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"Derek didn't fare well in competition, but the judges said it was beautifully constructed ... and the winner is Derek! A surprise for many perhaps..."
Jonathan Pearce announcing the Series 5 Best Engineered Award

Derek (also known as Derek! and Derek 2 in Series 6) was a competitor in Series 5 and 6 of Robot Wars. It was knocked in the first round in both of its appearances.

In Series 5, Derek! surprised many by winning the award for the Best Engineered robot that year, beating out robots which advanced further into the competition, including Dominator 2 which defeated it in the competition.

Design[]

Derek

Official shot of Derek in Series 5

Derek was a four-wheel driven box-pyramid shaped robot with an emphasis on personalised engineering. Derek's chassis was made of machined aluminium and each piece was professionally milled using a CNC lathe. This provided thick and customised armour, albeit hard to replace due to its expense. For Series 5, Derek's weapons were a pneumatic forklift-style flipper, and a very small spinning disc at the rear. The team also intended to use argon gas to power the flipper, but had to switch to conventional CO2 to comply with the Robot Wars rules. The robot was powered by two industrial 750W electric motors, giving a top speed of 13mph.

Derek 2 Arena

Derek 2 in the arena

For Series 6, the team decided to build a vertical spinner as their new weapon after seeing 259's incredible performance at the qualifiers. This spinner was powered by a LEM, one of the most powerful motors available at the time. Derek! originally used a chain drive system but the team switched this out for a more reliable geared transmission system on Derek 2. Although Derek 2 now boasted powerful weaponry to compliment its thick shell, the robot could not self-right and it was immobilised relatively easily in both of its appearances.

Etymology[]

The name Derek was chosen by team member Andy Groves, who chose the name at random, with even the team having no clear reason behind the name choice.

"We needed a name for our robot, all the really good ones had been used like Razor, DrillaKilla, Chaos II, so we had to think really hard to get a good name that would express what our robot was all about ... Andy Groves came up with it "DEREK" and to this day we don't know why and probably never will."
— Carl Morris on the robot's name[1]

The Team[]

"Early in 1999 a brief conversation took place during coffee before we started work, about a new television program on BBC 2 the night before. The Program was Robot Wars, Frank asked enthusiastically if anyone had watched it? We were all big kids at heart of course we watched it and little did we realise the conversation would be the start of several years' of excitement and hard work for a few of us. Frank suggested that we give it a go ourselves as it looked like fun! So Ian sent off for the application forms and we started hanging around after work talking about different designs we had seen on the shows, trying to come up with a design for our robot."
— Carl Morris on entering Robot Wars

Derek was entered by work colleagues of Ventcroft, a cable manufacturing company in Runcorn, Cheshire. Frank Rotheram owned the company and provided funding for the robot, while son Ian and colleagues Andrew Groves and Carl Morris also worked on the machine[2]. Ian Rotheram had previously attempted to qualify for Robot Wars with Vampyre, although had mentioned a robot called Derek as early as August 1999[3].

Qualification[]

Building of the robot began in 1999, and the robot first entered the Series 3 auditions.

DerekConstruction

Derek during construction

At the Series 3 auditions, Derek was still unfinished, and did not have a full armour shell. Despite this, it did well at the qualifiers, but the producers told the team they would have to finish the robot for them to be considered. The robot was damaged whilst driving in a pub car park shortly after the auditions, so the team failed to qualify for Series 3.

"it performed reasonably well destroying breeze block walls and running up and down ramps but the organisers told us to go home and finish DEREK off and put some body armour on it as all it was at that time was an open box. So what did we do? - well we went to the pub of course.... after some well deserved refreshments we decided to head home and redesign it but before we left the pub Andy Groves wanted a go driving DEREK and against Ian's better judgment he had a go. I can still see it now, the pub landlord was having a quiet pint out on the veranda overlooking the car park and Andy let rip with DEREK..... There was a bang and a little mini metro that was sitting there minding its own business took a whack to one of it's wheels and nearly rolled into the next car, it's tyre just ballooned up into an egg shape and everyone except me and ANDY legged it to their car's. It was left to me and Andy to pick up this lump of steel, rubber and batteries and throw it into the back of Andy's Land rover Discovery and escape. I don't know what the landlord of the pub thought was happening but we did not give him chance to find out."
— Carl Morris on the Series 3 auditions[4]

Derek was developed over the next few months, but the team did not enter Series 4 because they were moving into a new factory at work[5].

Derek first attended the Manchester leg of the Series 5 qualifying tour in July 2001, where it fought to Bulldog Breed 3. It lost the battle very quickly after its battery connector came loose and it lost all power, but the judges felt it looked good and functioned well, so asked the team to also attend the Sheffield leg of the tour the following week[6]. Derek fought two battles at this event, one against DrillaKilla, then against Black Knight and S.M.I.D.S.Y.. It won its battle against DrillaKilla, but lost the other to S.M.I.D.S.Y..

"Everyone's friendly, the guy with Black Knight (another Steve Parker from Doncaster!) says he doesn't mind being trashed, we agree a plan with Derek for us to hold the knight's head in SMIDSY's Jaws whilst they cut it up. :) The bout starts, (it all goes a bit fuzzy now) and basically Black Knight gets walloped by us both, Shunt joins in, we have a scrap with Derek, and clout it with the disk. It jars Derek so badly that its safety link falls out :) Black Knight is finished off by Shunt who then starts scrapping with us."
— The S.M.I.D.S.Y. website on the qualifier with Derek! and Black Knight[7]
Derek s6 qual

Derek at the Sixth Wars qualifiers

Derekquals

The original Derek at the Series 6 qualifiers

The original Derek fought Killer Carrot 2 and Night Raider to qualify for Series 6. Derek won the battle on a Judges' decision after Night Raider was quickly eliminated, and Derek then matched Killer Carrot 2 in a pushing stalemate[8].

"The fight started badly, Night Raider got wedged in the pits, once under way we ripped it's battery lead off and that was the end of it. Then we got stuck into Derek, we shoved him around, but neither of us were really putting on much of a show... We shoved him about, and then he got his lifter tine [sic] stuck in the polycarb... couldn't release, and sowe [sic] ended, us shoving him about, him lifting us to stop it, then not being able to move ... Judges decision to Derek, prettier Robot, Adam was hacked off, I was releived [sic]."
— Team Dangerous Vegetables website

The conversion from Derek to Derek 2 took place after the qualifier battle had already been won.

Robot History[]

Series 5[]

In the first round of the Fifth Wars, Derek! faced a tough draw against eleventh seed - and returning Semi-Finalist - Dominator 2.

"Flashy, with the lifting arm and rear-mounted spinning disc. Made from aluminium, steel polypropane and stainless steel. Two 750 Watt industrial motors generate 13 miles-per hour top speeds, lack of experience though!"
— Jonathan Pearce introduces Derek!

At the start of the battle, Dominator 2 charged at Derek!, which drove to the arena centre to avoid it. Both machines stopped and turned to face each other, and drove at each other. Before Dominator 2 could fire the axe, Derek! tried getting its front lifter under Dominator 2's front. Dominator 2 fired the axe, but Derek! pushed against Dominator 2's front, causing the axe to miss. Dominator 2 reversed against Derek!'s side, so Derek! reversed. Dominator 2 turned around and drove at the back of Derek!, but Derek! drove forwards to avoid it. Dominator 2 turned around and drove back at Derek!, which drove forwards, and turned to face Dominator 2. Derek! tried to get its lifter under Dominator 2's front, but couldn't get underneath, and Dominator 2 fired the axe, but missed. Derek! reversed towards an empty CPZ, and Dominator 2 drove at its side. However, as it tried to line up the axe, Sgt. Bash drove up the arena to the empty CPZ, pushing past Dominator 2, which gave Derek! the chance to drive away. Dominator 2 followed and quickly caught up, getting under Derek! and firing the axe, but Derek!'s shape meant the axe handle hit the top of the robot then slid off the side. As Dominator 2 pushed Derek!, Derek!'s forklift weapon dug into the wooden floor and ripped the panel.

"Derek!, digging into the arena floor. Well, we don't take kindly to that Derek, with your little fangs, cutting up our lovely carpet as it were! Dominator 2, you are now on a mission for us then! To tidy things up!"
— Jonathan Pearce
Dominator 2 derek

Dominator 2 and Shunt assail Derek

Derek bash shunt

Derek is attacked by Sgt. Bash and Shunt

Dominator 2 could not push Derek! as its forklift was dug into the floor, so it pushed past, letting Derek! slide off the front wedge. Dominator 2 got at Derek!'s side, but before it could fire the axe, Derek! turned to use its rear disc on Dominator 2's side. Dominator 2 reversed and struck Derek! with the axe, then pushed it into the top arena wall. Derek! reversed away, but Dominator 2 kept chasing it, and soon caught up. Derek! drove away from the wall, but Dominator 2 kept right beside it as it tried to get away. Dominator 2 got side-by-side with Derek! and tried pushing it, but in doing so, it drove into Shunt, giving Derek! a chance to get away. Derek! turned, and Dominator 2 reversed into it, avoiding the lifter, and backed Derek! into the arena side wall by Shunt's CPZ, where Derek! broke down completely. Derek! was pinned against the wall by Shunt and Dominator 2, with them both landing axe blows. Dominator 2 drove away, and Refbot closed in and counted out the immobilised Derek, eliminating it from the competition. Sergeant Bash and Shunt surrounded Derek!, with Shunt puncturing the top with his axe.

"Derek!, you're out. In comes Shunt. In comes Sgt Bash. Through go Dominator 2"
— Jonathan Pearce at the end of the battle

After the battle, the team discovered that their battery connectors had overheated when the spinning disc hit the floor (when Derek drove up Dominator 2's wedge, which was cut from the televised version) and caused a surge of current; this ultimately led to its immobilisation.

Despite its early exit from the competition, Derek! received the Best Engineered Robot Award at the end of the series.

"...we took great pride later that year when Derek was given the 'Best Engineered Robot Award' for the series final competition, which said something about the quality of our work which we carry through into our professional life."
— Carl Morris on Tydraig.com[9]

Series 6[]

Derek 2 fought in the final Heat of the Sixth Wars. In the first round, it went up against long-time Robot Wars veteran Behemoth, former Extreme 1 Annihilator champion Disc-O-Inferno and series newcomer Tridentate.

Philippa Forrester: "Disc-O-Inferno's disc 1000rpm, yours 3000rpm."
Ian Rotheram: "There's going to be a few sparks, I think."
— Interview with the Derek 2 team
Behemoth derek 2

Behemoth turns Derek 2 over in the opening seconds

Behemoth Derek 2 Flame Pit

Derek 2 lies immobile near the Flame Pit as Behemoth struggles to drive away following a hit from Disc-O-Inferno

Tridentate derek 2 floor flipper

The Floor Flipper tosses Derek 2 and Tridentate simultaneously

Tridentate behemoth shunt pit

Derek 2 (centre) finishes the battle in the pit

Derek 2 spun its blade up on the attack, but its own attack saw it ride up the front of Behemoth allowing the veteran to flip it over. After it was knocked back over by a weapon-to-weapon collision with Disc-O-Inferno, Derek 2 landed back on its wheels.Derek 2 then charged into Behemoth's side, cutting into the side pods of Behemoth and helping to disable half of its drive system in collaboration with Disc-O-Inferno. However despite causing critical damage to Behemoth, Derek 2 was then hit side-on by Disc-O-Inferno, being thrown into the arena side wall and becoming immobile.

Derek 2 was later counted out by Refbot and was declared the first to fall in the battle. At the end of the battle it was placed on the Floor Flipper, along with the similarly immobile Tridentate, with both competitors being thrown across the arena simultaneously. Derek 2 was briefly taken into Sir Killalot's CPZ, before the latter eventually pushed it into the pit to join Behemoth and Tridentate. With this, Derek 2 was eliminated from the Sixth Wars along with Tridentate.

Results[]

DEREK! - RESULTS
Series 5
The Fifth Wars - UK Championship
Heat, Round 1
Heat F, Eliminator vs. Dominator 2 (11) Lost
DEREK 2 - RESULTS
Series 6
The Sixth Wars - UK Championship
Heat, Round 1
Heat L, Round 1 vs. Behemoth, Disc-O-Inferno, Tridentate Eliminated

Wins/Losses[]

  • Wins: 0
  • Losses: 2

Series Record[]

Series Derek Series Record
The First Wars Did not enter
The Second Wars Did not enter
The Third Wars Failed to qualify
The Fourth Wars Failed to qualify with Vampyre
The Fifth Wars Heat, Round 1
The Sixth Wars Heat, Round 1
The Seventh Wars Did not enter
Series 8 Did not enter
Series 9 Did not enter
Series 10 Did not enter

Gallery[]

Outside Robot Wars[]

" It is in retirement now in my granddaughter's attic playroom and Derek has kindly donated some of its parts to many pieces of our production equipment over the years"
— Carl Morris on Derek after Series 6[10]

After its appearances on Robot Wars, Derek was retired and kept in the home of Carl Morris' young granddaughter, while other parts of Derek were returned to the team's engineering projects.

Trivia[]

"during one series of recordings I was on holiday and unavailable so Ian got a cardboard cut-out version of me made to take with them to the recording. The cut-out was kidnapped by an Italian TV presenter I believe for some sumo wrestling bouts but he later gave us it back, I must have been too tough for him…"
— Carl Morris on the cardboard cut-out of himself
  • For Series 5, team member Carl Morris could not attend filming, so instead a cardboard cut-out of him was taken to filming. This was supposedly hijacked by a presenter of the Italian dub of Robot Wars for a skit. (Interestingly, this is not the only time a team did this with a member, as Haardvark's team did the same thing in Series 3.)
  • Derek won its Best Engineered Award, becoming the only robot to win an award where the robot that defeated it was a nominee.
  • Both of Derek's battles featured a former semi-finalist who also finished as a runner-up in a side competition.
  • Both of Derek's battles featured Shunt as one of the House Robots and also involved it becoming immobilised and getting counted out by Refbot.
  • Killer Carrot 2, who Derek 2 beat in their Series 6 qualifier, appeared in the same heat as Derek 2 and both robots lost to Disc-O-Inferno in that heat.

References[]

External Links[]

Honours[]


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