S3

"S3 looked like a hammerhead shark...with the bite to match"

- Jonathan Pearce

S3 (which stood for Sting 3) was a robot with a vertical 1000RPM spinning disc (which the team named a "snatch" weapon) weighing 17-20kg and 17.5-18' in diameter, capable of putting shards of its opponents in the ceiling with its two 3' teeth and could be capable of tossing opponents out of the arena, although it never achieved this. Its armour was a smooth shell sculpted into the bodyshape, so that there were no plates to be torn off and the front plates used to be part of a butcher's chopping block. It was more powerful and controllable for the Sixth Wars but did have thin aluminium armour. S3 was the team's third entry on Robot Wars, after Sting in Series 2 and the slightly upgraded Sting 2 in Series 3, hence the name S3. The robot appeared in Series 5 and 6, making the semi-finals both times and winning the "Most Original Entry" award in Series 5. S3 made one final appearance in the Extreme 2 All-Stars before the team retired from Robot Wars and did not return for Series 7.

"I guess we had enough by the end of Series 6. You won't believe the time and energy was needed to get a working robot that is good enough to stand a chance together for the TV show - not including the time for the recordings themselves - family holidays had to suffer. Was great fun though - but very stressful!"

- Dave Barker on YouTube

The team name, The 1 Law Associates, was a nod to the 3 laws of robotics from Isaac Asimov's book "I, Robot"

Series 5
Despite the team's appearance in previous wars, S3 was dubbed as a newcomer to the wars. Its first appearance was against another veteran team in Plunderbird 5. At the beginning of the fight, Plunderbird 5 pushed the 'hammer-head shark' shaped robot around the arena into the CPZ. However, S3's vertical disc broke the claw of Plunderbird 5. Eventually, Plunderbird stopped moving. S3's disc ripped through Plunderbird's side armour and disintegrated it like tin foil, exposing its innards. Two wheels fell out as Sir Killalot carried Plunderbird 5 to the arena floor flipper. It was flipped through the air and landed next to the Pit and was knocked out spectacularly by the impressive new machine of the Sting team. In the next round, S3 fought the 20th seeded Mousetrap 2. Mousetrap's arm immediately grabbed hold of S3. Both robots were then stuck together for a while. S3's blade was tangled in Mousetrap's spring. Mousetrap couldn't free its arm, so Refbot freed it towards the end of the fight and Mousetrap axed S3 again. With 4 seconds remaining S3 slammed into Mousetrap's side, causing damage to its panel. That damage allowed S3 to move on to the Heat Final against 5th seeds Stinger. Stinger's axe could not penetrate S3, however S3 was not able to shred through Stinger's wheels. S3's blade slammed into Stinger's tyre. Stinger stopped moving and the heat favourite was counted out and pushed onto the floor flipper. Stinger went flying through the air. The impact from the landing got Stinger moving again, but it was too late and S3 moved on to the semis. "Newcomers S3 were the most impressive of all though, taking the venom out of Stinger's tail"

- Jonathan Pearce

In the semi-finals, S3 was battered by Bigger Brother, and was pitted after Bigger Brother gave up on trying to flip it out of the arena. In the loser's melee, S3 completely destroyed Spawn Again, tearing off its flipper blade. It also caused severe damage to Wild Thing's side panels and won the judge's decision after Spawn Again was pitted. Progressing through again, S3 fought Razer. After a few attacks, Razer lifted S3 into the air. S3 was pushed into the CPZ and was trapped in the claws of Dead Metal. Razer took no damage at all from the previously impressive spinning disc, which eventually stopped working. Despite all the damage taken and the fact that smoke was pouring out of S3, S3 was still mobile when cease was called but clearly lost the judge's decision.

Series 6
Almost as soon as activate was called, the impact of seventh seeded S3's spinning disc made one of Shredder's blades fly out of the arena. S3 attacked Roobarb, which quickly became immobilised in Sir Killalot's CPZ. Shredder fought back against S3, pushing it into the side wall, which buckled because of the power of S3's armament. S3 came back on the attack on Shredder, almost flipping it, but was caught by Mr. Psycho's hammer since it was on the edge of the CPZ. S3 continued coming under pressure from Shredder and Mr. Psycho until the end of the battle, but both competitors went through since Armadrillo, the other robot in the opening round melee had been barely mobile and therefore lost the judges decision. S3 faced Sir Chromalot in the second round. Sir Chromalot went straight for the pit release button and stayed near the pit of oblivion, attempting to draw S3 in. Sir Chromalot eventually drove away from the pit and was easily flipped over by the blade of S3. It self-righted, but S3 came on the attack again, tossing Sir Chromalot onto its back. S3 almost drove into the pit after another self-right from its opponent. S3 nearly pushed Sir Chromalot down, but instead managed to flip it onto its side before helping to right the Essex machine. Sir Chromalot, however was immobilised, allowing S3 to meet Shredder once again in the heat final. Both machines started tentatively, until S3 came on the attack with its weapon knocking Shredder aside. Shredder pushed back, but after activating the arena floor spinner, S3 was able to flay the side armour of Shredder and bend one of its pair of discs. This damage meant that Shredder's wheels would not touch the ground when flipped, which S3 duly did to Shredder, leaving the purple machine immobilised and S3 in its second consecutive semi-final.

S3 faced Dantomkia in round one of the series semi-finals. S3 wasn't able to cause Dantomkia much damage because of the Surrey machine's shape. Dantomkia however struggled to get underneath S3 to use its flipper effectively. Dantomkia then drove into an angle grinder which had it stuck on the arena wall. S3 attacked once, before Refbot freed Dantomkia, which was immobilised and counted out. Firestorm 4 was now the only machine that stood between S3 and the sixth wars grand final. S3 was pursued early on, with Firestorm looking for chances to flip its opponent. When Firestorm did get underneath S3, the spinning disc of S3 once again shattered the arena wall, this time the plexiglass around the house robot entrance. The next attack by the third seeds on S3 flipped it onto the arena side wall, where the weight of the disc tipped S3 over the wall and out of the Sixth Wars.

Extreme 2
For finishing in the Semi-Finals of Series 6, S3 was able to enter the All-Stars Tournament of Extreme 2, where it only appeared briefly. It had an unfortunate draw in the form of Firestorm 4 and Bigger Brother, both of whom had beaten it in the past. The team added new "anti-flipper" plates to prevent the opponents from getting underneath it, but these proved to be its undoing. Firestorm and Bigger Brother attacked S3 together and wedged it onto its side, where it was left spinning in circles: the "anti-flipper" plates preventing the robot from falling back onto its wheels. Bigger Brother then drove S3 towards the arena wall and flipped it over and out. This was S3's last Robot Wars appearance.

Results

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Wins/Losses

 * Wins: 8
 * Losses: 4

Series Record

 * Series 1: Did not enter
 * Series 2: Entered with Sting
 * Series 3: Entered with Sting 2
 * Series 4: Did not enter
 * Series 5: Semi-Finals, Round 2
 * Series 6: Semi-Finals, Round 2
 * Series 7: Did not enter

Trivia

 * Robot Wars: The Ultimate Guide makes a mistake by stating that Triterobot (mistakenly spelled Tri-Terra-Bot) was succeeded by S3. S3 actually succeeded Sting, whilst Mousetrap succeeded Triterobot. Ironically, S3 and Mousetrap 2 would fight in Series 5.
 * S3 is one of seven robots to smash the arena wall, and one of four to destroy it with a flywheel.
 * The Series 5 stat sheet mistakenly displayed S3's weight as 100kg when it was actually 90kg, this is shown when Ian Pritchard stated that the robot was 'Another 8kgs heavier than in Series 5' meaning that this would be impossible due to the weight limit of 100kg.
 * In every semi finals it fought, S3 fought in the first Semi-Final.

Debut similarity with Dantomkia

 * S3 and Dantomkia had a very similar debut season.
 * Both robots debuted into Heat C.
 * Both easily won their first round battle, before reaching the heat final and overcoming the fifth seed (Stinger for S3, and Chaos 2 for Dantomkia).
 * Both lost in the first round of the Semi-Finals (ironically, it was S3 who defeated Dantomkia).
 * Both won a loser's melee against Wild Thing and another robot.
 * Both were then defeated by Razer, who qualified for the Grand Final.
 * Both later became a top 10 seed in the next wars (7th seed for S3 and 5th seed for Dantomkia).
 * Both were nominated for "Most Promising Newcomer" in their debut season.