Lambsy

"We decided that we would paint a wolf on the flipper and Lambsy would hide the wolf until attacked. Once the battle commenced the Wolf in Sheep's clothing would be revealed."

- Ian Lockhart on the Lambsy website

Lambsy was a low, invertible box-wedge shaped robot that competed in Series 5 and Extreme Series 2 of Robot Wars. It had a sheep on top of the robot which hid a picture of a wolf on the front, in reference to the Biblical idiom of the "Wolf in Sheep's Clothing". The sheep always fell off and was there in the hope that it would catch fire, and as a plaything for the House Robots.

It was armed with a pair of jaws that clamped onto opponents, and the robot would use its pushing power to slam opponents into the pit, or side wall, as it did to Killer Carrot 2 in the Minor Meltdown. The robot also had a retracting spear hidden inside its jaws, which it could use as a secondary weapon once opponents were caught in them, and the jaws also acted as a flipper that could hoist 100kg.

The robot had a very high ground clearance at the rear, which opponents such as Bulldog Breed 3 and Bigger Brother exploited.

The robot's electronics and motors came from an old electric wheelchair the team had bought. "We decided that the robot would be simple in design which would mean less to go wrong, and we would build it around the tried and tested electric wheelchair method often used by other roboteers. We also felt that if it worked upside down and had a flipper that worked upside down we would be able to attack in whatever position we found ourselves in. The finishing touch would be a sacrificial lamb for the House Robots to play with."

- Ian Lockhart on the Lambsy website

At the Series 5 qualifiers, Lambsy defeated Cedric Slammer, then drew against The Stag. Having qualified for the series, it reached the second round, losing to Bulldog Breed 3.

Lambsy was modified for Series 6, adding a disc inside the jaws and increasing the top speed to 14 mph compared to 8mph, but failed to qualify after losing its qualifier to Raging Reality. "We had a four way battle with Raging Reality, Reactor 3, and another robot. Raging Reality immobilised one bot, we immobilised Reactor 3, and the last three minutes was spent slugging it out with Raging Reality. We lost on a judges decision even though we were the only robot out of the four who could drive out of the arena. No hard feelings though, they flipped us a bit more than we did to them."

- Ian Lockhart on the Series 6 qualifiers

After failing to qualify for Series 6, the team decided to build a new robot, as they felt Lambsy was not aggressive enough. This robot would be Ewe 2, which fought in Series 7. It was originally intended to enter Extreme 2 in the Minor Meltdown, but it was not finished in time, so Lambsy was brought out of retirement to compete, where it finished as runner up.

Series 5
Lambsy's first match was against Wowot, the new machine from the experienced Adam Clark. Wowot used its arm to press down on Lambsy and trap it. The stuffed lamb fell off of Lambsy, so Shunt axed it and set it on fire on the flame pit. Wowot continued pushing Lambsy around, but strayed into the CPZ itself, so Sir Killalot picked up Wowot, immobilizing Wowot in the process. "We thought it would be lambs to the slaughter, but somehow, Ian Lockhart shephered his machine away from trouble, and left Wowot to be gobbled up by our House Robot wolves!"

- Jonathan Pearce

In the second round, Lambsy was up against another very experienced team, Bulldog Breed 3. Lambsy immediately hit the pit release, and Bulldog Breed 3 flipped it over. Bulldog Breed 3 then drove up Lambsy's wedge, but Lambsy didn't fire its flipper as it wasn't working. Bulldog Breed 3 flipped Lambsy a few more times before pushing it into the CPZ, where Shunt axed it and Killalot carried it around. The clock ran out, so the judges were called upon to decide the winner, but the decision was clear to everyone, and they ruled that Bulldog Breed 3 had won. "... we had a problem with our air supply and so our weapon did not work. This left us like sitting ducks. We did manage to last the full five minutes, but the judge's decision was a formality. ... A great experience, and I am sure we could have won the second fight if our weapon had been working. We believe that we forgot to tighten the gas bottle up, so that all the gas leaked out."

- Ian Lockhart on the Lambsy website

Extreme 2
Lambsy appeared in the Minor Meltdown of Extreme 2, where Scott Lockhart drove the robot and Daniel Lockhart controlled the weapons. It was drawn against Bigger Brother and Saw Point in the eliminator.

The initial clash caused the sheep to become dislodged from the top of Lambsy. Lambsy attempted to clamp onto the wheels of Saw Point, but they were too big to reach. Bigger Brother drove into Saw Point and attempted to flip it, before pushing it the length of the arena and tossing it onto its back. Bigger Brother pushed both robots across the arena, before putting Saw Point into Growler's CPZ. Growler seized the immobile Saw Point. As Lambsy and Bigger Brother continued their battle, Growler slammed Saw Point into the side wall, dislodging one of its wheels. Bigger Brother pushed Lambsy into the pit release, flipping it over as Saw Point was counted out. Killalot threw Saw Point around the Arena, and Bigger Brother pitted Lambsy, but Saw Point was already out, and it was crushed underneath an array of car parts. Killalot then dropped Saw Point out of the arena while Growler pushed a refrigerator, also from the Drop Zone into the pit on top of Lambsy.

In the second round, Lambsy was against Killer Carrot 2. Killer Carrot 2 flipped over Lambsy, causing the sheep to be dislodged yet again. "There's no room for wooly minds out there, I can tell you!"

- Jonathan Pearce as the head falls off

Lambsy avoided Killer Carrot 2's flipper, and clamped on to Killer Carrrot 2, pushing it into the CPZ, where Mr. Psycho smashed it with its hammer. Both fled the CPZ, and clashed by the flame pit, where Killer Carrot 2's wheel became dislodged. Killer Carrot 2 then attacked Mr Psycho, who had picked up its wheel, but to no avail; its flipper was nowhere near strong enough. With only one wheel mobile, Killer Carrot was counted out by Refbot, who Killer Carrot also tried to flip over. Dead Metal sliced into the rear of Killer Carrot and put it on the floor flipper, but it drove off at the last minute. It was finally pitted by Dead Metal.

In the Final, Lambsy fought Bigger Brother again. At the start of the battle, Bigger Brother charged down Lambsy, flipping it onto its side, from which it could not self right as the jaws were stuck open. After activating the pit, Bigger Brother reversed into Lambsy, knocking it down the pit. The battle took just 24 seconds.

Results

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Wins/Losses

 * Wins: 3
 * Losses: 2

Series Record

 * Series 1-4: Did not enter
 * Series 5: Heat, Round 2
 * Series 6: Failed to qualify
 * Series 7: Entered with Ewe 2
 * 2016 Series: Did not enter

Outside Robot Wars
Lambsy also competed at Techno Games 2003, in the Football competition.

Trivia

 * Lambsy was the first newcomer in Series 5 to defeat a veteran team in the first round.
 * The team typically used the name "Lambsy" to refer to the sheep on the robot, rather than the robot itself.
 * All five of Lambsy's battles contained a robot with an alliterative name. Lambsy ties with Ming for the greatest number of different alliterative robots battled.