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THE NATHAN INTERVIEW * | Back to previous messages - Nov 2001-Jan 2002 | * Thanks to John George Smith (Tarkus) who suggested the title of this page. |
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Robot Wars Discussion Forum: Competitors: Could Andrew Marchant answer this question. | |
| Thursday, February 21, 2002 - 03:37 pm I was just interested in Tornado in the future because is Tornado getting a new weapon for 6th & 7th wars and is there ne way that Tornado's pushin' power could be doubled and the weapon is great and so is the website wen will it next be updated cos i spent about 2 days readin' and looking well done 4 putting it 2gether and the robot is awesome. Hard luck in the allstars but u did well 2 get there. I have 1 last question does Tornado do well in 5th wars cos extreme was excelent.
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| Thursday, February 21, 2002 - 04:29 pm ....or in english...  1.)Is Tornado getting a new weapon for 6th & 7th wars? 2.)Is there any way that Tornado's pushing power could be doubled? 3.)When will the website next be updated? 4.)Does Tornado do well in 5th wars? There you go....4 questions (One un-answerable). Conan.
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| Thursday, February 21, 2002 - 07:14 pm And a 5th question, will Tornado redesign the side of their machine?
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| Thursday, February 21, 2002 - 09:33 pm Conan, Tornado's pushing power can be doubled perhaps by replacing the current Bosch GPA's with motors with double the power perhaps?
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| Thursday, February 21, 2002 - 11:41 pm Hi Nathan, Conan, Mike... 1) Our primary weapon will still be the vertical spinning disc. 2) It's difficult - it could only really be done if the weight limit was doubled! More power would help, but that needs bigger batteries, and Tornado already weighs nearly 100kg. 3) The website... phew. If I had enough time it would be updated every week, but I have to go to work, so it doesn't get done. I know it desperately needs doing (there's a lot of new information to put on it) and I hope it will not be too long before I do. But it's 11.30pm now and I'll be going to bed soon, so not tonight! 4) You'll just have to watch and see how well (or otherwise) we do! 5) If Mike Lambert puts Dantomkia in Series 6 then we'll have no chance of winning! So I'd better say that we will do something about the design of the side, yes - for those of you that haven't heard, Mike's robot went through the side of Tornado at the Brighton Model World event last weekend. What was funny was that it was Mike's son Daniel who was driving! Mike's been trying to get Tornado ever since Dantomkia's first fight, at Wilsons Day 2000 - which was also our first fight ever! Regards Andrew Team Tornado
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| Friday, February 22, 2002 - 08:17 am Thanks Andrew, I forgot 1 last question, What happened 2 Tornado in its mayhem and the allstars final as the robot seemed to just die. Also, does Bryan or David ever come on here? Look on my profile 4 my best quote 2. Thanks, Nathan
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| Friday, February 22, 2002 - 01:58 pm Andrew.... Dantomkia IS entering Series 6 - go look at the thread entitled "Dantomkia" in the competitors thread. Perhaps you'd better start work on the design of the side ;o) Ed http://www.stormrobot.com
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| Friday, February 22, 2002 - 02:31 pm Andrew, thankyou for the vote of confidance. It means a lot to me. Cheers, Mike.
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| Friday, February 22, 2002 - 08:39 pm Mike.... Andrew's post didn't sound like confidence at all ;o)
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| Friday, February 22, 2002 - 08:59 pm Andrew, is there ne shows ur going 2 in or around Hertfordshire? I'd love 2 meet u. Was it current or original Tornado that Dantomkia went into the side? Shame Damtomkia cant make the 5th wars. On the website u said about ideas 4 Tornado in series 7. I'd be interested in what the ideas were. Hows Tornado getting updated and is it fixed after the weekend? Will u be entering series 6? Sorry 4 all the questions Andrew but I am really interested. Thanks, Nathan
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| Friday, February 22, 2002 - 09:12 pm andrew can u make tornado and faster than 10 mph because i know some 25 mph bots i think tornado would do even more damage with more speed thanks andrewj
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| Friday, February 22, 2002 - 10:31 pm is there any real necessity for it to do more than 10Mph given the Arena size?. what there is in quantity, is Torque and that means pushing power, acceleration too is more important that outright speed and Tornado is hardly lacking there either. Speed can often mean twitchy controllability. IF Andrew could squeeze 1Kw motors into the weight limit, i`m sure he`d use the extra for more push.
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| Friday, February 22, 2002 - 10:51 pm Nathan, In the Mayhem the removable link came out (it had been damaged and we didn't spot it) and we lost power. Towards the end of the fight Matilda came in on the front of Tornado and caused us two days work to fix the damage done - you get a very short shot of the front of Tornado just before it gets pushed into the pit! In the All Stars final we were purposely not "struggling" as we didn't want to damage the chain further - but as it happens the chain was wrecked so it didn't matter anyway. On the other side the motor pin simply fell out and so we lost drive on both sides. Dave sometimes comes on here, but it's not very often he posts. I'm not sure if there are any events on around Hertfordshire way - can anyone answer that one? It's the new Dantomkia that went through the side of Tornado. Of course we will be entering series 6, but because of the time required to rebuild, it'll be the same Tornado you've seen in Extreme and that will be appearing in series 5 later this year. Our ideas for series 7 are secret, they're mainly to get around the weaknesses Tornado has at the moment, but we have some other ideas too. And thanks for the quote! Mike, I thought you knew we rate Dantomkia! There's nothing we can do to it other than push it about, and given the versatility of the new version, then it's a force to be reckoned with. Dantomkia STILL holds the record for the most damage done to Tornado, despite what Razer have done to us. And blooming good news about you going to Battlebots, here's to you kicking some American butt! Motors/Speed, Given we've effectively got 2.5kW motors at the moment, I don't think 1kW ones would give us an advantage! Seriously, more power is not really a sensible option as I've said above, as bigger motors need bigger batteries and bigger speed controllers - it's hard to do within the weight limit. More speed is an option, but again it requires more power (it will pull more from the batteries), so it's unlikely we'll change it from how it is. Why change it if it works? Regards Andrew Team Tornado
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| Saturday, February 23, 2002 - 09:41 am Thank u Andrew, my mind is at rest now. But if there is ne shows in Hertfordshire that you and the robot r going 2 please let me know. I've a few last things to say. Congratulations 4 defeating the mighty Behemoth,Chaos 2 and Pussycat in challenge belt. U should have one each but u only have 2 belts so ur mantlepiece must be very full. Heres 2 even more succes in the future. Thanks, Nathan.
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| Saturday, February 23, 2002 - 12:06 pm Also Andrew when u beat Chaos 2 I was well chuffed and u seemed it 2. Did u notice the crowd booing when u won? Just shows they cant accept that the king is dead and long live Tornado!!! People don't pay much attention to your driving skills. They are fantastic and thats they way Tornado is a relentless robot that grinds opponents down. Ohhh.. I've just remembered. R there ne plans in the team to build a antweight robot. Sorry to keep u busy yet again. U don't mind me asking these because it must be annoying that I just keep asking. Thank u 4 the time u spent here and yet again heres to even more success in the future.
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| Saturday, February 23, 2002 - 12:38 pm Andrew and the team have a very sensible approach to their driving which is to do as much of it in actual battle as possible.......they turn up to almost all the live events and practice! It amazes me that some teams seem to turn up every year and depend entirely on their talent (or luck) to pull them through...
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| Saturday, February 23, 2002 - 03:12 pm I guess this response is too late. But Nathan, more powerful motors doesn't always mean bigger motors - there are motors which are both lighter and more powerful than the Bosch GPA's (eg 3" Magmotors). These kind of motors cost a lot of money though.
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| Saturday, February 23, 2002 - 07:09 pm Exactly Andrew's point. Why spend more money if Tornado is already the most powerful pusher. If it aint broke, don't fix it. You could always go by that. Some people whinge at Chaos 2 that it hasn't changed but thats y Chaos 2 won 2 wars. One last thing. Andrew, could u also inform me when u update the website. Thanks, Nathan
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| Saturday, February 23, 2002 - 09:38 pm Hi Nathan, Well, thank you, we always do our best. We keep most of the trophies at Dave's house, he's gradually ousting all of the other ornaments his parents gave him! Bryan is working on an antweight robot, but I'm not sure how far he's got with it. Thanks for the support, and keep it up! Regards Andrew Team Tornado
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| Sunday, February 24, 2002 - 09:12 am Andrew, I am probably going 2 watch the 6th wars being recorded and am bringing along a sign with the words "Tornado will blow you down the drain" along with a picture of Tornado on the sign. You could include me on the supporters list on the website if you could see the sign and me even though we haven't met but have chat alot! I really do hope to meet you one day! I do hope theres some events in Hertfordshire that you and others could go to. Give my luck to Bryan about building the Antweight and I hope to see you in the future. Thanks, Nathan P.S. Look out for my sign!
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| Sunday, February 24, 2002 - 11:15 am TORNADO WILL BLOW YOU DOWN THE DRAIN!!! (I hope that the picture comes up!!!!)
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| Sunday, February 24, 2002 - 06:31 pm Andrew, I'd like to say this and say a very big, super-dooper THANK YOU for being so nice and answering my questions. I also like to say I explored your own "Andrew's Exciting Website" and I liked the Land Rovers! If you could inform me about any events or exibitions going on in or around Hertfordshire that you are going too then I would be very grateful. TORNADO= MY FAVE ROBOT. Above,I was just trying to preview the sign, But the picture of Tornado didn't seem to come up. I'll keep up my support until Tornado is series champion(I'm sure you'll win it 1 day) and after that. I am a major Tornado fan!!!! Andrew I can't wait until the 5th,6th and 7th wars. Mainly the last one because of the ideas!! I'll keep on supporting Tornado until the end! Thanks, Nathan
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| Monday, February 25, 2002 - 01:10 pm Andrew,I have 1 final question, What other robots do you admire? I will open this thread again after Tornado's heat in the 5th wars for questions. I'm sure stuff will happen. Stuff like how you beat a robot (i'm sure you'll win your heat!) and you will do well. I'll see and talk to you soon! Thanks, Nathan
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| Monday, February 25, 2002 - 08:09 pm Hi Nathan, Robots I admire: Razer - it's both beautiful and supremely effective. There's a good reason why it's twice world champion. Dantomkia - Built like a brick dunny, the one robot we can never do anything to, other than push them around! The first robot we ever fought. There's lots of others I think are really good, but they don't come close to these. Regards Andrew Team Tornado
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| Monday, February 25, 2002 - 10:11 pm Andrew: Looks like you've got a very keen fan there in young Nathan. Hope all this stardom doesn't go to your head Tom. P.S. Have heard a few different ideas when Techno Games wiil be broadcast. Have you heard a definate date? Tom
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| Tuesday, February 26, 2002 - 08:24 am Thank You,Andrew and Anthony, and lol@Tom. I am a MAJOR TORNADO FAN. Once again I'll say I will open this thread again for questions for Andrew to ask ( you don't mind do you!) I will be going to Leverstock Green(Hemel Hempstead) on 13th July. Hope you can come with Tornado Andrew . I'll see you there Anthony. Thanks Nathan, Tornado Fan
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| Tuesday, February 26, 2002 - 08:12 pm OH MY GOD! I COULD BE MEETING MY FAVOURITE ROBOT AND TEAM AND ANOTHER ONE OF MY FAVOURITES, BEHEMOTH! Phew, just got a tad over excited there. It may be a couple of months away but I'm really looking forward to it. Andrew, if you can come that will be FANTASTIC BRILLIANT OUT OF THIS WORLD SEEIN' TORNADO,BEHEMOTH AND ANTY B!! *cough cough choked on own excitement*  Thanks, Nathan, Tornado fan. P.S. Andrew, if you come, is the Antweight a mini Tornado and if it is then will that come with the heavyweight Tornado?
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| Wednesday, February 27, 2002 - 07:38 pm Hi Andrew, what do you think the most effective weopon you've had out of the spike,scoop or spinning disc? I think the disc personally. Also if the ant is a mini Tornado, does it have the same pushing power scaled down to ant size? We've said the robot that has done the most damage to you(Dantomkia!), but what is the robot you have caused the most damage to? What is the House Robot you most enjoy attacking? We know some other ones(Razer=Matilda although I doubt it would be easy for Razer today, Chaos 2=Sgt.Bash and Pussycat=Sir Killalot). Also I've noticed something. When you start Tornado,does it accelerate or does it go strait to top speed? Hope you can come to Hemel in July,it would be fantastic meeting my favourite team and robot. Talk and see you later, Andrew! Thanks, Nathan, Tornado fan.
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| Thursday, February 28, 2002 - 03:19 pm Nathan, of course it accelerates to top speed - you cant have an object stationary and instantly move to a top speed. It does accelerate to its top speed very fast however ! Ed http://www.stormrobot.com
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| Thursday, February 28, 2002 - 03:33 pm like almost instantly from what i've heard
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| Thursday, February 28, 2002 - 09:21 pm Hi Nathan, I agree, I think our most effective weapon is our spinning disc. I'm not sure what Bryan's planning with his ant, it's only him who's building it. What robot have we caused the most damage to? Depends if it's in one fight or over the course of many. If we're talking single fights, then T2R Special, Chaos 2 or Pussycat are all good contenders. I don't enjoy attacking any of the house robots - they're very solid and have good weapons! We've had a lot of tussles with Dead Metal recently, he seems to enjoy chasing us around the arena. Tornado does accelerate very fast - it's all to do with the power we have! Regards Andrew Team Tornado
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| Friday, March 1, 2002 - 08:18 am Hi Andrew, sorry I didn't post yesterday, I was a bit ill but i'm okay now! Just how much can the most powerful pusher(Tornado!) push? (weight). If Mentorn didn't increase the weight limit,would you have been able to add the disc and fix problems in drive reliability? Also has there been any work on Tornado after the 5th wars? Can you also come to Leverstock Green because Anthony mailed you the details judging by his post above. If you can come I can't wait to meet my fave robot and team(you)! Thanks, Nathan, Tornado fan.
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| Friday, March 1, 2002 - 08:41 pm Hi Andrew, Andy J asked me to pass my idea of dream tag-team of Tornado and Razer to you. What do you think? Could this happen in the future? I could just imagine, you and Razer smashing other tag-teams to bits. Tornado pushing and damaging with Razer crushing and pierceing! Thanks, Nathan, Tornado fan.
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| Friday, March 1, 2002 - 09:27 pm thanks 4 posting that 4 me nathen i wanted 2 go and explore the site(fourm) i can imagen razer crushing diotior and tornado taking pussycats wheels off thanks again nathen
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| Saturday, March 2, 2002 - 02:35 am Tornado could push them against the wall and pin them while Razer puts nasty holes in them That would be the best combination for tag team!!! Vertex
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| Saturday, March 2, 2002 - 07:45 am It is the best tag-team combination! Thats why I'm waiting for Andrew's reaction. So,Andrew,what do you think,could this happen in the future as you would certinely beat everyone.Could my favourite robot of all time pair up with Razer and dominate the world! Thanks, Nathan, Tornado fan.
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| Saturday, March 2, 2002 - 11:02 am Yes but think of that challenge belt fight, PC had the new wheels and Tornado still managed to muller it but I noticed some of the polycarb on Tornado was shattered. Also,Andrew,I watched the repeat of RW Extreme last night(how sad am I?! )and I noticed that towards the end of the battle Tornado seemed to be moving a little slow and sluggish.Was there any damage to Tornado? Stinger said after the fight that they were ready to go back in but I doubt it because there was lots of holes and dents in the tyres and wheel. Hope to see you and the team soon Andrew at Leverstock Green and in series 5(if the bbc ever show it)! Thanks, Nathan, Tornado fan.
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| Saturday, March 2, 2002 - 02:36 pm Right back on to the thread,Andrew,in the Second World Championships,when Razer was gonna just put Tornado in the pit,was Tornado still mobile or had the wheels stopped turning? Sorry about the above,but you did do damage to Pussycat and beat it fair and square in challenge belt.Stinger were getting pushed and tossed about all over the place,but as the above,did they do damage to Tornado? Lets everyone be peaceful again. Andrew please answer my questions here and above,I didn't mean for the argument to break out. Thanks, Nathan, Tornado fan.
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| Saturday, March 2, 2002 - 04:00 pm Hi Andrew and Ed, Andrew, how do you rate Storm and Ed,how do you rate Tornado? Thanks, Nathan, Tornado fan.
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| Saturday, March 2, 2002 - 04:06 pm Andrew, can I have your autograph?......PLEeeeeeeezzzzeeeeeee!!!!!!!!!!!!
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| Saturday, March 2, 2002 - 05:51 pm Andrew could answer your questions and mine,Adam,at about 9-11pm(I think thats the time he gets in from work).Andrew's got a lot of questions to answer all at once because he didn't post yesterday I think.Andrew,if you can come to Hemel,will we be able to get your autograph(me+Mike ) See you soon,Andrew! Thanks, Nathan, Tornado fan.
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| Saturday, March 2, 2002 - 06:51 pm Guys, I hope Andrew won't complain if I answer some of his questions to tbe best of my ability - Storm and Tornado work very closely together, I should be able to provide you with the answers you need. It is very unlikley that Tornado didn't have fully charged batteries in it. The team have at least 3 sets of Hawker batteries, and there are almost always a set on charge at any one time. All they do between fights is change the batteries for a fresh set. Tornado is not as power hungry as you might think, although they are running a 4WD skid steer robot which by its design uses more power than a 2WD robot, they run the motors at 36v and also use current limiting. This means that to obtain the same power output as a Bosch at 24V, they can apply a smaller current when running them at 36V. I'm not going to give away their current limits that they run, but they're not as high as you might think. This means that Tornado's batteries actually last a very long time. Storm will keep running for 8-10 mins before the batteries start to fade, for Tornado its more like 10 - 15 mins, and therefore exceptionally unlikley that their batteries were running out in a 5 min RW fight. Nathan... how do you know if Andrew gets in from work between 9 and 11.. and what makes you think he is at work on a Saturday ? As for what I think of Tornado and what Andrew thinks of Storm - we both have mutual respect for each other's machine, both are very different beasts. Tornado is built for out and out strength and is able to dish out one hell of a beating when it wants to. Storm is built for close combat where its weapon can be very effective. There are parts of Storm that Tornado wouldn't have chosen to do, and ways that Tornado has gone about things that we wouldn't have done. Both machines have their weaknesses, however it would be wrong of me to suggest that Storm is a good an all round machine as Tornado. Storm's big ace is that it has a payload capacity in its weapons bay for around 40Kg of weapon, meaning its very adaptable to what it fights. We currently have hydraulic crusher/lifter, a linear actuator powered lifter and we're working on a full bottle pressure flipper. Tornado has their scoop and their disc which they can interchange - however this involves a little more work than the interchange of Storm's weapons. Their scoop is very well made and gets under most machines, though at Brighton we seemed to have very well matched scoops. As for pushing power, again we are very evenly matched, Tornado have the edge over us, but it tends to come down to the surface of the arena rather than the pushing of the machine. Tornado use pneumatic tyres which tend to grab on to traction before we do. Nathan, although I've written lots here, I'm a full time roboteer - Andrew is not. Be careful how hard you push people for answers - saying that Andrew has a lot of questions to answer because he didn't come on yesterday makes it sound like he had an obligation to come online, which he of course does not........ Ed http://www.stormrobot.com
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| Sunday, March 3, 2002 - 11:45 am tornado v storm good battle but that would make another great tag team!! (is that friendly enough) p.s am i the youngest on this fourm???
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| Sunday, March 3, 2002 - 03:54 pm Hi everyone, Andrew is away this weekend but I'm sure he will be checking the forum tommorow (so don't panic Nathan). I only check about once a week so don't expect regular postings from me!! Just thought I'd add a little on the Tornado/Pussycat fight. Alan told us after the fight that the wheel came off because the bolt head was missing from the single (large) bolt that holds the wheel on. Apparantly we had sheared the bolt head off with our disc and so it was then only a matter of time before the wheel worked itself of the shaft... it just happened to fall off as they contacted an arena grinder (If I remember correctly). Anyway, we were impressed to have got this lucky hit on PC, othrwise things may have gone differently! Dave, Team Tornado.
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| Sunday, March 3, 2002 - 04:13 pm I'm amazed at your robot Team Tornado! I've never seen so much power in a robot before. But, how the heck do you get so much freekin power into a bot, yet seemingly never running out of power. I'm a good ways into completing my own, named Thor's Hammer, and I'm trying to make it extremely powerful. If this is secret, then you don't have to say anything about your drive motors.
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| Sunday, March 3, 2002 - 05:38 pm they have bosch 750 motors powered at 36 volts and a gear ratio of 17.5:1 i beleive. this helps give it the torque they need and the 36 volts helps with the acceloratoin of the robot. this is only from a very basic point of view i know, but that's as much as i know...as soon as physics are mentioning i get all confused DO you see
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| Sunday, March 3, 2002 - 11:28 pm Hi Nathan, Good to hear you're better after being ill on Thursday. It's difficult to say how much Tornado can push, it depends upon the surface on which we're pushing and whether what we're pushing has wheels or not! We've been known to push two other robots along at once at charity events. If the weight limit hadn't been increased, then we would easily have been able to fix the drive reliability problems, but we would have had more trouble with the weapon. I expect we would have managed it, just it would have been a little less powerful. Work on Tornado after Series 5... We haven't changed anything major, just replaced a few worn out pieces of armour and repaired a few bits of damaged chassis. Leverstock Green - I've got the details from Ant now, and I've seen the post on the forum. I'll have to speak to the other members of the team to see if they want to go along. I haven't heard anything back about the event in Essex, but I still can't say where we will be going for sure just yet. Andy J - I like the idea of ourselves and Razer as a tag team! I don't know what the Razer guys would think about it, but you never know... Would it give anyone else a chance? Stu - you don't see everything that happened on the TV. Not everything that is said by the roboteers or happens in the arena makes the final cut, and Johnathan Pierce gets it wrong occasionally! If you look closely in the second fight, you'll see that it's OUR disc that stops Matilda's disc dead - one of our disc pulleys has a very big ding in it, and we have a solid 26mm diameter disc axle with a big bend in it! Also Pussycat were unlucky enough to have their heavier disc stolen at Earls Court, I'm sure that if they had fought us using that then we would have sustained a lot more damage. You see our disc running most of the time on TV because when there's action, it's running. Mentorn don't show the boring bits when it's switched off! Unlike say Hypnodisc, our disc spins up very quickly indeed, so quickly it's hard to notice that it's slowed down. OK, back to Nathan... That fight against Stinger was filmed at Earls Court. In fact a lot of the fights in Extreme were filmed at Earls Court - you can tell the ones that where because the round bottoming feet on the robot are clear rather than white and we have no guard for the disc pulley on the front. At all the fights in Earls Court we used the Kiel batteries, and these were running out towards to end of the fights. We now use the Genesis batteries and have not run out of power since! Stinger broke some of the polycarb on top of Tornado and put a very big gash in one of the side bars. We put some fair sided holes into Stinger's domes and helped damage a tyre (Dead Metal did the rest) - the guys from Stinger did a lot of work to be running again for the next battle, but so did we. When the Stinger guys were saying their bit at the end of the match, note that Julia is laughing. It's because she was laughing at the three of us, who were falling about laughing at the Stinger guys! ...so how much current do the motors take? Well, to be absolutley honest we don't know. We know what the maximums are, but we haven't yet been able to measure it "in battle". Come on Ed, get that telemetry system sorted! OK, the world champs... Tornado was still mobile when it was dropped into the pit by Razer, and in fact we drove back to the holding pen under our own power once the pit was raised. We didn't know if Razer's beak was touching our drive gears, so we didn't want to put the power on and possibly damage them further. As it happens, Razer didn't go that far in. How do I rate Storm? Now there's a can of worms! ;) When we first met the Storm team at Debenham last year, they were running their prototype robot. A square, 4WD box. And they were on the table next to us. Square 4WD box? Weather related name? Hmmn, we thought. But we quickly got over that when we found out just how nice a bunch Ed, Tim and Andy are. As for the robot, I said then, " once they get their problems sorted (in particular turning corners!) then they'll be one to watch." We thought the team and the robot had a huge amount of potential, and that is still true. For various reasons you won't see Storm in series 5, so a lot of that potential is still to be realised, but Storm now turns corners, squashes things and gets stuck in with the rest of us, even if occasionally they do like to chop the wires on their radio gear... I work till nearly 6pm most days, and I get online when I can - if by some fluke I'm home early I'll wait till after 6 because the phone call's cheaper! This weekend I was down in Kent at the stag do of a really good friend from school (Hi Neil!) - ow my head, please don't shout... I've also been trying to help my brother decide what car he wants to buy, so I only got home about an hour or so ago. Don't worry about asking questions Nathan, if I've got time I'll answer them. Storm vs Tornado - it would be a good battle or a good Tag Team. Let's hope that it happens one day! PJ McKen - The "secret" to power is twofold - efficiency and control. We use the power we have efficiently, and we are able to control it with precision (thanks to Dave's electronics). I have not as yet driven a robot that reacts more quickly to its controls than Tornado. Phew! That's a long post... time for bed I think! Regards Andrew Team Tornado PS - Mike - Shaaaaut it!
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| Monday, March 4, 2002 - 12:08 am *pats Andrews head* bless ya you poor thing..here take this tablet....it's to help with headaches..i feel you may need it DO you see
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| Monday, March 4, 2002 - 01:08 am Yes well done Andrew ...even I want your autograph now Tom
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| Monday, March 4, 2002 - 01:12 pm There is also a thing that bugs me too about the seeding system.Last year Andrew,Tornado beat off Wheely Big Cheese and yet you are seeded 12th and WBC is seeded 11th! That don't seem right so what do you think? I have another question too,Do you know of any plans of a Tornado pull-back toy? That would be great to see. Don't you think(I noticed this)its funny that from one fight(can't remember which)when they repeat the team standing in the box,thats you can see every time Andrew that your saying its cold.Look on the repeats of extreme and you'll see that they repeat when you say that. Also,how cheesed off where you and Dave after the All Stars final as when you were talking you seem it. After Extreme as well,because there was no time for more challengers for the second challenge belt,do you get to keep the second one? When you talk to Dave and Bryan,Andrew,please tell me what they said so I'll know if your coming to Hemel! See you soon Andrew! Thanks, Nathan, Tornado fan.
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| Monday, March 4, 2002 - 01:47 pm Nathan... its good to see you've decided to stop bombarding Andrew with questions ! Ed http://www.stormrobot.com
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| Monday, March 4, 2002 - 03:41 pm This is my last lot,well,not until after Tornado's heat in series 5(if the BBC show it!) Andrew you will still chat on here untill then,won't you? Damn,thats another question Thanks, Nathan, Tornado fan. P.S. Andrew,good luck getting over your headache! Dave,nice profile picture,you take that yourself?
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| Tuesday, March 5, 2002 - 07:05 am Everyone else,what do you think about Tornado's seed of 12th? Thanks, Nathan, Tornado fan.
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| Tuesday, March 5, 2002 - 08:10 pm if the seeds were judged in extreme tornado would be seeded at least 5th and i think wbc got higher because they were more experianced remember it was tornado's 1st year and roger plant was been going since i can remember!
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| Tuesday, March 5, 2002 - 08:29 pm Series 3 that the cheese first apeared,although Tornado has done alot in one year: Established itself as one of the best robots in the world. Collected countless trophies. The best pusher to date. Defeated the British champions twice. Had the honour of represnting England in the second world championships. Got itself a fan that follows it like a king(me! ). Thanks, Nathan, Tornado fan.
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| Tuesday, March 5, 2002 - 08:33 pm yeh tornados my fave 4 s5 andrew,2nd tornado fan
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| Wednesday, March 6, 2002 - 12:57 pm Robots that you think Tornado would have a tough time beating everyone? What do you think Andrew? Thanks, Nathan, Tornado fan.
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| Wednesday, March 6, 2002 - 10:15 pm Hi Nathan, The seeding system... The seeds are chosen both on performance in the previous series, and on performance in any series before that. It also helps to have a spectacular or funny robot. You have to admit that WBC is spectacular, and it took Chaos 2 to knock out the original Big Cheese. So I think our seeding is quite fair. Some people cite Tornado's performance in Extreme, but the seeds were decided long before Extreme was filmed. Tornado's been measured and photographed for a mini-pull back (whilst at the Earls Court filming last year), and we've been told by one of Logistix's employees that there's a large size blank of Tornado in their office, but we've heard nothing official. Was it cold in that control box? Well, I seem to remember that the Earls Court studio wasn't too warm, and that a couple of times it was fairly cold in the control box. That's not normal though, it's usually really hot under all the lights. The All Stars final... hmmn. We did feel a little upset, given how Razer did not let go of Tornado in the fight, but they didn't break any rules, so there was not a lot we could do. The challenge belt - we have won and keep the first belt. We don't actually have the second one, we had to send it to the American team who had won their challenge belt competition! We do still hold the challenge belt title, and hopefully will defend it in the next series of Extreme. If we win that fight, then we'll win the second belt outright. As I said above, I'll answer questions if I've got time. At the moment I have not a lot of time, but still just enough to check the forum. Dave's profile picture is taken from one of his own videos, taken on his first or second Storm Chasing holiday in the USA. It's of a big supercell that was rotating significantly and could have gone tornadic (spawned a tornado). Dave's got some much better pictures than that now, he's seen tornadoes on his holiday, when he gets time he'll put some pictures up on his website. Robots we'd have a tough time beating... Hypnodisk would be tough, as I expect would be Firestorm. Regards Andrew Team Tornado
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| Wednesday, March 6, 2002 - 10:30 pm Andrew, I hope that you'll not forget to copy your postings here to your own website, which was last updated 12 Dec 2001. Time for an update, methinks... In doing so you'll (a) update the website (b) save yourself an awful lot of typing and (c) preserve what you've said a lot longer on your own website than if you leave it here. You can call it "The Nathan interview"(!) Of course, do try to tear yourself away from the keyboard now and again! I expect there's work to be done in getting Tornado ready for Series 6, which is fast approaching (July/August looks likely - a similar timescale to Series 5/Extreme?)
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| Thursday, March 7, 2002 - 08:17 am Yeah thanks for that info,Andrew,that sounds pretty cool if their making a Tornado pull-back! Is that official that filming of series 6 in July/August because I want to apply watching it. Andrew,it would be a honour to be featured on the Tornado website! Also if Tornado meets Spawn Again in the heat final what would happen? Disscussion now open to everyone! Thanks, Nathan, Tornado fan.
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| Friday, March 8, 2002 - 06:02 pm Andrew,you wanna chat about something,and on the subject of series 6,can't wait,I think you'll be able to spot me as I'll be the one going crazy for Tornado waving my TORNADO WILL BLOW YOU DOWN THE DRAIN sign. If you come to Leverstock Green,can't wait to meet you,Bryan and Dave. Thanks, Nathan, Tornado fan.
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| Friday, March 8, 2002 - 07:58 pm Hi Andrew, I also admire Tornado, and I was very impressed by your performance in Extreme. I have a couple of little questions myself, and I hope you don't mind answering. I've watched your first All Stars fight against 3 Stegs 2 Heaven, and on TV, it only lasted about 2 minutes. 1) The Razer vs Gemini fight was also edited down a bit because an illegal move was performed on Razer (the arena flipper going off while it was still mobile). Did anything special happen in the 3 Stegs 2 Heaven fight? 2) 3 Stegs 2 Heaven took punishment from Tornado and the House Robots, but even though it wasn't moving much, it didn't seem to have been counted out by Refbot, and Refbot didn't intervene at all. Why did the House Robots do that?
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| Saturday, March 9, 2002 - 06:55 am Hi Andrew, I have another question,in the All Stars final,did Razer actually puncture the tyres? Also do you find it difficult to beat Razer as it was not mentioned on the list. See ya Andrew, Thanks, Nathan, Tornado fan.
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| Monday, March 11, 2002 - 09:40 pm wow at long last ive found the sereis 4 tornado heat on tape and i cant stop wathing beserk 2 being pushed from wall to wall. did that gas powered spike thing help you in any battles? thanks andrewj 2nd tornado fan P.S i will probibly come on here until sereis 5 o.k because i am realy bored of no robot wars thanks again aj
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| Monday, March 11, 2002 - 11:44 pm John, Less of the sacasm, if I had enough time to update our website I would have done it by now. Yes it needs doing, but so do lots of other things! We've got Debenham to ready for, let alone series 6 - yes there is work to do, and we've got to get on with it... Nathan, Unfortunately on the toy thing as I said above, we've heard nothing official. Who knows if anything is going to happen... In both fights against Razer, we ran foam filled tyres, so they couldn't puncture them. Razer did manage to make a hole in one of our nylon wheel rims though. As for beating Razer... well, you've seen the result of the two fights we've had on TV so far... Richard, 1) Nothing special happened in the 3 stegs fight that I remember, the only thing worthy of note is that Jonathan Pierce said "we couldn't finish them off" when they were missing a drive chain and we had pushed them where we liked throught the fight! 2) I haven't a clue. But there are loads of other "cut shots" throught Extreme where the Refbot counting down has just been "pasted" in - you only see Refbot in the frame, and it's obvious when it switches back to the fight that he's nowhere near the action. Andy, The pneumatic spike (or pneumatic toothpick as it soon became known) was er, not very good. In the fight against Wheely Big Cheese a hose blew off as we were loading Tornado into the arena, and we had the chance to fix it, but we said not to bother! It's only beaten someone once, and that was at Debenham in 2000, where it switched off Invertibrat by going in through their link hole and hitting their receiver switch! Regards Andrew Team Tornado
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| Tuesday, March 12, 2002 - 08:09 am Ooohh, Andrew,are you hinting that you beat Razer,because the way you said about that makes me excited.Wasn't it that toothpick that that made them holes in Shunt in the 4th wars.I found my semi final tape the other day and that battle with Wheely Big Cheese is a classic,dontcha think? See ya Andrew! Thanks, Nathan, Tornado fan. PS,Andy,how long did it take you to find that tape?
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| Tuesday, March 12, 2002 - 02:19 pm You'll have to wait and find out Nathan..... Ed http://www.stormrobot.com
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| Wednesday, March 13, 2002 - 10:20 pm Aah, should have made that clearer. I was just trying to say that you already know the results of the fights we've had with Razer, so you know we haven't beaten them - yet. Regards Andrew Team Tornado
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| Thursday, March 14, 2002 - 12:56 pm Ohhhhhh! So excited! So excited! Andrew,I heard about this anti-crusher setup,could you tell me about this? Thanks, Nathan, Tornado fan.
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| Friday, March 15, 2002 - 11:35 am Anti-crusher setup? What can he possibly mean? Something like that would really upset the Razer boys... (snigger snigger)
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| Friday, March 15, 2002 - 03:31 pm from what i hear they've had stormguy's help on it(the main component)that sugests to me that hydrolics are involved.
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| Friday, March 15, 2002 - 08:46 pm i recon the shells thicker or stronger
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| Friday, March 15, 2002 - 09:13 pm Now that would be just boring. Team Tornado have bigger imaginations than that...
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| Friday, March 15, 2002 - 09:44 pm You're right,Adrian. How about a claw that extends to grab crushers and stop them from working.That would be sweet. Also,Andrew,regarding weapons,I have a idea.If the weight limit was a bit more then you could have the disc at the front and the scoop at the back.What do you think? Thanks, Nathan, Tornado fan.
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| Friday, March 15, 2002 - 11:51 pm Remember that any additional weaponry would have to work both ways up so a claw would have to be rather compact to work, also I doubt that they could fit one into the weight limit unless they totally re-designed the robot from scratch and unless they found lightweight parts (motors, used Li-Ion batteries etc) any other weight savings could easily compromise the rigidity or armour of it. The best way it would seem to beat Razer is to out-drive Ian like David Gribble did and keep away from the damn beak end!. Tornado is a very grippy 4WD unit, we`ve all seen Pussycat skidding when trying to push things, that skid helps manoeverability, a 4WD Robot which grips the arena floor like glue is never going to be able to manoevre as quickly as a 2WD one (pussycat in blade forward mode) with far less grip.. It`s a choice either whether to design one way or the other or try and strike a fine balance - I thought Tornado did a damn good job of creating a grippy robot which steers well actually Just my thoughts
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| Saturday, March 16, 2002 - 03:07 pm How about spring-pressed hinged skirts? This way it would be much harder for Razer and other machines that rely on getting under Tornado before activating their weaponry.
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| Saturday, March 16, 2002 - 10:33 pm Errr Nathan I can think of another hydraulic robot that I believe Andrew has expressed some concern about fighting... probably the only other robot that could equal Tornado's pushing power as well ???????
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| Saturday, March 16, 2002 - 10:49 pm I believe that robot would be the one and only STORM!!!! Vertex
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| Sunday, March 17, 2002 - 12:18 am Andrew, For personal reasons, I've not been able to post for over a week. Sorry that you thought my message was sarcastic - it certainly wasn't intended to be that way. Perhaps it could be been better phrased... All I was trying to say is that (a) your answers have been very interesting and informative, and therefore should be preserved (and The Tornado website could be somewhere you can do this) and (b) your website is a very good one, and it would be nice to update it if you ever get the chance. But I fully understand that, with all the other pressures on your time, its something that has to be pushed to the back of the queue in your list of priorities. All in all the Tornado website is better than some when it comes to being up to date. Some teams (for example, Diotior) haven't updated their websites for years, and for others (for example, Mega Morg) the website seems to have disappeared altogether! Now looking forward to Technogames, which is imminent, and seeing how Storm Chaser did...
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| Sunday, March 17, 2002 - 10:22 am Hi all, Our Anti-Crusher Weapon - fighting Razer in Extreme taught us the hard way just how vunerable Tornado is to crushers, and in particular to Razer. So we designed and built a weapon to beat crushers. It's design is secret until we need to use it on TV. John, I was trying to make the point that a lot of people don't understand the pressures we're under - there are times when it takes me three hours to reply to all the emails I get. Yes, the website really needs doing, but so do lots of other things! But I am saving the thread to my hard drive. Watch out for Storm Chaser... Regards Andrew Team Tornado
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| Sunday, March 17, 2002 - 10:26 am Tornado's anti-crusher weapon is really quite neat..... I'm sure you'll see it used soon. Ed http://www.stormrobot.com
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| Sunday, March 17, 2002 - 10:47 am Sounds pretty cool,can't wait to see it in action! Tornado's got an even better chance of winning the wars now!Also,Andrew,was it true that in Extreme we missed a bit were Matilda got Tornado with the flywheel? When will the damn BBC show the 5th wars? I'll be looking out in Technogames! Thanks, Nathan, Tornado fan. PS Well,Ed,about me not mentioning Storm,well I sort of forgot...er..um...oh look a unicorn!! *runs away*
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| Monday, March 18, 2002 - 09:27 am Ed, I agree. When I saw the Tornado Anti-Crusher set up on Dave's drive, I believe my reaction was "What on earth is that?!" (PG rated Version) Trust the guys to turn the Rule Book into the Karma Sutra!
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| Tuesday, March 19, 2002 - 08:10 am What do you mean,Adrian? Thanks, Nathan, Tornado fan.
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| Tuesday, March 19, 2002 - 08:07 pm can we talk about storm chaser andrew, is it the same power as tornado why smidsy as team mates(footy) was the mach easy or hard(footy) do you have to qualify 4 tehcno games thanks (now im the question asker,damn)
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| Tuesday, March 19, 2002 - 09:47 pm Andyjj Storm chaser was basically tornado with a new shell/body paint. DO you see
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| Tuesday, March 19, 2002 - 10:03 pm Matilda came in on the front of our chassis towards the end of the Mayhem against Steel Avenger and KingB, in which our link came out... It wasn't really necessary and it took us two days to fix it. There's a very quick shot of Tornado's front just before it goes in the pit towards the end of the fight, you might be able to see what had been done if you've got the tape. Storm Chaser? Well, it was built out of things found in Dave's garage, and guess where we keep Tornado... so yes, it is the same power! For the football Storm Chaser weighed about 85kg, and we found ourselves wheelying occasionally! We got Sprocket (Smidsy) as team mates because that's who we were paired with by Mentorn - we didn't get to choose. We couldn't have asked for better team mates, despite it being not obvious on TV that they had lost drive on one side towards the end of the match! It wasn't their fault they didn't stop a couple of goals... That match was not too easy, although Ravioli didn't get into the action too much. We didn't have to qualify, we were invited to take part and happened to have enough holiday time left (from work) at the end of the year to take part! I think for some of the other categories (such as swimming) there are qualifying events/auditions, but I'm not sure. Regards Andrew Team Tornado
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| Tuesday, March 19, 2002 - 10:08 pm Nathan, What did I mean? Well the've bent the Rule Book in some interesting and improbable ways! Watch out for it when/if it gets on the telly. Andyjj, Garry's right about the bot being Tornado in disguise. It's a shame, but what they have appeared to do is replicate the early rounds of the early shows of the wars and filled them with the Wars 'bots. Still, it means that we get to see Andrews driving ability and Storm Chasers controlability. PS. Was Storm Chaser only in the Footy tonight? (tuesday) It started early and I missed most of the show!
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| Wednesday, March 20, 2002 - 08:10 am Storm Chaser was only in the footy on Tuesday,and it was cool the amount of goals you scored even though Technomoth(Behemoth) was at a severe disadvantage. Andrew,did you take part in the sumo in Technogames? That will be so good. The footy match really let your driving skills shine. Thanks, Nathan, Tornado fan.
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| Friday, March 22, 2002 - 08:21 pm Ohhhh,after tonights Technogames!!! The sumo...hmmm...Storm Chaser wasn't totally dominated as it was the thing of the ground clearance. But the footy...oh that was sparkling Andrew!!! The flaps seem to have broke in that battle but your skills as a driver was great!! They still don't comment on your driving skills.... Final of the footy up soon!! Thanks, Nathan, Tornado fan.
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| Friday, March 22, 2002 - 08:45 pm Yes we ALMOST got Tornado (sorry Stormchaser ) in Sumo, but I didn't react quick enough when it managed to escape from Chip's scoop, and I drove off the arena!! Never mind though..we were thrilled to come 3rd to Big Bro and Tornado , especially as I had only had about 3 mins experience of driving Chip as the new driver to the team. Tom
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| Friday, March 22, 2002 - 10:48 pm It was great to see Big Bro sweep "Storm Chaser" off the Podium, great job done , Shame about Chip, I thought they were going to do the same at the start  - Nice Bronze picked up there though.
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| Sunday, March 24, 2002 - 07:23 pm ah ha ive wathed back the sumo and when big bro pushes storm chaser of you can see a flash of red under the link
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| Sunday, March 24, 2002 - 07:23 pm I think that Storm Chaser will win the footy with Sprocket cos they are a wicked combination. Thanks, Nathan, Tornado fan.
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| Monday, March 25, 2002 - 08:06 pm What do you all think? Storm Chaser could beat Bib Bro in tug of war(if its entered) as it doesn't have to get under it to get yo pull it. Should be good! Andrew could you say if you are entered ? Thanks, Nathan, Tornado fan.
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| Monday, March 25, 2002 - 10:31 pm Nath, chill man. Give Poor Andrew a Break! Yeah from your last post Andrew, i manage to take a snap shot of that before you went in the pit, BL*ODY HELL that looked nasty what she did to you. So i take it you want revenge on her. So does Pussycat. So there's 2 good robots that are hoping to give her a good slapping! Stu
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| Wednesday, March 27, 2002 - 07:30 pm It won the football too (with a bit of help from S.m.i.d.s.y) I noticed it Juddering near the end as if there was a fault, it would be interesting to find out if there was a fault - Viva le flappy things - ..
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| Friday, March 29, 2002 - 09:38 am And it also won the tug of war too! The way it was bouncing along looked funny. So,Andrew, in Technogames you got yourselves two sets of gold medals and one set of silver medals.Not a bad haul,huh? Thanks, Nathan, Tornado fan.
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| Monday, April 15, 2002 - 07:47 pm Well all.. The Tornado website has been updated!!! Yay yay yay! I must say well done Andrew,the diary is improved and more events that I am just going to read now! Thanks, Nathan, Tornado fan.
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