The Wrong Trousers

* AWS 67
* AWS 63
* AWS 61
* AWS 60

**The Wrong Trousers** was a robot that appeared at AWS 60 and AWS 61. It was an invertible, bi-wedge machine that was vaguely trouser-shaped, from which it gained its name, as well as from the *Wallace and Gromit* film of the same name.

## Robot History

### AWS 60

The Wrong Trousers' first match was against drum spinner Baphomet. Baphomet initially did not move, but then began as The Wrong Trousers approached, albeit without the drum spinner working. The two danced around each other before Baphomet's drum spinner came to life, delivering a minor hit as The Wrong Trousers wedged underneath and carried Baphomet into the wall surrounding one pit. Both machines manoeuvred in the centre of the arena, before The Wrong Trousers again got underneath and took Baphomet into the arena wall. Baphomet escaped and ground away at the side of The Wrong Trousers before again getting forced into the arena wall.

Moving away, The Wrong Trousers again managed to force Baphomet into the wall, before Baphomet's drum tore off one The Wrong Trousers' front wedges. The Wrong Trousers was then launched across the arena by a big hit, but came back onto the attack undeterred and drove Baphomet towards the pit, narrowing failing to push it in. Another big hit flipped The Wrong Trousers, which struggled to move away as Baphomet came in for one last hit, removing the top panel and leaving the battery exposed, forcing a tap-out.

In the losers' bracket, The Wrong Trousers faced Ripper 2, a flipper. Ripper 2 was able to get underneath The Wrong Trousers, clamping down and driving it towards the wall. The Wrong Trousers escaped, before the two danced around each other in an attempt to wedge underneath. Ripper 2 was able to get behind The Wrong Trousers and flip it over, continuing the charge and nearly pitting it. The Wrong Trousers was now at a disadvantage in ground clearance, and Ripper 2 capitalised, nearly tossing The Wrong Trousers out of the arena, before flipping it back over. Ripper 2 wedged underneath again, but missed the flip, before The Wrong Trousers got underneath Ripper 2 and attempted to pit it. The Wrong Trousers however mistimed its charge and Ripper 2 escaped as The Wrong Trousers pitted itself, eliminating itself from the competition.

### AWS 61

A mostly unchanged The Wrong Trousers was against axebot Upgraded for the Roboteer's Pleasure in its first fight of AWS 61. The fight started slowly, with both robots manoeuvring around each other, before Upgraded for the Roboteer's Pleasure charged at The Wrong Trousers, parking itself on its wedge, although it quickly escaped. The Wrong Trousers was able to consistently get underneath Upgraded for the Roboteer's Pleasure, driving it into the wall as Upgraded for the Roboteer's Pleasure swung its axe repeatedly. Backing off, The Wrong Trousers exposed Upgraded for the Roboteer's Pleasure's ground clearance again, pushing it towards the pit, but it slipped off the wedge. Upgraded for the Roboteer's Pleasure got away, driving around The Wrong Trousers as it attempted to get to its rear, but to no avail. The Wrong Trousers drove clean underneath Upgraded for the Roboteer's Pleasure, and kept pursuing it, wedging underneath once more and slamming it into the wall twice. The two robots continued the chase, with Upgraded for the Roboteer's Pleasure getting pushed into the wall again, but as The Wrong Trousers turned away it drove straight into the pit under no pressure.

This loss relegated The Wrong Trousers to the losers' bracket where it faced Mini Roll, a drum spinner. The Wrong Trousers made the faster start, with Mini Roll's spinner only starting after light contact. Getting underneath the spinning drum, The Wrong Trousers pushed Mini Roll backwards slightly, before getting to Mini Roll's side and again pushing it back. The Wrong Trousers got its wedge under the spinning drum again, the impact knocking Mini Roll upwards slightly as it was driven towards the pit. As one of Mini Roll's wheels went over the edge, it fell off, with Mini Roll spinning away as The Wrong Trousers came in again, nearly pitting itself again, but reversing away just in time. With only one wheel, Mini Roll could only drive into the pit.

After this fight, it was discovered that maintenance to the speed controller had left a solder bridge between two components, creating a short, and the probable cause of the control issues in the first two fights. This was rectified before The Wrong Trousers' next fight, against MicroNewton, a flipper.

The two robots immediately charged at each other, with The Wrong Trousers slightly wedging underneath MicroNewton, before both manoeuvred away. MicroNewton span away as The Wrong Trousers approached, attempting to drive it into the wall, but MicroNewton got underneath the back of The Wrong Trousers and flipped it over the wall, eliminating it from the tournament at this stage.

### AWS 62

The Wrong Trousers returned for AWS 62 with completely overhauled electronics in a bid to fix the control issues that plagued it at AWS 61, and was slated to fight Recycler in round 1. These proved extremely problematic however, and, despite the heroic efforts of Team Foxfire in trying to get it to the arena, the speed controller shorted and burnt out minutes before The Wrong Trousers was due to fight and forced a forfeiture. The Wrong Trousers subsequently did not fight at AWS 62.

## Wins/Losses

* Wins: 2

* Losses: 7

## Outside AWS

In contrast to its record at AWS, The Wrong Trousers has been relatively successful at local events. The first version of The Wrong Trousers competed at BEEES Robot Wars 9 in December 2018 at the University of Bristol and, after being pitted in seconds in its first fight against The ReplicANTS, battled through the losers' bracket and finished joint fifth after defeat to the eventual champion **Smash Mouth**. It achieved some degree of vengeance later, however, pitting Smash Mouth on its way to victory in the Battle Royale.

A revised The Wrong Trousers fought at BEEES Robot Wars 10 in March 2019, winning a number of fights until suffering a destructive loss against Smash Mouth. Hastily repaired, it defeated **Sgt. Tash** to make it through to the overall final, where it was again defeated by Smash Mouth, placing second. Looking noticeably worse for wear, The Wrong Trousers fought again the following day at BBB7, winning twice before losing to eventual champion **Triggerdilly**. It fought its way back through the losers' bracket, reaching the final after defeating **Ghostwriter**, but lost to Triggerdilly again to finish second for the second time in two days.

The Wrong Trousers was mostly unchanged for BBB8 in June 2019, winning three consecutive fights and then once again losing destructively to Smash Mouth, before defeat to Esper eliminated it, placing third.