Horizontal crushers

Horizontal Crushers are a prominent form of gripping weapon, but grip the sides of robots. The first robot to use this design was Dead Metal, but Thermador was the first competitor to and Scarab was the first competitor to use it as a crushing weapon. The more successful robots with this weapon included Tough As Nails and Kan-Opener.

Definition

 * A horizontal crusher uses two large claws or rods to crush or pierce the sides of robots.

Advantages and Disadvantages
Advantages
 * 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.
 * Horizontal crushers give the best way of controlling an enemy robot's movement. Tough As Nails used this this to score easy victories over potent opponents like Disc-O-Inferno and Gravity.
 * Robots with horizontal crushers are wide and bottom-heavy, and therefore more resistant to being tipped over.

Disadvantages
 * Horizontal crushers provide a gaping ground clearance for opponents to get underneath. Kan-Opener's battle with Atomic was an example.
 * Horizontal crushers have trouble getting unstuck after piercing an opponent's armour. This cost Kan Opener the melee in Series 6 when it got stuck into Demolition Man and couldn't evade the attacks of the other two robots, and also when Kan Opener couldn't let go of Barbaric Response in its Series 7 melee after its first grip, costing it in the judges' decision.
 * Are often useless as a result of lack of traction. This showed where Tough As Nails was unable to pit Panic Attack and was outclassed in pushing power by Bulldog Breed and Storm 2.

List of Robots with Horizontal Crushers
Robots are listed alphabetically. Robots that are not heavyweight are listed with a green background.