It starts back at the end of Series 6 on BBC2 in March 2002. Ratings were not as good for Series 6 and Extreme 2 as they had been for say Series 4, but many people would say this was due to how the shows got chopped around in the schedules, being replaced by sport, films or whatever the BBC felt like at the time. Some of Extreme 2 was never shown on terrestrial TV (only on digital and satellite) and this was at a time when very few people could receive digital TV. All this led to viewers missing the show, reducing the size of the audience, as even loyal fans got fed up with the repeated schedule changes.
Then a new lady controller joined the BBC, and to make her mark (as new controllers feel they have to) she chopped Robot Wars, and any other science type programs she didn't like (including Tomorrows World). So the Robot Wars show became available for sale, still being produced by the same production company (Mentorn).
There were several TV channels interested, but Five got the show because they wanted to change the format as little as possible - they seemed to understand the show, even though apparently they didn't have as much money as other channels. So Series 7 was filmed, and shown on Five.
Unfortunately Robot Wars was not as much of a success for Five as they had hoped. They wanted over 1 million viewers a show, but given they had then only (at the very best) 50% of the general public able to receive the channel, and thus only 50% of the 2 million viewing public who had still been watching on BBC2... The maths just don't add up! Towards the end of Series 7, viewing figures were down to only a few hundred thousand a show.
After Five dropped Robot Wars, we understand no other channels were interested. So Mentorn sold the rights to the "Robot Wars" brand name (trademark) back to it's american owner and the arena to another UK company. The american owner is an astute businessman and notoriously protective of the Robot Wars brand, wanting to maximise the revenue potential whenever it is used. Because of this it is much cheaper and easier for any new event or TV show to operate under a different name, therefore the "Robot Wars" show as we know it is unlikely to reappear soon (if ever).
But back to the arena. The UK company was Robot Arenas Ltd, which Ed Hoppitt from Team Storm was involved in along with a production company called Phantom Films. These guys tried to put on the "FRA World Championships" in Nottingham in late August 2004, filmed for satellite channel Challenge TV and using the full Robot Wars arena, new house robots, and teams from across the globe. Unfortunately for various reasons Phantom could not put on the show and the plug was pulled a week before the event was supposed to happen.
The Dutch were next to have a go in 2005. They tried to put on the "DRG European Championships" as part of a big computer gaming festival in Amsterdam. The problem that killed this event was outside the organisers control - the sponsor for the computer gaming festival pulled the plug on the venue only a couple of weeks beforehand, and without a venue the event could not (and obviously did not) happen.
So what has happened to all the robots and their builders? Because there is currently no TV show it is true that a few teams have lost interest. But many teams are still fighting; ever since Robot Wars took off there has been a strong "Live Event" scene with smaller weekend events being organised regularly around the country. As well as the ever popular "as seen on TV" 100kg heavyweight class machines, events regularly feature the lighter but no less exciting 12kg featherweight class machines, which can run unrestricted weaponry (including spinning discs!) in the mobile arenas. These events are more popular than ever, attracting a new audience amongst those too young to have watched Robot Wars on TV first time around. If you're a robot fan and you've not been to one of these events, you are seriously missing out!
Notable organisers of such events are Roaming Robots and XFM (Extreme Fighting Machines), but there are also several others. A calendar of upcoming events is maintained on the website of what is now the European holder of the rules and regulations for robotic combat - the FRA (Fighting Robot Association) - there's also the FRA forum there which has replaced the old Robot Wars forum, so pay it a visit if you want to talk about robots!
So are there any BIG events on the horizon for 2006? YES! Roaming Robots are now publicly advertising a UK Championships on 26th-28th August 2006. There are no details as yet (other than the arena will be Class 2, allowing some spinners) but we have a lot of faith in the Roaming Robots organisation and hopefully 2006 will be the year that a big event happens again!
Update 2016 - Well at long last Robot Wars is due to return to TV - read our statement on Entering Robot Wars 2016.

Do you have %&#@$+ for sale?
We do have some items for sale, see our For Sale page, and follow the instructions there. If it's not up on the For Sale page then we don't have any of them for sale, so please don't waste both your and our time asking us!

Have you got any free kart tyres?
Read the Kart Tyres page - as of 24/4/02, we can no longer offer free kart tyres. Sometimes we do have a few tyres cleared out from Tornado's own stock - the only charge for these is the postage - see our For Sale page.

Can you design for me/build me/give me designs for speed controllers?
Unfortunately not. Again time is a problem, but so also is the investment in our design - it took a lot of work, and we don't just want to give it away! The parts are expensive also, so us building controllers for you is not going to happen. The electronics knowledge required to properly design speed controllers is substantial (remember Dave has a masters degree) and we haven't got the time to teach you how to do it - if you want to know how, go to university!

Can you design me a spinning disc weapon?
Although Bryan designed our spinning weapons, he cannot afford the time to design one for everyone, sorry! It takes a lot of time to design one properly, and we all work full time and barely have enough spare time to work on Tornado.

Can we design a robot for you, or build you a robot?
Sorry, we all work full time and we have barely enough time to work on Tornado, let alone build or design robots for other people.

How do I charge SLA batteries?
See our Recommended Batteries page, under "How do I charge my batteries?"

What gear ratio does Tornado use?
17.5:1 - See our Specs and Technical Info page.

Can Tornado come to your event?
Possibly - have a look here. Bear in mind there are a huge number of events on already, and if yours clashes with an established event, we will probably attend the established one. We all work full time and getting to events during the week can be difficult. We can't guarantee to come to every event either, we do have lives outside of building and fighting robots!

What motors does Tornado use?
Tornado uses Bosch 24V 750W GPA motors, and we run them at 36V - See our Specs and Technical Info page. Technobots is the cheapest place to buy them.

What Interchangeable weapons does Tornado have?
Currently we have five - small 7kg spinning disc, Spiked Scoop, Fixed Spike, Electric Lifter and large vertical spinning bar. By Robot Wars rules, the Spiked Scoop was illegal, so for Series 7 we fitted a chain flail into its centre. The electric lifter was used in Series 7 but did not prove very sucessful. One of our most famous weapons is the ACW (Anti Crusher Weapon) - again the Robot Wars rules made this illegal for Series 7, so this was adapted into the large vertical spinning bar (which has never been seen on TV). Two weapons we built in the past were deemed illegal by Mentorn's technical crew - these were the ASW (Anti Spinner Weapon) and AAW (Anti Axe Weapon). See our Specs and Technical Info page for more information.

Doesn't Tornado burn out its Bosch motors regularly?
No! We have eight Bosch motors, six of which are in a working condition at the moment. One that doesn't work is the one we burnt out in Series 4 against Wheely Big Cheese, and is the one everyone knows about! The other has a cracked magnet (Andrew dropped it at Debenham) and the armature has moved on the shaft (we had a lot of trouble removing the pinion!), but we do have a spare magnet and expect to fix this motor at some point. Four out of our six working motors have been rewound, and this is because the insulation between the armature windings and motor case has broken down due to vibration, making the speed controller output appear on Tornado's chassis, causing massive radio interference. If you see smoke from Tornado, it's almost always caused by the tyres wheelspinning - Tornado has that much power!

Did Tornado cheat in the Series 6 final?
Absolutely not. We wouldn't knowingly enter a battle if we knew we were breaking the rules, and if we won a fight by breaking the rules in the fight, we wouldn't willingly accept victory. Our Anti Crusher Weapon had been cleared by Mentorn's technical crew, as had the other weapons we used in Series 6, as they all had to be declared at the start of the filming. The Anti Crusher Weapon totally complies with the Robot Wars rules (as they stood in Series 6) - we would not have been allowed to use it if it did not!
The rules allow "interchangable weapons and body panels" (8.1.1), and a 100kg maximum weight limit (9.1.1). They state that "If interchangeable panels and/or weapons are used, the weight is measured with the heaviest set-up in place." (9.1.4), and "Overall length must not exceed 2 metres. Overall width must not exceed 1.4 metres." (9.2.1). We have always submitted Tornado with its heaviest setup in place, and made sure that all the weapons configurations come in below 100kg. The Anti Crusher weapon is 1.35m wide, and about 1.6m long. It just happens that whoever designed the pit made it about 1m x 1m... (Rules are quoted from the Series 6/2002 Robot Wars contract, section numbers may differ in other copies of the rules, but the rules themselves are the same!) We should know the rules well, we have been doing this for a little while now! All we have done is to take advantage of a particular area of the rules, in a similar way to Gemini did with the clusterbot rule, or Anarchy with it's massive weight advantage as a walker.
Also, let me quote from a couple of posts on the Robot Wars Forum by (then) Razer team member Vinny Blood, from the thread "WHAT A FINAL!!!!! (BEWARE-SUPER SPOILERS!!!)"):
It was a great final, and as Tornado could drive off the pit after the fight had stopped they deserved the win. We have no problem with the cage/disc device either, good to see them use a proper, aggressive weapon rather than a passive wedge which was supposedly outlawed back in Series 3. Well done to Andrew, Brian and Dave (snip...editor) We were happy with the result (snip...editor) Goes to show you can't win them all - just most of them! (Saturday, October 5, 2002 - 12:22 am)
I've had a lot of fan mail on the subject of Tornado's anti-Razer device - most of which brands them as cheats. I'd just like to point out that their interchangeable weaponry was all declared at the weigh in. It was OK'd by the technical crew and so they can't be 'cheats'. (snip...editor) (Friday, October 11, 2002 - 09:52 am)
We do however agree that Interchangeable Weapons are a contentious area. What exactly makes for an interchangeable weapon or body panel is not perfectly clear, although we do now know that purely defensive additions are not allowed - our Anti Spinner and Anti Axe Weapons were disallowed at the filming by Mentorn's technical crew, for (in their view) being purely defensive.
If you still disagree, build yourself a robot, and take us on in the arena!

How do you use a computer power supply to charge SLA batteries?
Connecting computer power supplies together in the required fashion requires quite a bit of modification to the supplies themselves. If this is done incorrectly it can make the supplies dangerous from a shock hazard point of view. You will also need to add further electronics to prevent the power supplies cutting out, batteries being overcharged etc. If you need to ask how it's done then it's probably not safe for you to have a go!

Has Tornado retired?
Not quite, but almost! The Challenge TV/Phantom filming in 2004 was due to be our last big event with the current machine - but its cancellation means Series 7 will almost certainly have been our last. We do keep Tornado in a running condition for educational demonstrations and to attend the occasional live event. Tornado in its current incarnation is an old machine, and it is not capable of shrugging off impacts and weapon damage from the new generation of even more powerful robots such as Terrorhurtz, Kan Opener, Storm 2 and Big Nipper. We can't afford the time for continual repairs, so as such we only now take part in more gentle "white board" fights rather than full on combat.