Team Shock

Team Shock are a team from Reading that competed in the 2016 series of Robot Wars. The team are a father and son team, captained by Will Thomas, a Design Technology Teacher who also designed the robots. His father Ian, a marketer, worked as the mechanic and the robot builder. Away from the TV show, Team Shock also includes Lynn Thomas and Emma Henzley.

Team Shock first debuted in the 2016 series of Robot Wars with their entry Shockwave, which was a four-wheel driven robot armed with a rotating arm with scoop attachments that could rotate at 360 degrees. It did well, reaching the finals of the competition before taking massive damage from Carbide.

Although Team Shock only got involved in the TV Show once, they are widely known by the roboteering community for their other two robots; Manta and Maelstrom, which even though failed to qualify for the 2016 series, have both done very well in the live event circuit during the 12 year hiatus of Robot Wars, including the rebranded Robot Wars Live Events. Manta also made a cameo appearance in Episode 2 of the 2016 series, on Team Shock's workbench in their VT.

Wins/Losses

 * Wins: 4
 * Losses: 2

Robot Wars Live Events
Team Shock are regular competitors at John Findlay's Robot Wars Live Events, with Shockwave, and particularly Manta and Maelstrom. The original Shockwave has only been fighting in the "retro battles" while Manta & Maelstrom have fought in the competitions with various degrees of success. Maelstrom won the first Robot Wars Live Event at Barnsley 2013, reached the finals at Portsmouth 2013 & finished runner-up at Widnes 2013. The team have also recently started competing with Earthquake.

Manta's debut was at the 2013 Robot Wars Event at Guildford where it reached the finals finishing runners-up to Thor, and also managed to win the Robot Wars 2013 Winter Tour. It also reached the semi-finals of the Robot Wars World Championships 2015 held at Colchester losing to eventual winner Toxic 2 where at this event it finished fourth overall.

Manta is also one of the two main mascots of Robot Wars live tours, as there is a regular part of the show where half of the audience will be told to cheer for Team Ripper, while the other half cheer for Team Manta. Audience members on Team Manta have the opportunity to win a Team Manta cap, or any audience member can purchase one from the merchandise stall.

Outside Robot Wars
Team Shock have competed in live events hosted by Roaming Robots & Robots Live! since 2007. The team first of all started competing with featherweights. Near late 2008, they purchased Robot Wars Competitor, St. Agro and it has since been rebuilt and renamed to Maelstrom. Under Team Shock's wing, it has done very well in live events reaching the final of the 2009 UK Championships losing to Terrorhurtz and also finishing runner-up in the 2012 UK Championships to Big Nipper.

In 2013, the team built Manta which has done well in major competitions such as finishing as runner-up in the 2013 UK Championships, 3rd in the 2014 UK Championships and finishing as runner-up to Toxic 2 in the European Championships 2013.

In April 2016, the team also purchased White Knight (formerly Iron-Awe 3) from Team Wind-Power before rebranding it to Earthquake.

In addition to their heavyweights, Team Shock have competed with various featherweight robots over the years, these are listed below.


 * 4 Baa 4: Built by Team Lambsy originally, the team bought it from them in 2007. However, Team Shock were unsuccessful with it so it was sold again to Team Toon.
 * Aftershock: Not to be confused with the team's heavyweight Aftershock, this was previously an upgraded version of Cutlet, before being purchased by Team Shock in 2007. During the times it has been rebuilt it has done very well in events winning the Roaming Robots 2008 Winter Tour and finishing as runner-up to Beauty 2 in the 2009 UK Championships.
 * Earthquake: A black wedge-shaped robot armed with a blue flipping arm.
 * Hammerhead: A small two-wheel driven featherweight armed with a low-pressure hammer.
 * Heatwave: A red and black wedge-shaped robot armed with a flipping arm. Winner of the 2009 Winter Tour and 2016 Guildford featherweight trophy.
 * Inertia XL: A two-wheeled driven featherweight armed with a vertical spinning disc. Achieved 3rd place in the 2011 UK Featherweight Championships.
 * Shockwave: Not to be confused with the team's heavyweight Shockwave, this is a clear polycarbonate-armoured wedge-shaped robot armed with a low-pressure flipper which the team claimed could flip a featherweight out of a heavyweight arena. This robot was since sold to Glasgow based roboteer, Tony Smith.
 * Stingray: A navy-blue 2-wheel driven HARDOX wedge-shaped rambot with a static chain-flail tail.
 * Swordfish: A 2 wheel driven axlebot made from HDPE.
 * Tidal Wave 2: A black wedge-shaped featherweight armed with a flipper, this robot was built for one of Will Thomas's Exam projects at school in 2007.
 * Whirlpool: A flat invertible four-wheel driven rambot.

The majority of the team's robots are all recognised for each having a display of LED lights.