Robot Wars S07E10 Part 3: Wedge Wars

It’s the third part of Heat J, 10th heat in the 7th wars, and things are starting to fly. Thermidor, the 14th seed, are responsible for most of those that have flown out of the arena, dispatching The Kraken in the previous fight. But now we have another flipper ready to cause havoc and end another robots dreams in the shape of Kronic The Wedgehog. But they have a mini yet mighty robot standing in their path- Mighty Mouse.

It’s a fight between a full blown flipper bot and a nimble rambot (with some discs to satisfy the rules, but I’m not sure they’re its main weapon). For the mouse, however, there are many issues to overcome. After burning out a motor in their first fight, they have to hope the new one actually works.

Your house robots for this glorious encounter are the dastardly duo themselves, Mr Psycho and his god from hell, Growler. Let battle commence!

The battle starts, and Kronic heads straight for Mighty Mouse, looking to get the first attack in. They go in head on and fire the flipper, but they miss. Not only do they miss, but almost all of the yellow foam spikes come flying off!

Abandon Ship!!!

Kronic starts going in circles, trying to get back on track and back on the scent of Mighty Mouse, but the mouse makes some good dodges to avoid the flipper for a good few seconds. Kronic does eventually regain their bearings though, and slam Mighty Mouse into the side wall before flipping them over. MM of course has the top roll bar to make sure they (almost) always land on their wheels. Kronic comes in again and throws Mighty Mouse into the side wall, bouncing them off it before the mouse escapes.

Mighty Mouse is now pretty much running around, trying to avoid Kronic as much as they possibly can. They do have one advantage, in Kronic’s supposed inability to get underneath them if they launch a frontal assault, which they do a couple of times. Eventually MM get backed into a corner, allowing Growler to spring from his cage and push the mouse across the arena, collecting the pit release button along the way.

Danger Close

Mighty Mouse go back to what they know best- running away. This includes running into the Refbot by accident. What they don’t account for is the fact that Kronic have now managed to trap themselves in the CPZ, and Growler is ready to play with them. Is there a turn up happening here?

The Look of Despair

Kronic have now definitely stopped moving. Growler plays around for a bit, but has the knowledge to know when enough is enough, and to let the Refbot move in and take over proceedings. Sure enough, Kronic is counted out. Who saw that coming!

Psycho & Growler have a little nudge and get Kronic out of the CPZ and back into the open, ready for further punishment. This comes courtesy of Mr Psycho, who brings the hammer down (Second attempt though mind), then drives up the robot! They can only get so far before the tracks loose purchase with the ground, but it must still hurt Kronic. Their fight is over.

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So, after that shock fight, we now have our two finalists. Thermidor 2 have been oh so impressive, whilst the mouse has survived against the odds. But only one can go through to the series semi-final. Will the seeded favourites prevail, or will the underdogs (Or should that be undermice?) add yet another robot corpse to their collection? It’s time to find out!

Your house robots for this clash are boxing beatbot Cassius Chrome, and the OG of the house, Sir Killalot!

Mighty Mouse make use of their awesome top speed and instantly run away from the menacing red lobster that wants to toss them like a rodent sized pancake. Unfortunately running away takes them only so far as Sir Killalot, who isn’t best pleased to see another robot disturbing him. As Mighty Mouse backs away, Thermidor come in and get a slight flip on them, but not enough. So they try again, and again only make slight contact. It’s proving hard to get ahold of the mouse.

Thermidor we know has to be careful because of its limited CO2 capabilities, so all of these missed flips really isn’t helping it. Mighty Mouse aren’t really causing any damage themselves, and the rear discs have been next to useless. But they are a tenacious robot. But, so are Thermidor, and eventually they catch up enough to get underneath properly and flip them over.

All About the Eyes

Mighty Mouse recovers well, escaping the glare of Cassius Chrome, and then decides to try and replicate their Kronic fight by driving right into the flipper of Thermidor 2. Except this time, they go straight up the flipper, and are duly tossed through the air.

Launch Pad

Mighty Mouse’s next trick is to start running in circles around the Refbot, something that works about twice before Thermidor catches onto what’s happening, and starts going in the other direction. Mighty Mouse are doing a good job of hanging on. Another flip, and Mighty Mouse once again roll over and back onto their wheels, but this time they roll into Sir Killalot, who is so slow that he can’t actually catch them before they run away again. Speed merchants. But it doesn’t last for long, because Sir Killalot always catches up to you. Now Mighty Mouse is stuck on the house robot with nowhere to go.

Killalot’s New Dick

Mighty Mouse is now actually stuck on Sir Killalot. Properly stuck. Killalot tries desperately to get them off, ramming them against a side wall and angle grinder, but to no avail. They only get free when Thermidor intervenes and flips them off, leaving Mighty Mouse to run away… Once again.

But Thermidor comes in with a flip. And another one. They’re certainly more aggressive, and that could yet play a big role in the outcome. But then something curious happens; Mighty Mouse seems to lose the ability to turn right, signalling the potential for them to have lost drive in their left and right controls, and meaning that they are now spending the fight driving up and down the arena sidewall. Almost like they’re being attracted by a magnetic pull.

Killalot are taking full advantage of this situation, and take things a step further by picking Mighty Mouse up, using the lance to pick the mouse up by its roll hoop, before toasting it over the flames and flinging it across the arena. Thermidor opens up the pit as the clock finally counts down, but Mighty Mouse survive to take it to the judges!

But, well, I don’t need to tell you that it was a fairly easy decision to make for the judges. On aggression alone, Thermidor had it in the bag, and so Thermidor are going through to the series Semi-Finals!

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So there we go, another finalist in the bag (And another flipper too). Whenever I end up doing the next recap, we’ll be moving onto Heat K and the 12th seeds Bulldog Breed, who are facing up to mortal enemies Kat 3. I can’t believe it’s coincidence that a dog based robot and a cat based robot were put in the same heat.

But that’s for next time. Until then…

 

Robot Wars S07E10 Part 2: Under The Sea

Usually I seem to do these things on a Thursday, but I’m going away tomorrow so here I am a day early. I’m not sure when I decided I was going to do these once a week but I’m quite enjoying having the space between articles, so it stays until the new series begins.

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So, after some very entertaining first round fixtures, we know who is going to be going through into the heat semi-finals. Thermidor 2, Mighty Mouse, The Kraken and Kronic The Wedgehog. They are now split into one on one battles, with Thermidor 2 v The Kraken, and Mighty Mouse v Kronic The Wedgehog. I hope the title to this article helps with deciphering which of those battles is going to appear in this article.

But, before any of that happens, we’re back to the world of special events. And we’re revisiting the 3rd World Championships with yet another qualifier. This time it’s New Zealand versus Belgium, not two countries you might expect to be facing off against each other, but here they are anyway.

First into the field of battle is Riptilion, representing the team from New Zealand. A fairly flat, dome shaped robot, Riptilion is armoured in what all good reptiles are armoured with- green scales. In terms of weaponry, Riptilion has a small spinner at the front of the robot, with sharp spikes on the other side. It has a top speed of 27mph, making it super speedy, but it is the perfect shape to get bludgeoned by an axe, and it has no self-righting abilities whatsoever.

On the other side we have Hard, a robot hailing from Belgium. Riptilion’s worst nightmare, Hard is indeed a wedgebot with a flipper. Named “Hard” presumably because of its ultra tough, stainless steel armour, it also featured a custom-built locomotion system which allowed it to run both ways up (Two wheels on the top, two on the bottom. But they’re independent from each other, unlike a lot of invertible robots that just have the same wheels going from one side to the other). However, it doesn’t actually have the most powerful flipper, which leaves it low on attack.

Your house robots for this fight include the one-eyed Cassius Chrome, and the dog from hell, Growler. Two mean machines, though one somewhat meaner than the other. Time to battle!

The battle starts off, well, slowly. For a robot that can supposedly run at up to 27mph, Riptilion looks incredibly sluggish. It’s such a big robot, and it does not look very manoeuvrable at all. This all plays into the hands of Hard, who can come in and take control of the battle. Riptilion attempts to spin on the spot, as it claims it can do, but it is ineffective. Hard get underneath a couple of times, before finally managing to get their first flip in, pushing Riptilion up against the arena side wall.

Hard has a taste for battle now, and continues to push Riptilion around. Hard’s flipper isn’t the most powerful, but Riptilion is an easy target, and Hard can get some more flips in before Cassius Chrome arrives on the scene. Riptilion are trying to attack, but their weapon is just not powerful enough to do any damage. So Hard continues the assault.

Hard has now pushed Riptilion into a CPZ, so Cassius Chrome makes a return. But with Hard there too, Cassius rams into both robot, sending Riptilion over Hard’s wedge and into the air. As everything settles down, Cassius Chrome is still there, landing robo punch after robo punch.

Boxbot Supreme

This attack has taken its toll on Riptilion, who are now struggling just to get out of the CPZ. And because they’re still stuck there, Growler can come in too! And Riptilion is quite a nice shape for Growler, who can get those jaws nicely into the robot. Just like a dog with a chew toy.

Dog with a chew toy

Riptilion are no longer really moving, and so Refbot comes in to count them out. Hard makes this a rather difficult process by continually attacking Riptilion during the countdown, but nonetheless they are still counted out anyway. A disappointing end to a disappointing robot. But not the end of the battle just yet, because Growler has a second bite at Riptilion, clamping on to move the robot onto the floor flipper.

And off it flies.

It doesn’t actually go very far, mainly because of how Growler has put them on the flipper but also because of how big they are. Needless to say it doesn’t matter much, they’re still out. Hard are through to the 3rd World Championships.

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So now we can move onto the first battle in the second round of this heat, between The Kraken and the 14th seeds, Thermidor 2. It’s a flipper versus a crusher, and not such an uneven contest if The Kraken can make that crusher work. The problem for them is that it didn’t seem all that powerful in the opening battle, and Thermidor is an experienced robot.

Cassius Chrome is back once again in the arena, along with the monster that is Mr Psycho. Two heavyweights ready to make war. And war we shall have!

Thermidor waste no time in launching their first attack on The Kraken, first getting around their side before just about wedging the flipper underneath. Then BAM! The flipper goes off and The Kraken are on their side. Now, honestly, the battle could have been over at this point. The Kraken can only really self-right when it’s on its back, but on its side as it is now it is basically doomed. But Thermidor want to continue the fight, and flipped them again. Now The Kraken can self-right. The battle continues!

Unfortunately for The Kraken, the skirmish has now resulted in their first crushing beak being completely bent out of shape, and rendering it useless. But The Kraken persevere, and they’re not out of this yet either. They can get underneath Thermidor with their front wedge, trapping them, but there is no weapon to use.

Thermidor are soon back on the front foot, and The Kraken very almost go flying out of the arena, but just about survive. And so that continues for most of the next minute, with Thermidor basically playing around with their opponent, and The Kraken have no reply. And, in the midst of that, Thermidor press the pit release button. Because why not? But when they try to get them down the pit, they accidentally flip them over it and almost drive in themselves!

Near Death Experience

The battle continues in much the same way as it has beforehand. Thermidor flip The Kraken, The Kraken self-right, and repeat. Repeat several times. Thermidor are well on top, and The Kraken haven’t ever looked like doing anything worthwhile. So Thermidor come in one last time, and flip Kraken right next to the pit. And this time, not making a mistake, they push them down.

Actual Death Experience

And finish. What a fight.

 

 

Robot Wars S07E10 Part 1: The Kronicles Of Robot Warfare

Coming up with the titles is one of the best parts of doing this. Seriously, I love it.

We’re now back into the realm of normality, with the previous episode changing things up by not having a special event. And now we’re onto the back 8, we’re starting to count down the seeds, until we get to seed number 2 in episode 16. Short way to go before we get there though, it has to be said. For now we are onto seed number 14, which is the ever loveable red lobster, Thermidor 2. A robot that either does very well or very badly, and not usually anywhere in-between.

We’re joined by a variety of other animal based robots in this heat as well, including Mighty Mouse and Cobra, but I’m pretty sure you could also count Kronic The Wedgehog and The Kraken on that list too. Other than them, we have Mobot, 8545T 2 (BEAST 2 if you want to try and convert the numbers into letters, so that it makes more sense when you think about it) and Pinser- a slightly cuter version of Tiberius. I say that only because the bolt holding the hydraulic ram in place makes it look as if the robot has eyes.

Now we know the robots, time to know who is facing who.

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So the first heat, and the first robot we are introduced to is Mighty Mouse, a robot that is unsurprisingly modelled on- you guessed it- a mouse. A small, compact robot, Mighty Mouse seems to be more about agility and tenacity than just smashing its opposition into little pieces, and as a consequence it weighs little over 80kg. It does have weapons in the form of some ramming spikes and a couple of rear spinning discs, but its 23mph top speed is its main asset in escaping any oncoming danger. It also has a roll hoop on top, with the express aim of righting the robot should it be flipped. Like I said, tenacity.

Next up we have Mobot, one of the wackier entries to this series, and certainly the most interesting design of the heat. It’s almost like an optical illusion in the way that the robot is horizontally long on one end, then vertically tall on the other end. It does have a nasty sounding rotary blade for a weapon, weighing in at 20kg, mounted underneath the robot PP3D style. The team behind it, however, don’t seem to give the robot much of a chance, which is perhaps why they fitted it with a petrol driven motor. I’m hoping to see flames.

Next on our list for this melee is the seeded robot themselves, Thermidor 2. Like a less destructive version of Dead Metal, Thermidor combines a set on grabbing pincers with a second, more powerful weapon. In their case, however, the second weapon is a flipper. A robot that reached the semi-finals in the 4th wars, but then dumped out in the first round of the 5th and 6th wars, it could well be time for a lobster revival. Or not. Who knows? (I do but that’s not the point). It can run at speeds up to 15mph and the flipper is very powerful, but the robot can’t store that much CO2, making every flip valuable. See also: Exposed wheels.

Last on this list is 8645T 2, also known as Beast 2, a nightmare of literacy but a decent robot on its day. It’s wedge shaped with a powerful flipper, but a flipper connected to a rear facing axe. When the flipper fires upwards, the axe comes down, giving it duel weaponry to be used on demand, through the same system. Has a rather cool paint job too, just to scare everyone away. However, despite being a flipper, it still has problems self-righting.

So we now know the robots, and we’re ready for battle. But there are two more robots to introduce, those being the house robots for this battle. So here’s to the guardians of the arena for this fight, Sgt. Bash and Dead Metal. BEGIN!

Mighty Mouse, owing to that mega top speed, is right in the fight instantly, connecting with Thermidor 2 before backing out and running away. Thermidor instead turns its attentions to 8645T, getting in underneath the robot and flipping them up onto their rear end, but the robot is able to get back onto its wheels. Mobot, trying to stay out of the way, is then targeted by 8645T, which manages to get a slight lift on it out of the flipper. Nothing that’s going to set the world alight though.

Mighty Mouse, after their first escape, have now driven straight into Dead Metal, which manages to get the claws around the roll hoop, a fairly easy target for Dead Metal because of their shape. But the mouse survives and escapes, just as Thermidor and pushing 8645T towards the arena side wall. They flip them, pinning 8645T on its side and against the arena wall.

Upturned Beast

8645T 2 is now beached, on its side with no way of righting itself. Good, I never have to spell out that name again.

On the other side, Mighty Mouse is taking on Mobot, who is still in one piece. Granted, there aren’t many robot here that can do great damage to it, so I don’t think it’s going to be coming out of the arena in a bin bag, but it’s still an achievement. What isn’t an achievement is the fact that the spinning disc attached to the bottom of it seems to do not very much at all.

After Mighty Mouse is done, Thermidor 2 goes after them next. I talked earlier about Mobot having an odd shape, well that odd shape in the end is what finished them off. Thermidor 2 get the flip in, and the Mobot then proceeds to bounce OVER the arena side wall, and out of the competition. A more sensible shape and I honestly don’t think it would have gone over. But hey, it was fun to watch.

Mobot? Mo More

And just like that, we know who is going through to the next round. Admittedly Thermidor did most of the work, but Mighty Mouse helped out where it could. And now that Thermidor aren’t crashing out in the first round, does this mean they’ll make the semis?

For now, Thermidor is more concerned with taking on Mighty Mouse, and they actually manage to flip them over and pin them in the CPZ. It doesn’t matter because 8645T were immobilised first, and they’re now being counted out. Once that happens, Thermidor actually rights 8645T, prompting a mad run around the arena versus the house robots hunting it down. Eventually they drive over the floor flipper, which then sends them flying backwards across the arena. Stunned but alive, they then drive themselves straight into the pit. Great fun to watch, even if they ultimately won’t be going any further.

Crash Landing

Thermidor 2 and Mighty Mouse going through.

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So our second melee now, and a chance to see the other four robots in action. A couple of crushers, a flipper and a snake. Sounds entertaining enough to me.

First in the arena for this fight is Pinser. Its first foray into Robot Wars, Pinser is like any other crusher in many way. Strong titanium armour over a triangular wedge shaped body, which can entice another robot into its grasp. The crusher itself if hydraulic powered, something that we’ve seen once backfire on them in the “Crusher Crunch-Up, where the robot basically exploded after the hydraulic fluid caught fire. It weighs the maximum 100kg, and is one tough robot (Barring any hydraulic based explosions). It does have other flaws though, including a low top speed and a high ground clearance.

Next we have Cobra, not to be confused with the Cobra which entered the 9th wars, which is a box shaped robot with angled sides, just to make it a little bit different. It can run both ways up, but that’s about the only good thing it can do. The weaponry is a ramming spike concealed by a plush snake mascot that rides the robot, but the spike can only perform up to 6 attacks per battle, and even then it doesn’t seem worth it. Also the perfect shape for a crusher *Cough* Pinser *Cough*.

Thirdly is The Kraken, another robot that features a crushing arm, but this robot has some interesting details that set it apart from opponent Pinser. The fact that the robot is black is possibly the least important of all of them. More importantly, The Kraken features two crushers- a pneumatic one to grab an opponent, and then a hydraulic one to crush then. The shape is different too, with the robot somewhat elongated horizontally compared to Pinser, with a long lead in ramp. However, the robot looks lightly armoured, which could make it a target.

Finally we have Kronic The Wedgehog, based on a certain blue video game hedgehog, a robot that is no stranger to Robot Wars. Having been through several iterations since its inception in the 4th wars, Kronic is now a mad flipper complete with yellow foam spikes that often catch fire. It actually has two flippers, with the side flipper meant for self righting purposes, but actually being faster to flip than its sister flipper. The wheel guards however ate gone, leaving the wheels somewhat exposed. It’s not had amazing success so far, can it go any further this time?

Your house robot for this battle are Mr Psycho and Sgt. Bash. Here’s hoping for some flames for those yellow foam spikes. Begin!

Kronic is straight in at a sluggish Cobra, instantly getting underneath and flipping them over. They go round the other side to look for another attack, but this time all they flip off is one of their own yellow foam spikes. Having decided against staying with Cobra, Kronic go after Pinser, but they turn out to be a lot harder to get underneath, and the flips miss their target.

The Kraken, barely touched upon so far, are struggling to get to grips with Cobra in the background, but the main event going on now involves Pinser, who have now managed to grab hold of Kronic, and are bringing that hydraulic crushing arm all the way down, pinching the flipper. Hard.

To catch a Wedgehog

Pinser move their catch over the a flame jet, just as the other two robots come to join them. Kronic is burning, and going nowhere, until The Kraken comes along and separates the two robots. So now it’s a 3 way fight with Cobra to idly watching them. That leads nicely to Cobra becoming a target again, although they’re too busy being wedged into the arena side wall to do anything about it. The Kraken come in and, for the first time, are able to bring the hydraulic pincer down to do some damage. Entirely cosmetic damage, but still something.

Pinser, perhaps jealous, come in and take Cobra away, but once again it repeats the fatal error of driving over the flame pit. Now there isn’t quite the explosion we had last time, but there are certainly flames coming out of the robot. Hydraulic fluid fuelled flames.

Up in flames

The thing is, because Pinser was latched onto Cobra when the hydraulics set alight, the robot is now stuck there. The arm won’t retract, so Pinser is stuck, holding on to Cobra, which is also not really going anywhere. Mr Psycho takes a look at the pair, sizing them up before actually driving over Cobra. I mean that’s what you get for having angled sides.

Refbot comes over, has a look, and then promptly counts out both robots at once, allowing Mr Psycho to come back in and start raining hammer blows. I’ll admit, the hammer never looks quite as impressive as I’d like it to when it comes down, but I’m sure it packs quite a punch when it lands on a robot.

Not content with just the hammer, Psycho moves both robots onto the floor flipper. If you though that would be a way to split them apart, then you’d be wrong, because even as they fly through the air, they remain coupled. Next up? Drop Zone. But as is often the case, the falling TV does more damage to itself than to Cobra, the robot it lands on. In the end it doesn’t matter- both robots are out, Kronic and The Kraken are going through.

Reality TV

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So there we have it, our eight have been cut down to four. The seeds Thermidor 2 are going through, along with Kronic, The Kraken and Mighty Mouse. *Animal theme intensifies*. But which one of these will take their place in the series semi-final?

Until next time.