- "My only hope is that our team will make it very far, in other words, we’ll win!"
- — Michael Hanser's ambitions before his first fight (translated from Dutch)
Sniper was a heavyweight robot that competed in Dutch Robot Wars: Series 1. It performed reasonably well, winning its first two battles over MaxiMill and NEAT Machine before falling to Sater on a close Judge's decision.
Design[]
- "But it is a beautiful looking thing, this Sniper. It’s untested, but possibly stands a chance with its pneumatic flipper. The only thing is that it has one weak point, that being its own weight."
- — Eric Corton summarises Sniper (translated from Dutch)
Top view of Sniper
Sniper was a dome wedge-shaped robot designed to resemble an alligator. It was armed with a pneumatic flipper and rear mounted spikes. The spikes were designed to look like protruding sniper rifle barrels, which resulted in Sniper's name. The team took pride in Sniper's virtually impenetrable armour, which could take a hit from a claw hammer and remain completely unscathed. The flipper was powerful enough to throw robots over comfortably, boasting a total lifting capacity of almost 200kg, but Sniper was hindered by its wedge not lining up with the floor, and the robot's very slow top speed.
- "At the front it has a flip, which can lift almost 200 kilos. At the backside it used to have a lance, we had to remove it because of the regulations."
- — Michael Hanser before his first-round fight (translated from Dutch)
The rear spikes of Sniper
Sniper was originally equipped with a rear lance, but this had to be removed so that Sniper could fit within the weight limit (this is despite the fact Sniper's statistics board claims the robot weighed 89kg in total). Sniper also needed a brand-new baseplate to be made shortly before its debut battle, with its original baseplate being faulty.
- Bridget Maasland: "What was wrong with it then?"
- Michael Hanser: "A wrong onderschild (baseplate)."
- Bridget Maasland: "And this one has a proper baseplate?"
- Michael Hanser: "Yes, a good top armour too!"
- Bridget Maasland: "And you have a proper “frame”? (gesturing at the team's heads)"
- Michael Hanser: "...I hope so!"
- — The team reveal their issues with their baseplate just before the first round (translated from Dutch)
Qualification[]
Sniper was built ahead of the first Dutch series, appearing at the June 2001 Eindhoven rehearsals in an unpainted, but otherwise virtually complete state. A brief clip of the robot in this condition was shown in Robot Wars: The Kick-Off, which began with coverage of the rehearsals themselves. After passing all relevant auditions and tech checks, Sniper competed on the show, despite its late complications with its faulty baseplate and the weight limit. It is unknown whether Sniper made any sort of application for Dutch Series 2.
A robot named Sniper 1 was listed among the competitors planned to appear in German Robot Wars[1]. Although this entry is not directly confirmed to be the same entry as the Dutch competitor Sniper, this is a likely possibility, due to Michael Hanser's involvement with the German robot Reaper NP2 in UK Series 7, and the ongoing build of a "Sniper 2" successor for the same series. Nevertheless, Sniper 1 did not compete in the German series for unknown reasons.
Front view of Sniper when it failed to qualify for the Seventh Wars
Rear view of Sniper at the time of Series 7
The new version of Sniper was completed in 2003, boasting a more compact design and dual weaponry with its rear disc and forked flipping weapon. It attempted to enter the Seventh Wars but lost its qualifier battle and thus was not selected to compete. Instead, Michael Hanser entered Tartarus on behalf of its absent team, also representing Germany with Reaper NP2 under the captaincy of Bryan Cutler.
Robot History[]
Dutch Series 1[]
- Bridget Maasland: "Otherwise, is it very mobile? Is it easily maneuvrable, fast?"
- Michael Hanser: "I don’t know, I haven’t tried it out so…"
- Bridget Maasland: "You can’t be serious! You have to get into the arena any second now!"
- Michael Hanser: "I have not tried it yet!!"
- Bridget Maasland: "But don’t you want to win??"
- Michael Hanser: "I do… but the model was only just finished, we made a previous model and that turned out to malfunction."
- — The team reveal Sniper's untested nature due to their late issues with a faulty baseplate and struggles with the weight limit (translated from Dutch)
Sniper competed in Heat E, where it was drawn against MaxiMill in the first round. This would prove to be Sniper's first time being driven, with the robot being completely untested ahead of the first-round fight.
- "The windmill doesn’t seem to be working at all! But something in Sniper also seems to be not working properly, that being the flipper at the front."
- — Eric Corton (translated from Dutch)
Both robots learn of their broken weapons
Sniper becomes stuck over the pit
In the start of the battle, both machines started rather slowly. Sniper and MaxiMill both pushed into each other head-on, soon learning that neither would have the use of their weaponry throughout the battle, a deficit of Sniper's untested nature. Soon afterwards, in a driving error, Sniper got itself wedged on the pit, and MaxiMill pressed the pit release button.
- "MaxiMill changes the strategy and opens the pit, and well why, because of this! Look at that, Sniper is standing right at the edge of the pit! That was almost already the downfall of Sniper, can he manage to get out of there, yes he can, beautiful escape from Sniper..."
- — Eric Corton (translated from Dutch)
Sniper pushes MaxiMill into Sgt. Bash
Sniper pits MaxiMill
The pit descended underneath Sniper, but its long body prevented it from going down, and just managed to reverse away from danger. The pair continued by pushing each other around the arena, with Sniper at one point backing MaxiMill into the CPZ of Sgt. Bash. MaxiMill tried turning away from Sniper, but Sniper reversed, blocking its escape. Little else happened until MaxiMill reversed near the pit in the final stages of the fight. Sniper took full advantage of this, by shoving MaxiMill onto the edge and eventually down the pit of oblivion, in a move that the team claimed was within the final five seconds of the battle.
- Bridget Maasland: "An unexpected win!"
- Michael Hanser: "Yes, we did it."
- Bridget Maasland: "Wow, and what a win!"
- Michael Hanser: "Just in time, there were three, four second[s] left?"
- Johannes Zagers: "Two seconds before the end."
- Bridget Maasland: "A beautiful win."
- Michael Hanser: "And neat."
- Bridget Maasland: "I don't think we've seen it before in this series someone being driven into the pit so neatly."
- Michael Hanser: "That's due to [pats the top-left of Sniper] our good boy."
- — The Sniper team's claim that they pitted MaxiMill mere seconds before reaching a Judges' decision (Mech+ subtitles)
Sniper flips NEAT Machine over
In the next round, it faced World Championship competitor NEAT Machine. Sniper almost immediately went for the pit release tyre this time, while NEAT Machine slammed into Sniper with the axe. Sniper's response was to flip NEAT Machine over. Despite numerous, desperate attempts to self right with the axe, and with the tyre that was touching the ground, NEAT Machine was counted out by the Refbot, putting Sniper through to the Heat Final.
Sniper is rammed by Sater
Sniper holds Sater over the flame pit
There in the Heat Final, Sniper fought Sater for a place in the Grand Final. For the second battle in a row, Sniper's first tactic was to go for the pit release. Sater drove into the front of Sniper, but Sniper mistimed its flip. It then appeared to successfully draw Sater onto the flame pit and keep it there for a while. After Sater got away, the time ran out and the battle went to a Judge's decision, which went against Sniper.
Results[]
| SNIPER - RESULTS | ||
| Series 1 | ||
| Dutch Championship Heat Final | ||
| Heat E, Round 1 | vs. MaxiMill | Won |
| Heat E, Semi-Final | vs. NEAT Machine | Won |
| Heat E, Final | vs. Sater | Lost |
Wins/Losses[]
- Wins: 2
- Losses: 1
Series Record[]
Dutch Series[]
| Dutch Series | Sniper Series Record |
|---|---|
| Series 1 | Heat Final |
| Series 2 | Did not enter |
UK Series[]
| Series | Sniper 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 | Failed to qualify Entered with Tartarus and Reaper NP2 |
| Series 8 | Did not enter |
| Series 9 | Did not enter |
| Series 10 | Did not enter |
NOTE: A robot named Sniper 1 withdrew from the German series of Robot Wars, which may have been the same machine.
Trivia[]
- Had Sniper competed in the German and British series it reportedly attempted to qualify for, it would have joined Philipper as the only robot to appear in all three European variants of Robot Wars (and the only one to do so via domestic championships and no side events).
References[]
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