Kill-E-Crank-E

Kill-E-Crank-E is a robot from the far north of Scotland that fought in the 2016 series of Robot Wars, built by Robin Herrick, creator of Bodyhammer and Pussycat.

The name Kill-E-Crank-E is derived from the robot's "crank" shape, as well as The Battle of Killiecrankie, which was fought between Highland Scottish clans supporting King James II and VII and troops supporting King William of Orange on 27 July 1689, during the first Jacobite uprising. The robot was originally intended to be V-shaped, but changed into its current form over the build process to accommodate internals.

The robot's team consists of captain and builder Robin Herrick, his son Matthew Herrick, Matthew's friend Isaac Potts, and late entry Nick Wells.

Design
It is very similar in design to past success S3, being a wide, tubular, grey robot with exposed rubber-tyred wheels at each side, and a 450rpm spinning disc at the front with three cobalt-edged teeth, the main design difference between it and S3 being Kill-E-Crank-E's concave at the rear-centre, creating a 'crank' shape. When Kill-E-Crank-E drives towards its opponent, the team can brake quickly, and the robot's momentum flips itself over, bringing the spinner down forcefully in an arc onto their opponent. The robot is constructed from an 8-inch pipe of 304-Grade stainless steel, provided by a local engineering company. The body is divided into two equal arms with an interchangeable weapon section in the middle, the three parts being bolted together at flanges. The current alternative weapon for Kill-E-Crank-E is a heavy mild steel forked spike, which can replace the spinning disc mid-section. Although this was not used on the 2016 show, Kill-E-Crank-E is equipped with this weapon at live events, to cooperate with the rule concerning spinning weaponry. The spike weapon was drawn out in chalk on a sheet of 10mm thick plate a few days before filming to give the team another weapon option in case the spinner broke or an alternative weapon was preferred. The weapon was flame cut and welded just in time. Coating the rotating blade teeth with cobalt-chromium alloy Stellite was the idea of Nick Wells' dad, a metalurgist. The disc was able to spin in both directions with full speed control, so the teeth were sharp on both sides.

Kill-E-Crank-E's tyres were made battle-ready using Twaron material from the original Bodyhammer project.

2016 series


Kill-E-Crank-E competed in the first episode of the series against veterans Razer and Terrorhurtz along with newcomer Nuts.

Razer targeted Kill-E-Crank-E from the outset. However, Kill-E-Crank-E's low and wide shape proved awkward for Razer, whose beak best worked on chunky robots of medium height. With Razer's claw stuck on one of Nuts' minibots, Kill-E-Crank-E took the chance to push back, though did not get its disc into play. Razer bit down into the weapon opening of Kill-E-Crank-E but did no damage. Razer was able to control Kill-E-Crank-E throughout most of the battle by fitting the entire body pipe within its weapon's arc. "I had no doubt that Kill-E-Crank-E had not done enough to go through to the next round on a judges decision, so I activated the pit release in the hopes that we could still win outright."

- Robin Herrick

Kill-E-Crank-E managed to press the pit release button and the two robots struggled towards the pit, each trying to pit the other. Just as Razer pushed Kill-E-Crank-E towards the pit, the latter robot reversed on one wheel and spun both robots around. The result of this was that both robots fell into the pit, eliminating both from the competition.

"Razer clearly had it in for us so I thought let's go for a mutual death pact and take them down with us!"

- Robin Herrick

Results

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Wins/Losses

 * Wins: 0
 * Losses: 1

Series Record

 * Series 1-2: Entered with Bodyhammer
 * Series 3-4: Entered with Pussycat
 * Series 5-7: Did not enter
 * 2016 Series: Heat, Round 1

Robot Wars Live Events
Kill-E-Crank-E travelled all the way from Scotland to appear at the first Robot Wars live event of 2016 in Manchester, using the spike in place of its spinning disc. Kill-E-Crank-E made a humorous debut, as the robot was so wide, it could not drive through the doorway, and needed to be lifted into the arena. Kill-E-Crank-E entered a four-way melee against Crushtacean, Meggamouse and Chimera. In the opening moments of the battle, the thin Kill-E-Crank-E was a perfect fit for Crushtacean’s own pincers, and was grabbed and dragged around for a period of the match. When freed by Crushtacean, Kill-E-Crank-E headed straight for the pit, getting caught over the edge. Chimera, in an attempt to finish off Kill-E-Crank-E, drove into the pit itself and freed the stranded machine, but Kill-E-Crank-E broke down shortly afterwards when a cable came loose.

Outside Robot Wars
In-between building Pussycat and Kill-E-Crank-E, Robin Herrick built a variety of robots, including a hydraulic petrol-powered walker with a large hammer. However, none of these robots competed at robotic events due to his relocation to Scotland, and the cancellation of the TV show.