Supernova

"Supernova, a potential star"

- Jonathan Pearce

Supernova was a competitor robot from Series 5 to 7, and the 2016 series of Robot Wars. It was the second robot built by Team Supernova, formerly Team Trinity.

Supernova's best performance in the UK series was in The Sixth Wars, when it reached the Heat Final before losing to Spawn Again; however, it lost in the first round in Series 5, 7 and the 2016 series. It also represented Sri Lanka in the The Third World Championship, reaching the final before losing to UK representative Storm 2.

Design
Supernova in The Fifth Wars was a low, fast, two-wheeled, invertible, slight wedge-shaped robot which was pale yellow in colour. In Series 6, the paint scheme was blue and red in the veign of Superman, with that logo displayed directly over the word Nova. In 2016, Supernova abandoned the Superman S on its top armour in favour of a new logo, showing a supernova surrounding the latter half of its name. Its main weapon was a 22kg half metre, 2000RPM horizontal spinning disc, driven by a 12HP motor and capable of ripping robots to pieces with its sharp hammerheads on the sides, but mostly specialised in knocking loose components inside and causing the robot to break down. Supernova's disc was almost a quarter of the robot's weight and spun at 2500RPM in its Series 7 and 2016 guise. However, the armour was thin and was often hurled away from its opponents due to the immense power of the disc. Supernova's flywheel design had also become somewhat out of date in 2016, as its teeth became prone to falling off the disc, a problem nowadays avoided by creating solid flywheels with teeth in the design.

Series 5
Supernova had a disappointing run in its debut series. Although it started well against the seeded Behemoth, sending its scoop ajar, the lack of control proved to be Supernova's achilles heel. The robot was rendered immobile after it carelessly drove into Matilda's CPZ and had its top panel torn off and its wheel-guard bent, thanks to Matilda's flywheel. Behemoth used the axe to immobilise the exposed machinery inside Supernova, before pushing it forward and flipping it head-first into the pit of oblivion, eliminating Supernova from the competition. "Behemoth put the lights out on the Supernova, sending it into a black hole"

- Jonathan Pearce sums up Supernova's run

Series 6
Supernova's first round melee in the Sixth Wars saw it go up against newcomers to the televised show Short Circuit, the number 10 seeds Spawn Again, and the experienced Tiberius 3. Despite receiving a small hole from Tiberius 3's claw weapon, Supernova used its flywheel to great effect on Short Circuit, who soon began to slowly fall apart, and was soon immobilised. Spawn Again then eventually flipped over Tiberius 3 from behind, from which Tiberius 3 couldn't self right. Both Short Circuit and Tiberius 3 were counted out and further tormented by the House Robots, allowing both Spawn Again and Supernova were able to proceed to the next round of the Heat. "We are seeing one of the most destructive weapons thus far in Robot Wars: The Sixth Wars!"

- Jonathan Pearce on Supernova

In the second round, Supernova was drawn up against Ming 3. Supernova immediately targeted the exposed wheels of Ming 3, dealing major damage to them. Eventually, Ming 3's wheels were so mangled that it was left unable to move. Team Ming's machine was deemed immobilised, counted out by the Refbot, flipped by the arena floor flipper, and eliminated. This put Supernova through to the Heat Final, where it was up against Spawn Again once more. It was seen as having a good chance of defeating the seeded machine, as Spawn Again had struggled in its two previous battles. However, against all odds, Spawn Again quickly gained the upper hand by flipping Supernova onto an angle grinder. The Refbot freed it, however the mobility of Supernova was greatly hindered, and only one of its wheels was working. After a few more fierce flips from the seeded Spawn Again, Supernova completely lost power in its other wheel and in its spinning disc. Refbot then came in and counted Supernova out, eliminating the Sri Lankan machine from the competition.

"Spawn flipped Supernova, this made it land at an awkward angle which pushed the drive wheel into one of the gears bending a shaft and jamming the drive on that side. We only had drive to one of the wheels from that point and lost. This weakness has been fixed since then!"

- Supernova - Fighting Robot Facebook page

Series 7
In the first round, Supernova was placed up against Rhino, the number 16 seeds Storm 2 and newcomers Mayhem. At the beginning of the battle, Supernova immediately ripped off both of Mayhem's tyres, preventing the wheels from touching the arena floor, immobilising it. Mayhem was later counted out by the Refbot. Storm 2 then caught Supernova from behind and slammed it into Sir Killalot, and Supernova's spinning disc shredded one of Sir Killalot's track treads. However, Supernova couldn't get away again before Storm 2 did the same again, charging it from the other side of the arena, slamming it into the arena wall, inside a CPZ, slicing into the arena wall in the process. This slam completely immobilised the locomotion of Supernova. The Refbot then came in and counted out Supernova, and cease was called. Supernova also appeared in the Third World Championship representing Sri Lanka. Supernova won the qualifier battle easily; its spinning disc weapon tore through Mechaniac's shell, sending the back panel flying off the machine, leaving the mechanics exposed. Repeated attacks from Supernova dislodged Mechaniac's batteries and left it immobile. Cassius Chrome then punched Mechaniac's batteries which then shorted out the electronics and started an internal fire. Supernova was the winner and the first robot to qualify for the World Championship.

In the first round of the World Championship, it met Hard from Belgium, and Spartacus from the USA. It used its disc to rip apart Spartacus's front, eventually succeeding in buckling one of Spartacus's wheels. Hard had mysteriously stopped moving, so it was counted out. Supernova and Spartacus were both having mobility problems; Spartacus could only move in circle due to its buckled wheel, and Supernova was only displaying short bursts of movement. In the end, it was Spartacus who was deemed immobile, and Supernova moved on to the next round.

In Round 2, Supernova dominated the fight against Crushtacean, battering the South African robot with its disc. After a few hits, one of Crushtacean's claws came loose, and it stopped moving. Crushtacean was thrown by the floor flipper, and skittered all the way across the arena. In the final, Supernova met Storm 2 again. Storm 2 charged in, while Supernova tried to use its disc, but couldn't impede Storm 2 at all. The two robots slammed into each other a few times, and one of their collisions caused Supernova to turn sideways and get stuck on the arena wall. Refbot came over and tried to free it, while Storm 2 got itself beached on an angle grinder. Supernova finally managed to get back on its wheels, so it attacked the vulnerable Storm 2, freeing it from the angle grinder in the process. The robots continued slamming each other until cease was called. The battle went to a judges' decision, and the judges decided that the Third World Champion was Storm 2, leaving Supernova as the runners-up.

2016 Series
Supernova competed in Episode 3, battling Big Nipper, Or Te and TR2. Before the battle, Supernova experienced technical difficulties in the form of a complete electrical failure, and the team needed to stay up overnight to repair it, borrowing a speed controller from Team Danby, which was fixed by Alan Young, and the robot was completely rewired to run on two circuits, powering both the weapon and the drive. This meant that Supernova entered its qualifier untested, and the team did not know if the robot would function. "Untested, this is like taking a driving test at the Monaco Grand Prix!"

- Jonathan Pearce on Supernova's lack of testing

The dangerous flywheel of Supernova posed an immediate threat to Or Te, which slammed into Supernova in an effort to stop its weapon from spinning. However, Supernova quickly gained its revenge, as the flywheel's first contact sent Or Te spinning away, knocking out its safety link. Although Supernova had immobilised Or Te, it also lost one of the teeth on its flywheel in the process. Supernova and Big Nipper clashed with their respective spinners, and Supernova proved more powerful, knocking Big Nipper away, but TR2 pushed Supernova into the arena wall, removing its second and final flywheel tooth. This meant Supernova could no longer cause damage with its disc, and it was pushed into the pit release by TR2. After clashing disc-to-disc with Big Nipper again, TR2, unable to use its flipper, shunted Supernova to the edge of the pit, where Supernova narrowly escaped by driving on its side using its wheel and flywheel in tandem. "Well how difficult is it to control these machines I wonder, very difficult if you've got a gyroscopic effect created by a 2,500rpm spinning disc!"

- Jonathan Pearce

Supernova struggled to regain its balance, lost a decorative piece of its wheel, and after its direction was changed by TR2, Supernova used the momentum of its toothless flywheel to carry itself into the pit. "TR2s wedge tilted Supernova and the disc which had no teeth turned into a big wheel and pulled us forward into the pit"

- Supernova's team after the battle

Results

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Wins/Losses

 * Wins: 5
 * Losses: 5

Trivia

 * In addition to Supernova's participation in The Third World Championship, Supernova was also invited to compete in the All-Stars competition in Series 7. However, the team had to decline due to a scheduling clash with university exams.
 * This was not the first time Team Supernova had declined a place in a competition - Supernova was invited to compete in the second series of Robot Wars Extreme, but exams prevented the team from attending.
 * In its first two appearances in the main competition, Supernova fought in Heat H, and went up against a seeded machine in the first round.
 * Supernova was one of four robots to come back to life whilst being counted out by the Refbot.
 * During its first-round melee in Series 7, Supernova cut a hole in the arena wall that was never repaired.
 * Storm 2's combined attack with Supernova on Sir Killalot led to the most expensive repairs for a House Robot ever.
 * Through representing Sri Lanka in the Third World Championship, Supernova became the only robot to represent an Asian country in an international competition.