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Eric Dickinson was a British roboteer and the builder of Series 1 competitor WYSIWYG. He was best known for his appearances as a Judge on the robot combat television series Robot Wars, and as a competitor in Robot Wars in America.

Robot Wars[]

"We have Eric Dickinson, the only British veteran of Robot Wars in America."
Jeremy Clarkson introduces Eric Dickinson's credentials
JudgesS1

Dickinson and his fellow judges are called upon

Eric Dickinson was active as a Judge for the first two series, where notably close decisions include Recyclopse vs Mortis, and Napalm vs Demolition Demon. He held this role in both Series 1 and 2, but was not seen on the show again from Series 3 onwards, with Martin Smith taking his place.

Eric's son, Matthew Dickinson, appeared as a contestant in Series 1, controlling the Stock Robot, Grunt, which fell in the trial stage of its heat and never fought in combat. It was never mentioned on the show that Matthew was related to Eric, perhaps to hide the fact that he wasn't a true contestant and was hired by the producers.

Outside Robot Wars[]

WYSIWYG1

WYSIWYG at the '96 American Robot Wars

Dickinson96

Dickinson during the 1996 American Robot Wars, with his robot, WYSIWYG

Dickinson was selected for the judging panel as the only British veteran from Robot Wars in the US, where he had competed with his robot, WYSIWYG, in the featherweight division. In the main competition, WYSIWYG was defeated by eventual champion, Wedge of Doom, however it did enter three more fights. The first was a grudge match against French robot Steel At Work, which it impressively won, given that its opponent was a heavyweight. The final two of WYSIWYG's battles were melees, the first a free-for-all battle, in which WYSIWYG was overturned about a minute it, and the second a team melee, WYSIWYG fighting for Team X, this time breaking down whilst stuck under another robot in a similar way to Cunning Plan and T.R.A.C.I.E. in the Grand Final of the First Wars. This marked the end of WYSIWYG's time in the US, leaving with a record of 1 win and 3 losses.

Eric's son, Daniel, currently owns the robot and has made plans to build a WYSIWYG 2, though the progress of it is unknown so far.[1]

Eric passed away in October 2013 after a long illness at the age of 80[2].

References[]

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