Killerhurtz

"KillerHurtz is an unusual robot in nearly all design areas: all-plastic chassis, combined differential and pivot steering, computer controlled ESCs, and a pneumatic actuated overhead axe weapon with a chain drive."

- Aaron Joerger

Killerhurtz (written as Killer Hurtz in Series 2) was Team Hurtz's entry for Series 2-4 of Robot Wars. It failed to achieve much success, being eliminated in the Arena stage in Series 2, losing in the first round in Series 3 after accidentally driving in the pit, and reaching the second round in Series 4. It also lost in its first round battle in The First World Championship to Chaos 2, representing the Czech Republic (due to team member Dominic Parkinson being half-Czech), but finished third in the Series 4 Pinball Warrior Tournament and reached the fourth round of the Northern Annihilator, which also took place during Series 4.

Despite achieving major success in the US robot combat show BattleBots (see Outside Robot Wars), Killerhurtz failed to reach a Heat Final in Robot Wars, and its only victory in the main series was a judges' decision that eliminated Destruct-A-Bubble in its Series 4 eliminator.

After Series 4, Killerhurtz was retired by Team Hurtz and replaced with the considerably more successful robot Terrorhurtz. Terrorhurtz competed in Series 5-9, and the second series of Robot Wars Extreme.

Design
Killerhurtz was a box-shaped, polycarbonate-armoured robot with a plastic chassis, a front plough and four wheels, the front two of which featured car-like pivot steering which enabled the robot to turn left or right. Its weapon was a 7lb pneumatic steel axe with a chain drive, which swung overhead and generated 800kg of force upon impact, and was initially fitted with a bladed axe head resembling that of a fireaxe. For Series 3, Killerhurtz received a slight redesign, with the most notable difference being the modifications to the axe. The axe swung from a greater distance in order to help the robot self-right, while the bladed axe head was replaced with a set of interchangeable ones, including a custom titanium spiked head which was used in all of Killerhurtz's appearances during this series. During the First World Championship, Killerhurtz also had the phrase "you have a hairy tummy button" written on its front end in Czech, further alluding to it representing the Czech Republic in the championship. Killerhurtz's original moped wheels were replaced with go-kart wheels for Series 4 to improve traction, while the spiked axe received more modiciations including a head made out of hardened steel for improved strength.

Killerhurtz cost £5000 to build and quickly became a crowd favourite due to its top speed of 15-16mph, while its axe was capable of dealing considerable damage with the spiked head and later updates, including Cerberus and Series 3 and 4 champion Chaos 2. However, the robot had a high ground clearance, fragile armour and an unreliable pneumatics system, with the chain often slipping and preventing the robot from being able to self-right with the axe. In Series 3 and 4, it weighed over the then Heavyweight limit.

Series 2
Killerhurtz made its Robot Wars début in the Second Wars. Killerhurtz used its formidable speed to its advantage, shooting past the Sentinel in the Gauntlet stage of the heat. However, it drove straight into Dead Metal's claws, and was driven backwards into the pit of oblivion, meaning Killerhurtz had covered an overall distance of 10.6m. This placed it 4th out of 6 on the leaderboard, meaning it was sufficient to surpass R.O.C.S.. This put Killerhurtz through to the Trial stage, which for this heat was Skittles. There, Killerhurtz used its speed to smash through 64 barrels before it was pinned up against the arena side wall by the house robots. Despite this late setback, Killerhurtz easily went to the top of the leaderboard, putting it through to the arena stage of the Heat. However, in the Heat Semi-Final, Killerhurtz was placed up against the reigning champions Roadblock. Roadblock charged at Killerhurtz side on, and pushed it with ease into the PPZ, Killerhurtz was then grappled by Dead Metal, and pushed down the pit of oblivion by the house robot again, eliminating it from the competition.

Killerhurtz later fought Griffon, Corporal Punishment and Bodyhammer in the Internet Insurrection, a Grudge Match held at the end of Series 2 to determine which team had the best website. In the battle, most of the aggressive actions from the competitors were being brought out on the house robots, as Griffon quickly flipped over Sergeant Bash. Killerhurtz managed to break Matilda's chainsaw chain with its axe, but Killerhurtz then suddenly stopped moving, and was attacked by Matilda and Shunt before being overturned. With the axe not working, Killerhurtz was left helpless and was the first competitor robot to fall.

Killerhurtz was also nominated for the 'Best Engineered' award in Series 2, but lost out to The Mule.

Series 3
"Heat 14 saw the early demise of the kamikaze Killerhurtz. A veteran of Robot Wars claimed they didn't see the pit. A likely story."

- Jonathan Pearce

In the Third Wars, Killerhurtz returned to face Cerberus in its first round battle. Killerhurtz started promisingly, axing a hole in Cerberus' armour (and also smashing a hole in its batteries), and then coming back again to buckle the head of the dog. However, as the two robots then parted, in a shocking piece of driving, Killerhurtz drove away from Cerberus, turned, and drove straight into the open pit. The reason for doing this was later given as being that the plan was to turn and attack Cerberus again, the team had forgotten that the pit was there, having come back from BattleBots, which did not use a pit in the arena.

As well as the main tournament in Series 3, Killerhurtz also entered the Pinball side competition. Killerhurtz had a very slow start, only moving away from the starting area after ten seconds. It ploughed through the barrels, then bumped into Sergeant Bash, bouncing off him and slammed into the multi-ball release. It rammed the arena wall, then backed away, nudged the bricks and slammed the car door open. After moving towards Shunt's target it ran into him, and was then pushed against a side wall. Shunt whacked it with his axe twice, then let it free. Killerhurtz was almost caught by Dead Metal as it reversed, then ran into Shunt again, who pushed it away. Cease was called shortly after, Killerhurtz had only scored 60 points, and finished joint 8th out of 10 overall on the leaderboard. Killerhurtz also entered the First World Championship, representing the Czech Republic, as team member Dominic Parkinson was half-Czech. It was drawn against recently crowned UK champions Chaos 2 in the first round. Killerhurtz looked on top when it pinned Chaos 2 with its axe onto the flipper and pushed it into Shunt's CPZ. The house robot then pierced Chaos 2's gas canister. Despite this Chaos 2's flipper was still working and was able to then overturn Killerhurtz, flipping it into Shunt itself. Killerhurtz tried but failed to self-right with its axe and was eliminated from the competition. "The spike was rather well embedded in Chaos and in the struggle to release it, the axe chain tensioner gave up and the chain slipped, rendering the axe useless. Chaos then managed to flip us and we couldn't self-right without the axe."

- Team Hurtz website

Series 4
"It kills. It hurts. Get used to it."

- Slogan on the team's shirts for Series 4.

Killerhurtz was seeded 16th for the Fourth Wars, as a result of its potential and its previous success in BattleBots. In its first round battle, it faced Eric and newcomers Destruct-A-Bubble. Killerhurtz charged into both of its opponents, and Eric tried to flip the seed over, but failed. Killerhurtz then drove over the top of Eric and into Destruct-A-Bubble. Destruct-A-Bubble tried to attack Eric, but was rammed by Killerhurtz. Killerhurtz was then nearly flipped by Eric, so it retaliated with its axe, hitting the bubble of Destruct-A-Bubble while still on an angle, dragging the newcomers off balance as Killerhurtz got back onto its wheels. The melee ended with all three robots in a tangle, as the battle resulted in a judges' decision. Killerhurtz qualified on the judges' decision, along with Eric. This put it through to the second round of the Heat, where they went up against Team Ivanhoe's new machine Splinter. Splinter drove out of Killerhurtz's way and used its grabbing axes, while Killerhurtz spun around in circles. Killerhurtz escaped, but Splinter caught the seeded robot again, pushing Killerhurtz around the arena. Killerhurtz drove into Shunt's CPZ and escaped, but it got stuck in forward drive and soon got caught on the arena side wall, smoke pouring from its tyres. It started moving again after being picked up and thrown by Sir Killalot, taking a moment to attack Sergeant Bash and Refbot, but Killerhurtz had already been declared technically immobilised, and was eliminated from the competition. Killerhurtz participated in the Pinball Warrior Tournament for this series as well, where it did much better than in Series 3, coming third out of sixteen overall on the leaderboard with an impressive score of 235 points. Killerhurtz also participated in the Northern Annihilator which took place during the Christmas season of the Fourth Wars. Killerhurtz went up against Stinger, Dominator 2, Spikasaurus, the reigning champions Chaos 2 and Suicidal Tendencies. Throughout the entire event, it was continually picked on by all the other robots, in particular Dominator 2. However, the two eventually teamed up to eliminate Chaos 2 in the first round after Chaos 2 was trapped in the CPZ after trying to flip Killerhurtz out of the arena. Killerhurtz self-righted with its axe as Dominator 2 axed Chaos 2. After Killerhurtz found its feet, the two axed down on both the flipper and the electronics of Chaos 2, eventually both Chaos 2's flipper and mobility were ceased, and Killerhurtz qualified for the next round.

In the second round, Killerhurtz immediately rammed into Stinger, throwing it up into the air and seeming to immobilise one of the 30th seed's wheels, Killerhurtz would then be axed and stabbed by Dominator 2 and Spikasaurus for much of the battle before taking on Sergeant Bash. Killerhurtz struggled to survive to the judges' decision that eventually followed, but it went through as Stinger had spent the majority of the battle going round in tight circles. In the third round, things were much of the same, Dominator 2 and Killerhurtz spent much time chasing and axing each other with Spikasaurus in hot pursuit of them. However, a few bashes and attacks from these three machines were enough for Suicidal Tendencies to become immobilised with relative ease. By the end of the round, Suicidal Tendencies started to belch a little smoke.

This saw Killerhurtz through to the fourth round, where it finally faced off Dominator 2 and Spikasaurus, where the first few attacks from the former ruptured its CO2 bottle, rendering the axe inoperable, and damaging its drive. Unable to get away fast enough, it was rammed by Spikasaurus, whilst Dominator continued to attack it. When Killerhurtz eventually got away, it drove across the arena and ran into the arena side wall on the other side of the arena, rendering itself immobile, and eliminating it from the competition. This would be Killerhurtz's final appearance in Robot Wars as it was replaced by Terrorhurtz the following Wars.

Results

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Wins/Losses

 * Wins: 4
 * Losses: 6

NOTE: Killerhurtz's Gauntlet and Trial runs are not included

Outside Robot Wars
Killerhurtz competed for many years in the American robot combat series BattleBots. It competed in the first six BattleBots contests (Long Beach, Las Vegas and Season 1.0 to 4.0). The robot had a lot of success on the show, finishing second to BioHazard in the first ever BattleBots tournament at Long Beach in 1999, despite having to rely solely on its front ramming spike as its weapon as the pneumatic ram for its axe had been left behind in England. Killerhurtz also picked up the Best Driver award whilst it was on BattleBots and reached the quarter finals on four separate occasions. During Season 4.0, it defeated fellow British robot Little Sister from Team Big Brother, the only time two British robots fought each other on the original BattleBots series. However, it lost its next battle to Surgeon General.

John Reid made an axe specially for BattleBots, and buried it in the Las Vegas desert after the competition to avoid the hassle with customs. The axe was buried underneath a stone located at the side of a road. He retrieved and reburied it each subsequent appearance, but did not recover it after burying it following Season 4.0. It was, however, recovered on a later trip.

Killerhurtz was retired after BattleBots Season 4.0 and was to be replaced by Team Hurtz's new robot Beta for future competitions, which also fought in the Robot Wars pilot for 2016 as Basher.

Killerhurtz was confirmed by Team Hurtz members Grant Cooper and John Reid in an interview on Reddit to be still relatively intact as of 2016, and currently residing in Reid's garage. However, it is presently not in running condition due to its retirement from robot combat, and because of it having a significant portion of its internal parts removed for use in the team's other projects over the years.

Trivia

 * Killerhurtz was the first Robot Wars competitor to feature a Japanese anime/video game character as a mascot, with a figure of Charmander from the Pokémon franchise accompanying the robot during its First World Championship appearance. The other robots that followed were Pika, with Pikachu (also from Pokémon) and Destructosaur, with Greymon from the Digimon franchise.
 * Killerhurtz was also notable for being one of only two robots other than the House Robots to feature an onboard camera system to allow for more precise attacks. The other was Facet.
 * Killerhurtz is one of only seven robots to achieve a score higher than 200 points in Pinball. The others are Spawn of Scutter, Panic Attack, Gemini, Roadblock, King B3 and Razer.
 * In anticipation of fighting Razer in the First World Championship, John Reid prepared a wall of polycarbonate panels to affix above Killerhurtz and prevent Razer from being able to crush it. As it did not face Razer, however, this modification was never seen.
 * Despite not being used, Killerhurtz's successor, Terrorhurtz utilised a similar modification in Series 6, as well as featuring taller armour sections from Extreme 2 onwards to prevent attacks from crushers and other overhead weapons.
 * Team Hurtz are the only team to represent the Czech Republic on Robot Wars.
 * Killerhurtz in Series 4 was one of only three robots to be seeded despite having never won a main-series battle. The others were Stinger, also in Series 4, and Storm 2, who qualified for Series 7 as the sixteenth seed after winning the Extreme 2 New Blood Championship.
 * Incidentally, Killerhurtz was the only one of the three not to reach the Grand Final that same series..
 * With Killerhurtz and Terrorhurtz, Team Hurtz are one of two teams to have built two robots that feature in or have honourable mentions in the Combat Robot Hall of Fame. The other is Team Razer, with Razer and their BattleBots competitor Warhead.

Honours
Nominations
 * Best Engineered Award - Robot Wars: The Second Wars