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Bumble was a robot from Highfields School at Matlock in Derbyshire that competed in the Lightweight Sprint during the final two series of Techno Games in 2002 and 2003. It walks on three legs at any one time which makes it always allows to have a stable motion. The robot is driven by 18V NI-CAD batteries and a system of cams and levers that move the legs backwards, forwards, up and down.

In its debut in Series 3, it surprisingly lost in its first heat due to radio control problems and came so close to finish first. Despite this, Bumble was a fan favorite and won the Most Animal-Like Award at the end of the series.

In Series 4, it performed much better as it won every single match and managed to defeat the two-time Lightweight Sprint champion Scuttle in the finals to receive the gold medal.

Robot History[]

Techno Games 2002[]

Bumble tg02

Bumble at Techno Games 2002.

BumblevsMammoth tg02

The anti-climactic moment between Bumble and Mammoth.

In Bumble's first and only heat, it went up against Mammoth, Eruptor and Octobot. This was easily Bumble's heat as it passed by everybody. However, it crashed against the wall before reaching the 15m finish line and backed up to re-position itself. Unfortunately, Bumble was having radio control problems and couldn't get going to finish. As a result, Mammoth finished first overall at 26.88 seconds and Eruptor finished second at 1:07.16 seconds. This meant that Bumble was surprisingly eliminated at this stage of the competition.

At the end of the tournament, however, it managed to receive the Most Animal-Like Award most likely due to its bee-like appearance and the way the robot walks.

Techno Games 2003[]

In Bumble's first heat, it went up against Cold Mokuyobi and two other competitors. Bumble had no issues here as it easily passed all of its opponents and finished first at 12.80 seconds. This win put Bumble and Cold Mokuyobi, who finished second at 2:26.00 seconds, to the Lightweight Sprint semi-finals.

In its semi-final heat, it went up against Mad Dog and Cyber Snail. Like in its first heat, Bumble easily passed all of its opponents and managed to beat its own record by finishing at a swift time of 10.12 seconds. This win put Bumble and Cyber Snail, who finished second at 1:42.00 seconds, to the Lightweight Sprint finals, where it faced TF3 and the two-time Lightweight Sprint champion Scuttle.

While TF3 and Cyber Snail was fighting for the bronze medal, Bumble was neck and neck with Scuttle for the gold medal. At first two seconds, Scuttle easily took the lead but it was having steering problems and crashed against the wall. After this, Bumble kept on going since Scuttle couldn't recover in time and it surprisingly finished first overall at another quick time of 9.04 seconds, which was its best time in the series. It took awhile for Scuttle to finished second at 33.00 seconds and Cyber Snail finished third at 1:40.70 seconds after TF3 broke down toward the 10m line. In the end, Bumble received the gold medal for finishing first overall in the Lightweight Sprint.

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