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Flirty Skirty was a heavyweight robot that competed in Series 2 of Robot Wars, reaching the Arena stage. The team also entered Series 3 with Miss Ile and represented the Police in Extreme 1 with Shockwave.

Design[]

Flirty Skirty

Flirty Skirty in the gauntlet

Box-shaped, with yellow and black stripes, Flirty Skirty had an angle iron and aluminium chassis with a bodyshell made using material from a minibus, and was driven by two wheels powered by Volvo windscreen wiper motors. The motors, however, were not a perfect match for each other, and ran at slightly different speeds, causing driving problems. They also lacked power, giving Flirty Skirty a very slow top speed of just 2mph. Its main weapon was a compressed air pneumatic skirt on all four sides of the robot, which raised and lowered and was capable of lifting other robots. It narrowly weighed over then Heavyweight Limit. The robot was built over 8 weeks, at a cost of around £250[1].

The Team[]

"Three generations of a Stafford family are set to do battle mechanically - with a little help from Stafford College. ... All three became hooked when Richard, a pupil at Blessed William Howard, started to watch the cult programme. Victor's experience as a retired mechanical engineer was invaluable."
— Staffordshire Newsletter on the Flirty Skirty team

Flirty Skirty was entered by the Peter family from Baswich in Staffordshire. The team was captained by Richard Peter, who drove the robot, and competed with his father Albert and grandfather Victor. During construction, the team reached out to Stafford College for help with the electronics, and Martin Griffin, a technician in the electricity and electronics department, helped the team.

"...once we built it, we became stuck with the electrical side. It turned out to be far more complicated than we expected. ... Without his help, we could not have completed the project."
— Albert Peter, interviewed for the Staffordshire Newsletter[2]

The team would later compete in Series 3 with Miss Ile and Extreme 1 with Shockwave, but like Flirty Skirty, both those robots would lose their only battles.

Robot History[]

Series 2[]

Flirty Skirty competed in Heat L, the final heat of the Second Wars.

"Oh, now, look, that's the perfect fit for the death trap! And the right colours too, it matches!"
Jonathan Pearce commentating on Flirty Skirty becoming trapped by the Sentinel
FlirtySkirtyS2Gauntlet

Flirty Skirty tumbles into the pit

In the Gauntlet, Flirty Skirty chose the Sentinel route and slowly drove down it. It was held up by the arena spike, but managed to get past the Sentinel's spike, but was too slow to get past before the Sentinel moved and pushed Flirty Skirty behind it, a position where the team couldn't see their robot. It lowered its skirts, but this did not help when Sir Killalot came in, lifted it up, and dropped it in the pit. This was, however, more than enough to get through to the Sumo trial, where Flirty Skirty faced Dead Metal.

Albert Peter: " We've made a last minute modification to the robot, so, fingers crossed, we should be okay."
Philippa Forrester: " What's your last minute modification?"
Albert Peter: " We're gonna nail ourselves to the floorboards!"
— Flirty Skirty's plan to survive in the Sumo
Flirtyskirtysumo

Flirty Skirty survives for 10.43 seconds

It used spikes attached to the skirts to try and dig in to the Sumo platform, but Dead Metal backed off and rammed with enough force to overcome the grip they provided and pushed Flirty Skirty off. The spikes kept it on long enough to qualify for the arena though, where Flirty Skirty was drawn against Havoc.

FlirtySkirtyvsHavoc

Flirty Skirty is held by Sir Killalot

Havoc was considerably faster, and drove straight at Flirty Skirty twice before pushing it towards the PPZ. Flirty Skirty lifted its skirts, but this only lifted the front of Havoc up, and the drive wheels continued pushing Flirty Skirty into Sir Killalot. Sir Killalot got underneath Flirty Skirty's bodyshell with his lance, breaking the mountings and lifting the shell off by pushing the lance through the frame, before pushing the 'naked' Flirty Skirty towards the flame pit. Cease was called before it got there, but Flirty Skirty was deemed immobilised and eliminated.

"Up it goes...almost up...and off! Good gads, sir! You have disrobed Flirty Skirty!"
— Jonathan Pearce reacting to Sir Killalot's distinctly impolite treatment of the trapped robot

Results[]

FLIRTY SKIRTY - RESULTS
Series 2
The Second Wars - UK Championship
Heat, Arena Semi-Final
Heat L, Gauntlet 10.5m (2nd) Qualified
Heat L, Trial (Sumo) 10.63 Seconds (4th) Qualified
Heat L, Semi-Final vs. Havoc Lost

Wins/Losses[]

  • Wins: 0
  • Losses: 1

NOTE: Flirty Skirty's successful Gauntlet and Trial runs are not included

Series Record[]

Main Series Flirty Skirty Series Record
The First Wars Did not enter
The Second Wars Heat, Arena Semi-Final
The Third Wars Entered with Miss Ile
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 Did not enter
Series 10 Did not enter
Robot Wars Extreme Appearances
Series 1 Entered with Shockwave
Series 2 Did not enter

Trivia[]

  • To raise the money for the robot, Richard Peter took on two paper rounds[3].
  • Flirty Skirty was the first robot in Robot Wars ever to use side skirts.
    • It was also the only robot to use side skirts as a weapon instead of as a defensive feature.

References[]

Navigation[]

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