Furious George

Furious George
Participation Information
Series	King of Bots UK 2018
Team Information
Team	Smushed Banana
Team Members	Tim Rackley
Other Entries	Spank the Monkey (UK 2018, whiteboards only)
Robot Statistics
Weight	13.3kg
Armour	Aluminium
Weapons	Vertical Bar Spinner

"Yeah, I literally built this in about ten days"

— Tim Rackley

Furious George is a British featherweight robot entered by Team Smushed Banana, which competed in the 2018 King of Bots UK International Championships. Built by seasoned Robot Wars and BattleBots competitor Tim Rackley, it enjoyed a successful run in the qualification rounds, pitting Nelly the Ellybot in its first battle before scoring another comfortable knockout victory over Utopia and Meow. Although it would finish third in its final qualifier against Cobalt and Raving Luna-Tic, after getting stranded against the wall, Furious George scored enough points to finish the qualification stage joint-ninth overall, securing itself a place in the Knockout Round. There, it would lose to Aegis, relegating it to one of two Losers’ Melees. A further loss to DB12 there resulted in Furious George being eliminated from the 2018 UK International Championships in the Top 20.

In addition to the main competition, Furious George also fought in the ‘Farmageddon’ whiteboard battle, alongside Rackley’s other featherweight Spank the Monkey. Despite performing dominantly throughout, and surviving to a Judges’ decision, Furious George was disqualified from the battle for attacking Hedgebot after it had become immobilized, relinquishing victory to Meow as a result.

The robot's name is a pun on Curious George, the titular character of the children's book series of the same name by H.A. and Magret Rey, as well as its various animated film and TV series adaptations.

Design

Profile image of Furious George, based on an early design render of the robot

Furious George was a dark brown and cream robot with a two-wheel drive system and a vertical bar spinner. The spinner was designed to resemble an opened banana, with two curved tips and a two-tone cream and yellow paint scheme, and proved capable of causing considerable damage to opponents. On either side of Furious George’s weapon bulkhead, the robot sported a pair of plates modelled on a monkey’s head, with eyes which glowed red whenever the robot was activated.

Robot History

King of Bots UK 2018

Furious George pits Nelly The Ellybot.

Furious George's first match was supposed to be against Enigma, and Nelly The Ellybot, however for reasons unknown Enigma pulled out, leaving Furious George to fight alone.

The match started well for Furious George as Nelly The Ellybot was suffering drive issues, and only able to move in a circle. This allowed it to spin up to full speed, Furious George then slammed into Nelly The Ellybot. However the spinner then stopped working, leaving Furious George weaponless.

Nelly The Ellybot then started smoking, and its remaining drive promptly failed. This allowed Furious George to shove Nelly The Ellybot into the open pit for the win by knockout.

Results

Wins/Losses

• Wins: 2
• Losses: 4

NOTE: Furious George’s disqualification from the Farmageddon whiteboard is considered to be a loss.

Outside King of Bots

Smushed Banana captain Tim Rackley is also a co-founder and member of Dorset Roboteering Team, who initially competed in Series 9-10 of Robot Wars with their first robot Concussion. An invertible orange heavyweight with a powerful drum spinner, Concussion reached the Grand Final on its debut appearance with an undefeated streak, only to be eliminated by combined attacks from Carbide and Ironside3. A brand-new version of Concussion returned for Series 10, but encountered a difficult start, initially losing its Group Battle to Nuts 2 along with Androne 4000. Dominant knockout victories against The Kegs and Iron-Awe 6 allowed Concussion to reach the Heat Final and face Nuts 2 a second time; however, it would lose to Nuts 2 again after getting thrown by the Floor Flipper and having its mobility hampered by the 'Nut Busters' intended to protect its wheels. Concussion was relegated to the 10 Robot Rumble as a result, and was eliminated from Series 10 altogether after getting pitted by Thor during the Rumble. It subsequently represented the United Kingdom in the second World Series special, shown after Series 10, forfeiting a Tag Team victory due to a rules transgression before winning its Head-to-Head against an earlier incarnation of Weber.

Tim Rackley also competed in the Chinese TV show Clash Bots with AU Thumper, and the US TV show BattleBots with Ragnarök, alongside Jack Tweedy in the latter. For more information, see here.

External Links

• Smushed Banana Facebook page
• Dorset Roboteering Team Facebook page