Hobgoblin

"Don't panic, and try not to die!"

- Advice in robotics from Harry Hills

Hobgoblin was a heavyweight robot which competed in Series 9 and 10 of Robot Wars. At a cost of £1400, It was built by Harry Hills, who competed in Series 8 as part of Team Legion, although drive problems and a lack of a self-righting mechanism led to Hobgoblin falling in the first round of Series 9, while faulty batteries hindered it in Series 10.

Design
Hobgoblin's weapon is referred to as an ‘egg beater’, a popular weapon in lower weight classes, but was the first of its kind to be seen on Robot Wars, and is a rarity for heavyweight robots in general. The beater weighed 20kg with a spinning speed of 2500rpm. Shaped somewhat like the letter A, the beater had a diameter of 250mm to deliver a tip speed of 90mph. Hobgoblin was four-wheel driven, and its 5-inch wheels were custom-made from plastic billet, wrapped in bike tyre for extra traction. Hobgoblin's frame was made from HARDOX and water-cut high-grade aluminium, and both the weapon and drive system are powered by 4x 6s (22.2v) Lithium Polymer batteries. In Series 9, it ran on 500W lawnmower motors for a top speed of 9mph, but these were replaced with brushed DC motors in Series 10 for a top speed of 12mph.

At the time of Series 9, Hobgoblin featured a front wedge, designed to lead robots into the egg beater. However, this wedge was replaced with a toothed face Series 10, allowing the beater to make contact immediately, at the expense of extra ground clearance, although this was removed for its second fight in the series. The Series 9 version was theoretically invertible, but this proved not to be the case, so castor wheels were added to the top of Hobgoblin in Series 10. These allowed the robot to run inverted, although a combination of battery failure and melted castors still stopped Hobgoblin from moving freely while inverted.

Qualification
Hobgoblin applied for Series 9 through open applications, and notably was one of very few robots to qualify for Robot Wars using purely a computer-aided design, as the build process was not finished at this stage - typically most robots are not selected unless there is evidence of the build progress. Before setting on this design, Hills had also created CAD renders of an invertible Hobgoblin with an egg beater, and a version with an undercutting spinner.

Due to Series 10 reducing the number of competitors from 40 to 30, Hobgoblin narrowly missed out on the initial selection of competitors, although it was invited to attend filming as a reserve. Once Point Blank withdrew due to safety concerns, Hobgoblin became the last robot to earn its place in the series.

Series 9
"Heavyweights are stupid!"

- Harry Hills' catchphrase

Hobgoblin competed in Episode 2, where it faced two powerful flipping weapons in Behemoth and Eruption, alongside Belgian entry Cobra. Before the fight, the team claimed that Hobgoblin could self-right in theory, but that this had not been tested. Additionally, the team encountered further worries, as changes to the robot's drive system instead made Hobgoblin incapable of turning, and its forward movement was limited - even entering the robot's starting position proved challenging.

"In an attempt to turn up/off the current limiting on the ESC to give the drive more grunt and must have turned it the wrong damn way. Bruh. Bruhhhhhhh. This turned it all the way down so the robot really struggled to move forwards and just noped at any attempt at turning. I found this out in the arena."

- Harry Hills

When the battle started, Hobgoblin quickly brought its weapon up to full speed, but its lack of speed meant that Hobgoblin could only meander around the arena. It was charged by Behemoth, although Hobgoblin survived this attack. However, Eruption then drove under it and flipped Hobgoblin over. Carried by the force of its egg beater, Hobgoblin came to rest beside the arena side wall and could not self-right, where it was counted out. After a full three-minute fight, Behemoth and Eruption were declared the victors, and Hobgoblin fell alongside Cobra.

"It seemed to love being on it's back so much it spent the majority of it's television career in the same position. DAMNIT GOB I BELIEVED IN YOU."

- Harry Hills

Series 10
"It clicked when I was about fourteen, 'oh, I know how to take things apart!' Then the heavenly gates opened, and I was like... 'well, I can make stuff!'"

- Harry Hills on his gateway to robotics

Hobgoblin competed in Heat 5, replacing Point Blank to become the last addition to the series. In its Group Battle, it faced the new drum spinner from Team Ranglebots, Magnetar, and Team S.Tek's returning front-hinged flipper, Push to Exit. Before the battle, Dara Ó Briain compared Hobgoblin to the music artist Prince. Hobgoblin entered the battle with its toothed front as protection against Magnetar's drum, despite knowing it would pose a disadvantage against Push to Exit.

Hobgoblin drove forwards in the opening stages, quickly spinning up its egg-beater, but Push to Exit quickly drove under the toothed face of Hobgoblin, as the team had feared, and threw it straight over, causing Hobgoblin to skid over the flame pit. One of Hobgoblin's castor wheels had become damaged by fire, and one of the robot's 16V batteries had shorted at the start of the battle, the effect of which had grown more apparent, so Hobgoblin lacked the drive power to leave the area in which it had been flipped. Hobgoblin managed to edge nearer to the flame pit, but could only slowly turn in circles on the robot's one functional castor wheel, and an immobilisation clock begun, rendering Hobgoblin immobile, having lost the battle to Magnetar despite never making contact with the drum spinner.

"Hobgoblin, trying to turn through its own circumference, which means it would be just about mobile, are they?"

- Jonathan Pearce as Hobgoblin struggled to drive

In the Robot Redemption Knockouts, Hobgoblin faced the runner-up of the Group Battle won by Thor, and the team's close friends, Coyote. Team Hobgoblin mockingly wrote "Bite Me, Coyote" onto their robot, surrounded by love hearts. "A lot of my friendship groups are now robot-centred, and there were kind of a few of us who were the same age. We've almost kind of grew into it together."

- Harry Hills on the friendships between roboteers

After an opening collision between both robots, Hobgoblin was left reeling, and Coyote drove under the side of it to manoeuvre Hobgoblin towards the arena spikes. However, Hobgoblin was still struggling to gain control due to a slipped drive belt, and driver Matt Smith could not easily move his robot away from the raised pit. "Probably a bad place to be..."

- Harry Hills

Hobgoblin eventually reversed off, and hit Coyote's jaw with its egg beater moments before Coyote's minibot Roadrunner opened the pit. Seemingly unable to drive directly forwards, Hobgoblin backed into Coyote, and was pushed into various sections of the arena, wedged by Coyote's lifter. "Maybe try and gyro with the beater a bit? Can you do, like, hard turns on the diagonals?"

- Harry Hills suggests ways for Matt Smith to regain control

Coyote dragged Hobgoblin near to the centre of the arena, where Hobgoblin managed to rip some pipework from Coyote, but it could not leave its own circumference before Coyote drove it into the reach of Sir Killalot, although Hobgoblin was able to buckle and damage the claw of Sir Killalot. Coyote held Hobgoblin over the flame pit, and pulled away a drive belt from Hobgoblin, while Hobgoblin failed to move away from its position, eventually shearing a keyway in the robot's drive. Coyote edged Hobgoblin into the CPZ, and the damaged Sir Killalot left in order for Shunt to barge in, driving Hobgoblin into the corner of the arena and repeatedly strike it with axe blows, striking both the robot and the egg beater itself. "That's us spent, pretty much."

- Matt Smith

Although Hobgoblin was immobile, and Shunt landed further axe blows, Hobgoblin managed to earn some vengeance, as when Shunt landed a direct blow on Hobgoblin's spinning weapon, the egg beater ripped the entire titanium tip from Shunt's axe, shattering it across the arena. While Hobgoblin was being counted out, Shunt flipped Hobgoblin over using its scoop, and left it in the corner of the arena until 'cease' was called. Hobgoblin was eliminated at this stage, but left the competition on a high note. "And Hobgoblin comes away with a little minor moral victory there!"

- Jonathan Pearce

Results

 * }

Wins/Losses

 * Wins: 0
 * Losses: 3

Series Record
NOTE: Team member Matt Smith attempted to enter Series 8-9 with Phantom, and originally Series 10 with Crowd Control, but was never selected to compete.

Outside Robot Wars
Following on from Hobgoblin's drive errors displayed on television, Harry Hills quickly amended these issues, and the following day, Hobgoblin ran freely in testing.

With Sabretooth and Hobgoblin being the first heavyweight robots Harry Hills was involved with, Hills mostly participated in featherweight competitions. Featherweight robots built by Hills include Flatpack, a four-bar lifter, and Massacre, an overhead bar spinner which strongly resembles three-time Battlebots Middleweight Champion, Hazard.

For more information on Matt Smith's excursions outside of Robot Wars, see Phantom.

Andy Russell is a beetleweight roboteer whose signature robot is Telekinesis, an invertible undercutter using watercut HARDOX armour. Its discs are interchangeable.