonzo, a Raptorweight four-wheeled boxy robot armed with two wedges on either end of the robot. Fozzie, another Raptorweight robot, near-identical to Gonzo but with no wedges, relying purely on ramming power which occassionally teamed up with Gonzo to compete as a clusterbot named Gonzo + Fozzie. Emma completed the lineup, being the smallest on the team, a two-wheel driven Antweight lifter. The team would see some slight success in these events, with all four competitors managing to reach an event final (sometimes more than once) although it is not known if any of them won an event outright.

References[]

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