Fans of the BBC's Robot Wars television programme
were expected to flock to Glasgow for the start
of the show's UK tour.
Over the next month roboteers will be able
to see their favourite machines do battle at
eight different events.
Robot Wars has grown a huge cult audience and
since first being shown in the UK the programme
format has been sold to 20 countries around
the world.
The show pits amateur and professional robot
builders against each other, to see who can
design and build the machine which will do the
most damage to the opposition.
The BBC Two show
is hosted by Craig Charles who was in Glasgow
for the launch of the tour.
Carnage Appeal
He said: "I think
it appeals to people of all ages. The kids love
the house robots and they love the mayhem, the
carnage the destruction and the cartoon nature
of it all.
"Now, teenagers
like it because it's techie, it's educational
and adults like it. Well, for a start I like
it. I just think the ingenuity of it all is
awesome.
"We play Glasgow
here today and the amount of people that come,
the different kinds of people that come, all
over the country we'll see hundreds of thousands
of people and it never ceases to amaze me how
strong the show has become."
Anoraky Beginnings
He added: "I think
unashamedly the show was a bit anoraky when
it first started, but the number of different
kinds of people you have building robots now
- you have schools building them, you've got
companies, industries, building them and a lot
of fathers whose sons insist on them building
them."
Challengers pit
their creations against the house robots - many
of which are designed by Chris Reynolds.
He said: "The first
thing to start with is the weapons, deciding
what makes a weapon, a good destructive weapon.
Something that is really going to chew up the
opposition.
Destructive
Personalities
"After that it's
a matter of building a personality into them,
in the case of Sergeant Bash it's a military
fighting machine from the future and with Sir
Killalot it's an alien robot really.
"The personality
as far as the house robots are concerned are
very important."
He added: "Sometimes
we are accused of being the school bullies,
and maybe we are, but it's what make the programme
popular. A bit of destruction, which at the
end of the day, doesn't do anybody any harm.
It does a few bits of metal some harm."
The robots can
be quite costly to build, but the real cost
is in the time which the challengers spend on
them.
Mr Reynolds said:
"Don't talk about money. They are fairly expensive
to build, but it's mainly time and dedication
that goes into them more than money. A lot of
ingenuity and inventiveness."
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