Amok was a Dutch competitor robot that competed in Dutch Robot Wars: Series 2. Team captain Ysbrand Otjes built Amok with help from Mischa de Graaf of the PulverizeR team. The robot was unfinished when the team left for England, and took a further two days to complete on arrival, partially because Amok weighed 107kg after being completed. It lost in the first round due to a faulty safety link being used.
Design[]
Amok some time after its televised battle
It was a pointed wedge shaped robot with a chainsaw chain conveyor belt. This chain was not intended to cause damage, rather it intended to convey robots up onto Amok's body, and potentially out of the arena. However, it lacked a PWM relay system, so the weapon would start working automatically as soon as the robot was powered on.
Robot Wars staff found Amok's existing safety link to be too unsafe, so they, rather than Team Beyond Repair themselves, inserted their own safety link into Amok when entered the arena. The safety link had not been pushed in completely, and as such, it flew out of Amok the moment it hit the Disc of Doom, meaning Amok lost to Cyclone in Round 1, despite Cyclone having its own problems with its weapon.
- "To be fair, the thing was 7kg overweight, and the weapon turned on when you linked up. Also the link was beneath fairly sharp computer casing metal. So it's probably for the best. Had a lot of fun doing live events with it for a couple of years, and being in England as an actual contestant is still one of my most treasured memories!"
- — Ysbrand Otjes
The Team[]
Amok was entered by Team Beyond Repair, captained by Ysbrand Otjes, natively a resident of North Holland but was a student at HKU Media, Utrecht, at the time of Robot Wars. He was joined by Rick Jaspers for his televised appearance.
Ysbrand Otjes was also part of the PacifieR team in the ninth UK series of Robot Wars, prior to the robot's withdrawal.
Robot History[]
Dutch Series 2[]
Amok competed in Heat D, where it faced fellow newcomer Cyclone, whose spinner was not working.
Amok coasts into an angle grinder
Amok takes damage from Matilda
Amok charged in, attempting to ram Cyclone, but drove over the Disc of Doom. At this point, Amok's already unstable removable link came loose, leaving Amok immobilised in the CPZ, where Dead Metal cut into its chain. Dead Metal eventually pushed it clear of the CPZ, and near to an angle grinder, but Amok was not moving, and was counted out. It was thrown by the floor flipper and then assaulted by Matilda's flywheel, before Cyclone pushed Amok onto the top of the pit, and Matilda nudged it down.
Results[]
| AMOK - RESULTS | ||
| Series 2 | ||
| Dutch Championship Heat, Round 1 | ||
| Heat D, Round 1 | vs. Cyclone | Lost |
Wins/Losses[]
- Wins: 0
- Losses: 1
Series Record[]
Dutch Series[]
| Dutch Series | Amok Series Record |
|---|---|
| Series 1 | Did not enter |
| Series 2 | Heat, Round 1 |
UK Series[]
| Series | Amok Series Record |
|---|---|
| The First Wars | Did not enter |
| The Second Wars | Did not enter |
| The Third Wars | Did not enter |
| The Fourth Wars | Did not enter |
| The Fifth Wars | Did not enter |
| The Sixth Wars | Did not enter |
| The Seventh Wars | Did not enter |
| Series 8 | Did not enter |
| Series 9 | Withdrew with PacifieR |
| Series 10 | Did not enter |
Outside Robot Wars[]
Amok retired in Otjes' garden
Amok in June 2019
After Dutch Robot Wars finished, Amok competed in various events across the Netherlands for two years, before eventually being retired. Its electronics were reused in the middleweight robot Malice (which only participated in local events), and the robot's chassis was mounted up a tree in team captain Ysbrand Otjes' garden. Amok is still found in Otjes’ garden as of 2019.
Plans for a second version of Amok were in the pipeline for a potential third series of Dutch Robot Wars. The machine was planned to be called Amok:5sec, referring to the five seconds of action that the first Amok saw before it stopped working in the second series of the Dutch Wars. Amok:5sec was to be sleeker than its predecessor, and was going to feature headlights as well. Unfortunately, the Dutch Wars was cancelled before Amok:5sec could come to fruition, meaning the machine was never built[1].
Havoc at Mad Metal Machines event in 2009
A featherweight version of Amok was constructed in the mid-2000s during the Robot Wars hiatus, named Havoc. It featured the same chainsaw conveyor-belt type weaponry but doubled, combined with a revised wedge shape. Havoc would compete in various Dutch events as well as Mad Metal Machines in Germany.
Smok, the team's antweight
Smok, the team's antweight with its captain in 2002
Team Beyond Repair created an antweight sometime in 2002 called Smok in reference to its heavyweight. Smok is known to have fought one battle in one live event against several antweights such as Angelfire, PulverizeR, Antcrusher, War Ant and Twisted Midget.
Trivia[]
- During filming, Otjes donned a Jason Voorhees mask which was mistakenly called a Hannibal Lecter mask by one of the presenters.
References[]
External Links[]
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