Notable Robots

Over the 7 year course for which Robot Wars ran, 324 different robots competed in the main series. Some would become regular competitors, whilst others only competed for one season.

Pussycat
Pussycat was an unusual "pyramid" shaped robot with four wheels at the bottom and a cutting four-toothed (sometimes two and eight) blade at the top. The robot was given its name due to its ability to drive any way up: often it would enter the arena upright, then flip down horizontally to bring the blade into action. Pussycat competed in every war except the Series 6, making it the oldest competing robot. The team competed with Bodyhammer in the first two series.

Cassius
Cassius was a wedge shaped robot with a forward hindged flipping ram. Cassius 2 also had a rear spike It competed in Series 2 and Series 3 and was the first UK robot to successfully self-right, using its arm (such a device was later known as a Self-Righting Mechanism, or Srimech). The team also entered in Series 1 with Recyclops, who became the first robot to topple a House Robot. Team captain Rex Garrod was very much a sporting person, and would prefer attacking a House Robot rather than a competitor that had already been beaten.

Mortis
Mortis was a tank-like robot running on tracks that competed in the first four wars. Its weapons were an axe that could hit three times in one second and later a lifting arm that could lift 100 kilos. Mortis is known for being one of the most expensive robots in the wars, costing £4000 to build. Despite this, Mortis never really performed as well as it should have done.

Killertron
Killertron, made from a wheely big lid, was a pink (sometimes orange) robot with a large scoop on the front and a swinging pick-axe. Although it debuted in Series 1, its best performance was in Series 2, where it came fourth. It also competed in Series 4 and Extreme Series 1, but didn't perform very well in either.

Napalm
Napalm, as described by commentator Jonathan Pierce, was a two-wheeled titanium hull, with a two pronged axe as its main weapon. The team competed in the first five wars, with Detonator in Series 1 and Shadow Of Napalm in Series 4. Although Napalm wasn't the quickest robot, nor was it that secure, it never lost the first round of any wars, and got to the Semi-Finals of Series 2.

GBH
GBH was a competitor in Series 2 and Series 6. The first GBH was a box shaped robot with a lifting scoop, whilst GBH 2 was a box wedge shaped like an endurance race-car with two flippers. The team also competed in Series 1 with Scrapper (which should not be confused with the Series 7 competitor "The Scrapper") and in Series 3 with Facet.

Diotoir
Diotoir was a competitor from the Republic of Ireland. It was a roughly circular/semi-circular shaped robot covered in red fur with black spots, and its main weapon was a hydraulic flipping arm (later a shovel) powered by two springs, rather than the CO2 used by most flippers. Although the weaponary was not as powerful as other flippers and the fur meant that the robot frequently caught fire, Diotoir enjoyed a relatively successful run throughout the first five series in which it competed. The team competed in Series 1 and 2 with Nemesis, and later lent Nemesis to an Australian team when their robot broke down. Diotoir also won the Sportsmanship award three times out of five.

Dreadnaut
Dreadnaut was a dome shaped robot with a pair of lifting forks. It competed in the first four wars. In the first and second wars, it was unreliable and frequently broke down, but by the third and fourth wars it had managed to fix these problems.

Plunderbird 5
Plunderbird was a box-wedge shaped competitor that competed in the first five series. Plunderbird 1 had an interchangable saw and spike. Plunderbird 2 and Plunderbird 3 (known as Plunderstorm) were rammers and Plunderbird 4 and Plunderbird 5 had piercing claws. Plunderbird was well known for its team, who portrayed themselves with a "tough-guy" attitude, and frequently sang raps.

Griffon
Griffon was a low box shaped robot with a lifting arm. It was based on Biohazard, a highly successful American robot, although it was never really very successful. The team also entered Series 1 with Cunning Plan, which made the Grand Final.

Terrestrial Robotic Artificial Computerised Intelligent Engine
Known as T.R.A.C.I.E, this competitor was a flat box with twin ramming spikes. T.R.A.C.I.E was the first ever competitor in Robot Wars to be invertable: that is, to be able to run upside down. It made it to the Grand Final, only to become beached on the featherweight Cunning Plan.