Lifters

Lifters are a common and wide-raging type of lifting weapon found in Robot Wars. The first robot to be equipped with such a weapon was Shogun in Series 1, with the most notable lifter-wielding robots including Series 2 champion Panic Attack, most recent World Champion Storm 2 and US Season 1 champion Panzer Mk 2.

Definition

 * A lifter is not restricted to one specific shape or size, most commonly existing in the form of in the form of arms, forks, spikes or even large plates resembling those of front- or rear-hinged flippers. Lifters are designed primarily to lift opponents partially or completely off the ground, before turning them over or suspending them while the robot carries them around the arena. The main distinction between lifters and flippers is that during the attack, robots remain on the lifter until it is released, falls off or is successfully rolled onto its side or back. This contrasts greatly with flippers, which aim to launch other robots into the air and allow gravity and torque to flip the robot over or out of the arena.

Advantages and Disadvantages
Advantages
 * Lifters were especially effective weapons in early series, being able to overturn robots and immobilise them instantly before the invention of the srimech. Panic Attack's runs in Series 2-4 are perhaps the best examples of this.
 * Lifting weapons usually had sharp ends, allowing them to double as ramming spears, spikes or blades. King Buxton was consistently able to use its forks to jab and pierce through its opponents in its appearances, as did Dreadnaut during its Series 3 victory over Psychokiller.
 * Lifters could easily be incorporated into invertible robots. Suicidal Tendencies, Storm 2, Big Nipper and S.M.I.D.S.Y. are among the most notable examples.
 * They could act as effective pitting weapons, with robots such as Panic Attack, The Big Cheese and S.M.I.D.S.Y. all using their lifters to carry and lower their opponents into the pit with considerable success.
 * Lifters could offer a useful weapons synergy when combined with another weapon type, especially axes. It was not uncommon for lifting arms to be placed side-by-side with axes or hammers, with Mortis, Vercingetorix and Comengetorix all featuring this synergy. Big Nipper was also notable for combining its lifter with a set of crushing claws.
 * Some lifters were capable of doubling as clamps, such as the lifting arms of The Big Cheese, Foxic, and the Series 4 version of Wild Thing.
 * From Series 3 onwards, they could be designed in such a way as to act as the robot's self-righting mechanism, reducing the need for a separate mechanism to be added. Mortis's arm was capable of righting itself whenever it was flipped, while other lifting weapons such as Probophobia's forks were capable of rotating a full 360-degrees.

Disadvantages
 * With the above exceptions, most lifters were not usually large or powerful enough to self-right. The Big Cheese's defeat to Chaos 2 in Series 3 was attributed to its lifting arm losing half of its power during their Heat Final, which prevented it from being able to lift itself back onto its wheels. Meanwhile, other robots such as Panic Attack required separate self-righting mechanisms which cost them in weight and/or weapon power. As shown by Panic Attack's various losses to Firestorm however, those srimechs were not always effective or reliable either.
 * Lifters were often slower than flipping weapons, which meant that they were not able to be used effectively if opponents moved quickly enough. This setback was especially crucial in the decline of Panic Attack in later series, who, whilst able to eliminate Edge Hog and Spin Doctor, was overpowered by Kronic 2, Terrorhurtz, Tough As Nails and Dantomkia in Series 6-7.
 * Often the weapons or their mechanics could be vulnerable to damage, perhaps more so than flippers. For example, Panic Attack's forks were easily susceptible to damage, as its encounters with The Steel Avenger, Barber-Ous and Tough as Nails demonstrated.

List of Robots with Lifters
Robots are listed alphabetically. Robots that aren't heavyweight are listed with a green background.