Haardvark

"Where there is harmony, may I bring discord. Where there is calm, may I induce fear. Where there is tranquility, may I summon chaos. Where there is order, may I wreak havoc. I am the necromancer and the rivet lancer, the soul taker and the circuit breaker, the foe fighter and the brain biter. I am Haardvark...and you're toast"

- "Hardvaark's Mantra", a slogan on the machine

Haardvark was a large box-shaped robot covered in various danger slogans and graphics that competed in Series 2 and 3 of Robot Wars. It was built out of 3mm aluminium plate section along with its "sacrificial armour" to stop cutting discs but was upgraded to 5mm thick polycarbonate and cost £1,648.19 to build. Its main weapons were lifting forks (strangely referred to as a front scoop) driven by a motorcycle starter motor and a circular saw, which was added in Series 3. The saw and arm, made from kevlar, was originally a feature on the Series 2 version which travelled at 15mph and featured a wheelchair chassis, but it pushed the robot over the weight limit, and so had to be removed. The cutting disc also went against the rules in Series 3, and was replaced by an abrasive disc. It reached the semi-finals of Series 2, losing to Cassius in the arena stage, but it broke down in the final seconds of the first round of Series 3, and was eliminated. The team also entered Haardervark in Series 5, but it failed to qualify for the main competition. Haardvark inadvertently caused one of the major accidents of the Second Wars, as during the preview roll out Haardvark reversed off a ledge and managed to injure one of the safety advisers.

Haardvark's name was an obvious pun on aardvark.

Series 2
Haardvark made a strong start in the Gauntlet and Trials, it finished top of the leaderboard in The Gauntlet stage of the heat as it covered a respectable distance of 10.6m. Haardvark followed that up by coming second in the Sumo trial, after taking house robot Dead Metal right off the in a time of 17.9 seconds. This put Haardvark through to the arena stage of the heat. In the Heat Semi-Final, Haardvark was placed up against fellow newcomers, yet also heat favourites, Vercingetorix. Despite a problem with its forks stabbing into the floor and preventing the robot moving forwards, Haardvark was able to defeat the Isle of Wight machine to progress to the heat final, where it was placed up against another newcomer in Havoc. In this battle, Haardvark was able to push Havoc around the arena with ease, quickly getting Havoc into the PPZ. Havoc was too sluggish in escaping from the PPZ, and it was flipped onto its side, courtesy of Shunt's scoop. Havoc was unable to self-right, and was therefore deemed immobilised. Cease was soon called and Haardvark was put through to the Series Semi-Finals.

In the series semi-finals, the Haardvark team's electronics engineer was called away, leaving it at a disadvantage from the start. It scraped through to the arena after only covering 2.4m in The Gauntlet after it attempted the Sentinel route but bumped into Matilda who dragged it back almost to the start. However, this still made it surpass Plunderbird 2's run of 0.9 metres. Haardvark did not have any more luck in the pinball stage of the Semi-Final, and just managed to surpass G.B.H. after a slow and steady run. In the arena stage of the Semi-Final, Haardvark was placed up against the number 5 seeds Cassius, and there was a problem right from the start for Haardvark, as the machine was only able to go in reverse. In the battle, after a long period of being thrown around by the flipping arm of Cassius, Haardvark fought back strongly to push Cassius into the PPZ where Cassius' chain came off. This appeared to signal an incredible victory against all odds for Haardvark, although Cassius had enough mobility to move away and Haardvark was picked up by Sir Killalot (despite not actually being in the PPZ), flipped over, and placed onto the flame pit, eliminating it from the competition.

Series 3
Due to health & safety regulations, the Haardvark team was not allowed to use the sawblade the team had brought. They were forced to use an ineffective grinding disc in its place, which they attached to a bigger plastic blade to make it look more threatening.

Haardvark was placed up against Henry in the first round of the heat. Haardvark's temporary grinding disc weapon didn't cause tremendous damage, but enough to create scars on the surface of Henry's armour. Haardvark was very sluggish throughout the battle and Henry was able to have a few run-ups, but it didn't make the most of them, as Haardvark's blade was ready to halt a charge from Henry. After approximately 3 minutes of dominating the battle and hammering Henry with constant attacks, Haardvark suddenly broke down completely right before the countdown to signal the end of the battle, and was controversially eliminated from the competition despite being immobile for just over 10 seconds. This battle was one of many arguments that led to the creation of the Refbot.

Results

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Wins/Losses

 * Wins: 2
 * Losses: 2

Series Record

 * Series 1: Did not enter
 * Series 2: Semi-Finals, Arena
 * Series 3: Heat, Round 1
 * Series 4: Did not enter
 * Series 5-6: Failed to qualify with Haardervark
 * Series 7: Did not enter