House Robots

The house robots are a set of robots on Robot Wars which act as obstacles to the competitor robots in the arena. They take part in most battles and they are restricted to staying in their corner patrol zones (CPZs) until a robot has been immobilised. If a competitor robot enters a CPZ, the house robots are free to attack that robot until it escapes. In the first series there were four house robots (Dead Metal, Matilda, Sergeant Bash and Shunt) with further house robots added over time. Sir Killalot was introduced in the second series, the sixth series saw the introduction of Growler and Mr Psycho, before the final house robot, Cassius Chrome, was added in Series 7.

In addition to the main house robots, there were two others with different roles in the show. The Sentinel was only featured in the second series and was used as an obstacle in the gauntlet, and Refbot was introduced in the fourth series to ensure fair play in the arena.

Cassius Chrome
Main article: Cassius Chrome

Introduced in Series 7, Cassius Chrome was modeled after a heavyweight boxer, with fists and a black eye.

Dead Metal
Dead Metal was one of the four original House Robots alongside Matilda, Sergeant Bash and Shunt. Designed to resemble a scorpion, it fights by trapping robots with its pincers, and then cutting into them with the circular saw implemented on its "head". It is driven by a battery powered engine, and moves at a speed of 5.4 metres per second (12 mph). Dead Metal is protected by a steel exoskeleton consisting of jagged armour plates and spiked struts as wheel guards. In Wars 1 and 2, Dead Metal had a more scorpion-like appearance and its circular saw was attached to a tail-like arm that would move forward from the robot's back to attack a foe. In Season 3, it was altered to a larger blade mounted at the front which moved forward to attack. The machine was designed to look like a 'scorpion' that had been animated from a junk yard (hence the name). The pincers were prone to collisions and the original piston powering them would buckle. It was later replaced with the same pneumatic piston used to power the floor flipper. Dead Metal was one of the fastest House Robots and its metre-width body made it very difficult to flip over. However, Gravity still managed this.

Weight - 112 kg (247 lb)

Length - 160 cm (63 in)

Width - 100 cm (39 in)

Height - 70 cm (28 in)

Speed - 12 mph (19 km/h)

Weaponry - 3000 rpm circular saw and pneumatically driven pincers.

Strengths - Powerful weaponry. Large wheel base makes flipping very difficult.

Weaknesses - Poor maneuverability.

Growler
Growler was introduced as Mr. Psycho's loyal but terrifying dog, designed by Robin Englebright. The jaws of Growler are capable of creating 4 tons of force. The shell and chassis of Growler is predominantly steel with industrial digger gauge used in the jaw. Growler has two 48 volt 5 kW motors running a 4 wheel drive motive system, 300 ampere speed controllers and 6 batteries. Its main weapon was a large dog-like jaw, which it would use to clamp hold of other robots. Growler was the fastest of all the House Robots, reaching speeds of up to 20 miles per hour due to a skid steer driving mechanism (a mechanism shared with Robot Wars champion Tornado). This, combined with its weight of over 300 kg, meant that Growler could easily damage another robot just by ramming into it. A rear mounted flamethrower was briefly installed for Extreme Series 2, but was removed afterwards due to a lack of reliability.

Weight - 375 kg (827 lb)

Length - 152 cm (60 in)

Width - 130 cm (51 in)

Height - 76 cm (30 in)

Speed - 17 mph (27 km/h)

Weaponry - Hydraulic jaws with over 4 tons of power and a rear-mounted flame jet. This Flame Jet was removed for Series 7 as it was unreliable.

Strengths - Speed and massive drive power.

Weaknesses - Difficult to control, usefulness of secondary weapon.

Trivia


 * The prototype name for Growler was 'Pitbull' based on Bullseye in Oliver Twist.
 * Growler is based on the skid steer system used in Tornado.
 * Growler is the only House robot to drive on four wheels

Matilda
Matilda was one of the original four House Robots. Based on a mutant warthog, she is equipped with pneumatic flipping tusks and interchangeable weapons for the rear that can take either a chainsaw or a flywheel weapon. It's powered by a rechargeable battery unit and moves at over 3.6 m/s (8 mph). Matilda is fashioned from fiberglass matting. It is driven by a 12-volt motor and its tusks are operated by a powerful pneumatic carbon dioxide system. In the earlier days, it was seen numerous times being flipped and damaged by contestants and was also once betrayed by a few of the other House Robots. Most memorably in series 5, it was rendered completely dead by contestant Razer. Since the flywheel was added, it has become one of the most dangerous of the House Robots, it's fly wheel having the capability of throwing a contestant robot clear out of the arena.

Weight - 116 kg (256 lb)

Length - 140 cm (55 in)

Width - 66 cm (26 in)

Height - 66 cm (26 in)

Speed - 8 mph (13 km/h)

Weaponry - Pneumatic lifting tusks and interchangeable rear-mounted weapons bay that can either take a chainsaw running at over 3000rpm or a massive 27 kg (60 lb) vertical spinning disc.

Strengths - Powerful weaponry and tough exoskeleton.

Weaknesses - Prone to flipping (especially its humiliation from Recyclopse in Series 1 and Chaos 2 in Series 3), armour can sometimes fall off.

Trivia
 * Matilda's fiberglass 'head' was fashioned by James Davis, who was in charge of looking after the machine. His original thumb prints were what fashioned the grooves that framed the head piece.
 * Early footage of Matilda being tested would suggest it was originally intended to be painted black, before later being changed to purple.
 * Matilda is the oldest house robot.

Mr Psycho
Mr. Psycho made its debut in the sixth season, designed by Robin Englebright. Mr Psycho was by far the heaviest of the House Robots, weighing in at 750kg, and the largest robot ever to appear in Robot Wars history. Its design was very similar to that of Sir Killalot, featuring caterpillar tracks and a powerful claw weapon. The design differed from Sir Killalot in that Mr Psycho had a swinging hammer weapon instead of the lance that Sir Killalot wields, the head of the hammer alone weighing 30 kg and has a hydraulic accumulator and is powered by a 9 ton shoulder and elbow ram. Its claw is powered by two 9 ton hydraulic rams running at 3000 psi (21 MPa). It runs on caterpillar tracks of the same type used for Sir Killalot and are powered by two Briggs and Stratton 5hp electric motors run at 48 volts, which are controlled by two 300 ampere speed controllers. The chassis is constructed from thick walled steel box section and the head is fabricated in fibreglass. At 750 kg, Mr. Psycho is the heaviest robot in the history of Robot Wars. Despite this, it is not invulnerable to being flipped, as Firestorm 4 proved in Extreme Series 2.

Weight - 750 kg (1653 lb)

Length - 163 cm (64 in)

Width - 145 cm (57 in)

Height - 150 cm (59 in)

Speed - 8 mph (13 km/h)

Weaponry - 30 kg (66 lb) heavy pneumatic hammer that travels at 60 mph (97 km/h) and a hydraulic claw capable of exerting pressures of up to 9 tons.

Strengths - Big, heavy and powerful.

Weaknesses - Slow. Occasionally incapable of retracting hammer completely.

Sergeant Bash
Sergeant Bash is designed to resemble a military vehicle, and is powered by four batteries running in parallel. Conduits attached to its flamethrower also vent heat to power a secondary steam engine. Its weapons require the inclusion of gas bottles to power the flamethrower, in addition to valves and numerous carbon dioxide reservoirs. The flamethrower and hydraulically driven pincers all contribute to Sergeant Bash's increased weight and it requires an extremely long wheelbase to support the mass of internal engineering. When not in use, the steam engine powers a small rear end saw. After series 3 the rear saw could be seen buckled at Bash's rear, and was purely ornamental. The flamethrower was originally powered from gas tanks that were positioned in the frontal compartment, whilst the motors for the saw were positioned in the rear section just behind the flamethrower turret. With the introduction of the pincers, the gas bottles were moved back and did not allow enough room for the saw motors, resulting in that weapon being scrapped.

One of the original four House Robots. Sergeant Bash was designed to look like a military tank with its green army colours and flamethrower turret weapon. The original design for Sergeant Bash had steel armour with a battering ram weapon at the front of the robot and a saw at the rear. In Series 3 the steel armour was changed for fibreglass armour, and the battering ram was removed in place of a hydraulic claw similar to the claw used by Sir Killalot. Sergeant Bash was the only robot in Robot Wars to have a flamethrower weapon: indeed, the said weapon was banned under normal circumstances.

Weight - 120 kg (265 lb)

Length - 140 cm (55 in)

Width - 90 cm (35 in)

Height - 90 cm (35 in)

Speed - 8 mph (13 km/h)

Weaponry - Propane-fueled flamethrower mounted on a 360 degree turret, front-mounted hydraulic pincers that exert 8 tonnes of pressure and a rear-mounted circular saw (scrapped after series 3). Notably, flamethrowers are normally against the rules in Robot Wars, with Bash apparently being the exception. In series 1 and 2, the front pincers were originally a series of ramming spikes.

Strengths - Long-range weaponry. Powerful Pneumatic pincers.

Weaknesses - Limited fuel capacity, Extremely poor pushing/pulling power and narrow base makes it a bit vulnerable to flippers.

Shunt
Shunt is armed with a diamond edged axe with a force of over 500 kgf/cm² (7,000 psi). Its design is reminiscent of a bulldozer, with a rear-mounted scoop and fearsome axe, both powered by pressurised carbon dioxide. Shunt's chassis and scoops are made of steel, while its superstructure is moulded fiberglass. In series 1 and 2, Shunt was used to fight the competitors in the Sumo trial, and was the flag holder in the trial round of Heat 4 of Series 1.

One of the original four House Robots, Shunt is the lightest of all the House Robots, albeit still over the contestant weight limit of 100 kg. Shunt is able to pull a fully-loaded Land Rover, and with its snowplough and scoop weapons it excelled at pushing contestant robots around the arena, and featured heavily in the Sumo Basho Trials event thanks to its incredible power. Shunt also has a diamond-edged axe to damage other robots.

It should be noted that in spite of Shunt being well known for its pushing and pulling power, it is the lightest of all the house robots, being the only one weighing less than 106 kg.

Weight - 105 kg (231 lb) Length - 130 cm (51 in) Width - 110 cm (43 in) Height - 70 cm (28 in) Speed - 10 mph (16 km/h)

Weaponry - Pneumatically driven diamond-edged axe capable of delivering blows of over 500 kgf/cm² (7,000 psi), and a rear-mounted pneumatic scoop and front snow plough.

Strengths - Very strong pushing power and strong structure. Weaknesses - Cannot right chassis once overturned. (Chaos 2 demonstrated this in the Series 3 final)

Sir Killalot
Sir Killalot (also less commonly known as Sir K.) is designed to look like a medieval knight with its name being a pun on Lancelot. Sir Killalot is armed with a rotating drill and a hydraulic cutting claw, adapted from the cutting jaws which rescue services normally use to save trapped victims from car wreckages. The hydraulics were adapted and refined to give a much faster cutting speed. Sir Killalot also sported caterpillar tracks instead of wheels. The claw is quite capable of lifting over 100 kg (220 lb) of weight, slicing through armour plating and cutting the axles of opposing robots in two. Sir Killalot was built in less than three months and was introduced to the show in 1999. Its description boasted that it had "no weaknesses", though contestant robots have been seen knocking its armor off and setting it on fire. But unlike the other house robots Sir Killalot was often seen as the 'leader' of the House Robots and would often pick up contestant robots on its pike before dropping it into a pit.

Weight - 520 kg (1144 lb) Length - 120 cm (47 in) Width - 120 cm (47 in) Height - 130 cm (51 in) Speed - 5 mph (8 km/h)

Weaponry - Rotating drill lance and hydraulic cutting claws.

Strengths - Very powerful weaponry and weight advantage. Weaknesses - Not capable of any formidable accelerations or speeds, topheavy and prone to fire due to gas-powered engine.

Refbot
Weight - 120 kg (265 lb)

Length - 140 cm (55 in)

Width - 90 cm (35 in)

Height - 130 cm (51 in)

Speed - 7 mph (11 km/h)

Refbot was introduced to Robot Wars as the robotic referee of the show in the year 2000. It was built with a humanoid form and was created with the sole purpose of making sure there was fair play in the arena.

While not made for combat, Refbot comes equipped with a multitude of gadgets:
 * A pair of bulldozing shunts in the front and back are made for separating robots that become locked in mortal combat.
 * An electronic countdown board is mounted on Refbot's chest to count down the defeat of robots. (Introduced in Extreme 1)
 * A fire extinguisher on the right arm, to aid the putting out of fires.
 * A pincer grip on the left arm to help robots when jammed.
 * A light-indicator system with a red/yellow, similar to a football referee. This replaced the pincer on its left arm at the start of Robot Wars: Extreme; it would also to show when battles begin and end and also whether robots are mobile or immobile.  In addition, if another House Robot "misbehaved" (i.e., attacking a competitor when it wasn't supposed to) Refbot would give the offender a yellow card, and if it persisted, a red card, which forced the house robot to stay in its CPZ for the remainder of the match.

Because of its vital role, Refbot was the only House Robot to feature in every battle since its debut.

The Sentinal
Debuting in Series 2, The Sentinal was a large robotic arm on a 180 degree turret. It was, in fact, a modified JCB and unique among the House Robots in that it was operated inside the arena rather than outside. The arm ended with a large spiked club, designed to push and trap robots passing. Although primarily used in the Gauntlet as an obstacle, The Sentinal was also later used in the Arena stages. Because of its status as an "obstacle" rather than a proper House Robot, The Sentinal was not used outside it's debut season.

Rules
The House Robots may only engage with a competing robot under two circumstances.

When a robot drives or is shunted into the Corner Patrol Zone (CPZ). The House Robot patrolling that zone may attack. The attack can last for up to fifteen seconds before the House Robot must disengage and let the robot go back to battle, if it still can. If a robot is judged to be immobilised for more than thirty seconds either by another competitor or a House Robot, it will be "counted out" by Refbot. The robot has 10 seconds to move, if it fails to do so it is given the "red card" and the fight is over. The House Robots are then allowed to attack the robot in one big group. The robots may attack it and can dispose of it by either dropping it in the arena's pit, putting it on the arena flipper, tossing it out of the arena or placing it underneath the "Drop Zone." There were also "robot rebellions", certain events in Robot Wars where several House Robots were pitted in an all-out battle against several contestant robots. House Robots were also used to stop contestants in various other contests, such as obstacle courses.