Crushtacean

Crushtacean was an oval-shaped silver robot that competed in Series 5, 6 and 7. It was designed to resemble a crab, with its main weapon being a pair of pincers. Rather than being controlled by a button or a joystick, the claws were operated by a uniquely designed pair of gloves, which had sensors so that the claws would open or close in relation to the wearer's hand movement. Crushtacean's best performance was in its debuting season, where it defeated the seeded favorite Behemoth and reached the heat final. It was nominated for Best Newcomer, but missed out. However, the next season, they won the award for Most Original Entry, thanks to their unusual technology. Its name was a pun on Crustacean, the group of arthropods to which the crab belongs.

The team originated from South Africa and represented the country in international competitions, finishing as runner-up to Firestorm 4 in the Commonwealth Carnage competition in Extreme Series 2, and coming joint third with Tough As Nails in The Third World Championship.

Crushtacean also competed in Dutch Robot Wars under the name Krab Bot, reaching the Grand Final of the second series. Captain Ian Visser was able to get through the interviews by speaking Afrikaans, a native South African language which is virtually identical to Dutch.

Series 5
Crushtacean started its first appearance in the wars very well against Robochicken Evo. It got flipped a few times but paraded the chicken-like robot from CPZ to CPZ where it took damage from the house robots. The fight went to the judges, with the decision awarding the win to Crushtacean. In round 2, Crushtacean then provided a huge shock against the far more experienced Behemoth. Crushtacean activated the pit, then Behemoth in an attempt to flip Crushtacean levered itself over, and Crustacean preceded in grabbing Team Make Robotics' machine before dumping it down the pit. For the Heat Final against Wheely Big Cheese, Crushtacean had a cheese grater tied to its claw but a massive flip from Wheely Big Cheese was enough to rip the aerial from the crab-like machine, immobilizing it and eliminating it from the Fifth Wars.

Series 6
Crushtacean's first round battle for the Sixth Wars had Dantomkia, Mr Nasty and Dr Fist. Crushtacean attacked Mr Nasty at first but then got flipped against the arena wall in the CPZ by Dantomkia. Crushtacean was an open target for Sir Killalot and seemed to be in trouble as the big house robot picked up Crushtacean and nearly dropped it out the arena. In the end, Killalot let it go. Crushtacean was pressurized a lot by Dantomkia and seemed to have lost its mobility, but Crushtacean went through with Dantomkia as Mr Nasty and Dr Fist had already broken down. Round 2 was against former UK Champion Chaos 2. Crushtacean started off well as Chaos 2 tried to flip Crushtacean but leaned itself forward, then Crushtacean thrusted the two times UK Champion onto the wall where it landed on its side but it managed to recover. Chaos 2 got some flips in on Crushtacean but had no effect on the crab-like robot due to it being invertable. Crushtacean then activated the pit release and then reversed into the pit eliminating itself from the Sixth Wars.

Extreme 2
Crushtacean came back for Extreme 2 and took part in the Commonwealth Carnage representing South Africa. It started the opening round melee very well grabbing hold of Cerberus before opening the pit and throwing the machine from Cyprus down. It then spent the rest of the fight attacking Canadian Terror Turtle along with Welsh Panic Attack. Near the last 10 seconds of the fight, Terror Turtle was overturned by Sir Killalot and couldn't seem to right itself but the fight went to the judges anyway and Crushtacean survived the judges decision going through along with Series 2 champion Panic Attack. For round 2, Crushtacean then faced the Scottish Corkscrew. The fight started with Corkscrew doing its usual tactic of running away to get up to speed but Crushtacean then managed to chase the scottish robot into the arena wall stopping the disc allowing Crushtacean to grab hold of the blades. Crushtacean then waltzed Corkscrew into the pit release before pushing it down. The final was against the English Firestorm 4 who managed to turn Crushtacean onto its side where it couldn't get back down onto its wheels and the Refbot then counted Crushtacean out of the Commonwealth Carnage.

Series 7
Crushtacean attacked UFO at the start of the battle, but couldn't grab hold of UFO's wedge shape. UFO got underneath Crushtacean, but as its flipped didn't work, UFO just pushed Crushtacean around. Then Behemoth rammed and tried to lift Crushtacean, but then quickly flipped Crushtacean into an arena wall. Crushtacean was briefly impeded by UFO, but was then flipped very close to the wall again. However Crushtacean escaped, but Behemoth and UFO had ganged up on Crushtacean, ramming and flipping it around the arena, until it drove over UFO and became stuck on the arena wall. Finally left immobile, Behemoth flipped it out as an act of vengeance for the Series 5 defeat at Crushtacean's claws.

Crushtacean returned for The Third World Championship. In its qualifier it faced Irish robot Topbot. Crushtacean quickly grabbed hold of Topbot and pushed it into the CPZ, but it escaped. Topbot attacked Crushtacean with its spinning disc but it did no damage. Topbot then drove into the arena wall and Crushtacean grabbed hold of it again and pushed it around the arena. Crushtacean then nudged the pit release button and dropped Topbot into the pit of oblivion. In the next round it faced Dutch Champions PulverizeR and Swiss robot Snake Bite. Crushtacean immediately opened the pit, but was attacked by PulverizeR. Meanwhile, Snake Bite looked like it had broken down. Crushtacean then rammed PulverizeR against the arena wall, but couldn't get a grip on PulverizeR's slanted body. Snake Bite had been counted out, but had also come back to life and started attacking both of its opponents and tried to crush into Crushtacean. The match ended and the Judges decided that Crushtacean had qualified for the Semi-Finals. Here it met Supernova, which was representing Sri Lanka. Crushtacean quickly rammed Supernova, but it looked like some pieces came off Crushtacean after colliding front on with Supernova's disc. Crushtacean then appeared to be losing mobility and was left stranded near Shunt's CPZ. Supernova attacked it a few more times and Crushtacean completely stopped. Crushtacean was then counted out and picked up by Sir Killalot, who paraded Crushtacean around the arena, eventually dropping it on the floor flipper. Crushtacean was flipped and then due to its rounded shaped rolled into the arena wall and almost OotA. One of Crushtacean's claws had broken and cease was called, eliminating Crushtacean from the tournament.

Dutch Series 2
In the Dutch wars, Crushtacean was renamed Krab Bot. Krab Bot's first battle was against Alien Destructor 2. Krab Bot grabbed Alien Destructor, and tried to push it around, but it escaped and shoved Krab Bot into Dead Metal's CPZ. Krab Bot escaped unharmed and grabbed Alien Destructor again. Dead Metal intervened to separate the two, and began cutting into Alien Destructor, puncturing two of its tyres. Time ran out, and the judges ruled that Krab Bot was the winner. In the next round, Krab Bot immediately grabbed and dragged Hammerhead 2 around the arena. Hammerhead 2 got free and tried to flip Krab Bot over, but couldn't manage to. It rammed Krab Bot, and Krab Bot began limping. Krab Bot attempted to get hold of Hammerhead again, and eventually succeeded and pushed it into an angle grinder, where it was held until time was called. Once again, the judges had to make the decision, and once again they ruled in favour of Krab Bot. In the heat final, Krab Bot met Twisted Metal Evo, and began the battle in its usual style, grabbing Twisted Metal and pushing it around the arena. Twisted Metal tried to come back on the attack, but couldn't get its disc spinning. It drove into Matilda's CPZ, and the house robot's flywheel put a huge gash in its armour. Krab Bot pushed Twisted Metal into Sir Killalot's CPZ, so Killalot picked up Twisted Metal and began spinning it round and round. Krab Bot opened up the pit, but could not push Twisted Metal down into it before time ran out. The judges ruled that Krab Bot was the heat winner.

In the Grand Final, Krab Bot came up against Philipper 2. Krab Bot tried to grab Philipper, but couldn't due to Philipper's odd shape. Philipper flipped Krab Bot onto an angle grinder, and the Refbot helped it down. Krab Bot then managed to grab Philipper by its open flipper, and pushed it into a CPZ, where Shunt and Growler forcefully separated the two. Philipper flipped Krab Bot again, and before it could close up its flipper, Krab Bot got its claw stuck inside. Growler separated the two again, and Krab Bot attacked Philipper from the rear. Both robots tried to dig into one another with their crushing weapons as the timer ran out. The judges ruled in favour of Philipper 2.

Results

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Wins/Losses

 * UK Wins: 7
 * UK Losses: 5
 * Dutch Wins: 3
 * Dutch Losses: 1

UK Series

 * Series 1-4: Did not enter
 * Series 5: Heat Final
 * Series 6: Heat, Round 2
 * Series 7: Heat, Round 1

Dutch Series

 * Series 1: Did not enter
 * Series 2: Grand Final, Round 1