Pain

Pain
Participation Information
UK Series	2
Team Information
Team Members	Jon Witte Pete Birch
From	Norwich
Other Entries	Spam (Series 6)
Robot Statistics
Weight	80.9kg
Dimensions	1.30m x 0.70m x 0.45m
Clearance	Zero
Top Speed	4mph
Power	12 V batteries (7Ah)
Drive	24V wheelchair motors
Weapons	Kinetic stabber
Statistics correct as of its most recent show/competition appearance, or if not applicable, qualification attempt.

"Tonight's slowest bot, the brainchild of two RAF pilots, who built Pain from parts gleamed from an uncle's farm. The motors come from windscreen wipers. It has chainsaw-driven cutting blades, and the front spike can punch through a 4mm aluminium deck plate!"

— Jonathan Pearce introduces Pain

Pain (also spelt as PaiN) was a tracked robot which entered Robot Wars: The Second Wars. Its solitary appearance on the show was cut shot by technical issues which prevented it from starting its initial Gauntlet run. Despite attempts to repair it, Pain could not start its second Gauntlet run either, and was eliminated after its team could not perform further repairs within the allotted time.

Design

"Pain was fairly quick & dirty, about 6 months in all but our time management sucked & I had to rush things at the end."

— Jon Witte on building Pain, Tectonic Robot Wars interview

Pain was a large, black box-shaped robot with tracks and armed with a front-mounted "kinetic stabber" - a pneumatic spike driven by sparks produced from a mix of oxygen and fuel. The "stabber" - which could lift at an angle of up to 80 degrees - was capable of punching through 4mm aluminium deck plate and mild steel pipes. Pain itself was also equipped with angle grinders at the sides and rear for extra defence, powered by windscreen wiper motors, and was made out of materials acquired from scrapyards and one of the team member's uncle's farm.

In competition, Pain's electronics proved to be its downfall, being both complex and unreliable enough to force its early exit. At 80.9kg, it also weighed 1.5kg over the original heavyweight limit.

"It's drive was from wheelchair motors driving tracks from a carrot machine which powered it at 4mph (apparently as I never saw it move). However I can safely say that Pain had some of the most complicated electronics around and Used a massive PIC. The speed controller was to be based upon MOSFETs but due to time they used relays."

— Oliver Steeples on Pain

The Team

The team consisted of Norwich-based former RAF pilots Jon Witte and Pete Birch. The team also attempted to enter Series 3 and 4 with Judge Mech and reached the second round of Series 6 with Spam.

"Saw the first series trailed on the Beeb and thought "Fun" - I'd decided I wanted a go about half way through episode 1."

— Jon Witte on entering Robot Wars

Qualification

"Well before the event I had heard rumours about Pain and it's weapon that they tried to ban! What sort of weapon? Well one that mixes fuel and oxygen in a cylinder and then sparks it firing out a pointed spike (it never worked in the end). It also had cutting disks around the side."

— Oliver Steeples on the reception to Pain

Pain attended the Series 2 rehearsals with no armour. At the rehearsals, Pain's chances was under scrutiny when the technical advisers questioned the legality of its gas-powered weapon. Despite this, Pain was successful in being selected to compete in the main series.

Robot History

Series 2

John Wittle explains Pain's weapon in Robot Wars Revealed

John Wittle attempts to rectify Pain's technical issues

Pain entered Heat E of the Second Wars, where it immediately ran into problems with its complex, yet unreliable internals. Much of John Wittle and Pete Birch's struggles to fix the machine were covered in Episode 5 of Robot Wars Revealed, where Wittle manually demonstrated the full length of the "kinetic stabber" weapon - taking technical consultant Mat Irvine by surprise.

Damage to the robot's front end, a broken pin, and a split right-hand track were all reported; the latter caused by the left side drive jamming up, and leaving it with no way of reversing. Rumours of Pain's Gauntlet run being delayed were confirmed by Wittle onscreen, who told Philippa Forrester that they had needed to create replacement electronics to replace the malfunctioned originals.

"...we've had a complete nightmare. All our electronics died, so we bodged up something so that we could at least drive around, and put them in a really stupid place. So now, we've got to get the case on before we start the motor, and the bit of string's not long enough, so we're getting another bit of string. If we get a little bit of a delay, we can at least get the cutting disc going and we can give the House Robots something to chew on."

— John Wittle, explaining in Robot Wars Revealed the technical issues with Pain's drive system

Pain fails to move in The Gauntlet

Pain's spike is sacrificed

In Heat E itself, Pain was said to be unable to receive transmission due to a break in the communications link. As it was due to start its first Gauntlet run, it was unable to move in any form, resulting in the team aborting the start and director Stuart McDonald ordering the run to be rescheduled.

Following this, it was discovered by the team that Pain's electrical system suffered a total failure, resulting in the creation of a substitute system on the spot. This was at the expense of the robot's "kinetic stabber", forcing it to carry on without its primary weapon. However, despite its team's efforts, Pain was still unable to move within the Gauntlet upon the start of its second attempt. The drive shafts had been damaged while the robot was being moved into the arena, leaving it immobilised despite visible movements from its inner front chain drives.

"Here we go, then... No, we don't, the pain in the main, is heading down the drain, I think! They can't get it started!"

— Jonathan Pearce as Pain fails to start The Gauntlet for the second time

The Pain team try desperately to repair their robot

The Pain team concede defeat

After this second delay, Witte and Birch were given five minutes to get their robot in working condition. The team frantically attempted to repair Pain for a third start, but ran out of time, and were forced to retire from the competition. Pain, having lost all functionality due to radio interference, was eliminated from The Second Wars as a result.

"We were utterly crap. Ran out of development time and couldn't fully test. I was sending RS232 from my laptop thru 40MHz gear to a PIC. Combination of motor noise/ cameras / HT lines outside / IC Engines / poor design drowned out my comms. Tried to bodge micro switches and servos to get moving, but ran out of time."

— Jon Witte describing to Oliver Steeples the cause of Pain's demise

Series Record

Series	Pain Series Record
The First Wars	Did not enter
The Second Wars	Heat, Gauntlet
The Third Wars	Failed to qualify with Judge Mech
The Fourth Wars	Failed to qualify with Judge Mech
The Fifth Wars	Withdrew from qualifiers with Spam
The Sixth Wars	Entered with Spam
The Seventh Wars	Did not enter
Series 8	Did not enter
Series 9	Did not enter
Series 10	Did not enter

Gallery

Pain's team with their machine and the aluminium plate punctured in testing

Pain's chassis

Pain's internals

External Links

• Pain build diary (archived)