Gripping weapons

Crushing Weapons are used in combat to cause damage by piercing the opponent's armour. They often also facilitate pushing attacks, with several machines equipped with such weapons choosing to quickly dump opponents in the pit of oblivion. There are generally three classes of crushing weapons: Verical Crushers, Horizontal Crushers and weapons that act as Jaws or Claws.

Vertical Crushers
Vertical crushers were designed to crumple the top armour of opponents with a curved arm. To maximize attacking potential, these were almost always hydraulically powered, often allowing the crushing arm to deliver several tonnes of pressure. The pioneer of this type of weapon was double world champion Razer, however Tiberius 3 and Chompalot managed to win Robot Wars Events with similar weaponary.

The strengths of these machines are that they are effective at trapping opponents, and are even capable of lifting robots off the ground (without the need for dedicated lifting weapons), which Razer and Tiberius have managed on several occasions.

The weaknesses of vertical crushing weapons were that they often had slow, inefficient, or non-existant self-righting mechanisms. This is coupled with the fact that it is difficult to implement a vertical crushing arm on an invertible machine without leaving a high ground clearance after being flipped.

List of Robots with Vertical Crushers
Robots are listed alphabetically. Robots that aren't heavyweight are listed with a green background.

Horizontal Crushers
Horizontal Crushers would have the ability to pierce or crumple side panels of other machines.

The strengths of horizontal pincers or crushers are that they can, like vertical crushers trap other robots and making pushing easier. They are also easier to implement into an invertible design than their vertical counterparts. Following the example of house robot Dead Metal or competitor Big Nipper, the horizontal pincers allow ample opportunity for a good weapon synergy.

The weaknesses of horizontal crushers are that they can simply provide leverage for flippers and lifters, with Kan-Opener's battle with Atomic being an example.

List of Robots with Horizontal Crushers
Robots are listed alphabetically. Robots that aren't heavyweight are listed with a green background.

List of Robots with Jaws/Claws
Robots are listed alphabetically. Robots that aren't heavyweight are listed with a green background.