It is perhaps no surprise that Britain’s oldest recorded town, once a likely home to gladiatorial games and chariot races, should host the longest-running ‘Robot Wars’ event in the UK. For this is combat of a similarly primitive nature, offering up sacrificial victims to a baying crowd.
Some of the weaponry on show at Colchester's ‘Robot Rumble’ over the Easter weekend would not have looked out of place in Ben Hur. The metal-clad gladiators were armed with all manner of saw blades, serrated wheels, giant pincers, protruding spikes and swinging pick-axes, all intended to cause maximum damage to their opponents.
Unlike their Roman counterparts, the victorious robots Pressure and Skink did not have to beg the approval of the big man in the expensive seat. Finding favour with the head of the judging panel, the inventor Rex Garrod, was sufficient.
Rapid Electronics have sponsored the event for several years and it remains one of the highlights of the roboteering calendar. For more pictures, click here.
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