Arena Cleaner

"Arena Cleaner has a 20kg spinning blade, which Scott Mills and Chris Stark hope will 'tidy away' the opposition!"

- Jonathan Pearce

Arena Cleaner is a robot which competed in the Robot Wars: Battle of the Stars, as part of the 2017 series. It was designed by DJ's Scott Mills and Chris Stark, who were mentored by Dave Moulds of Team Carbide throughout the build process.

The name Arena Cleaner was chosen shortly before filming began - after the robot's working title of Rampant Robot was rejected by the producers, Mills and Stark asked for suggestions from listeners while on air, and Arena Cleaner ultimately became the robot's name.

Design
"We wanted a robot that would do as much damage as possible and look vicious!"

- Scott Mills

Arena Cleaner is an invertible robot armed with a yellow 20kg spinning bar, with one spiked blade on each side. The weapon was intentionally designed to be large, to intimidate opposing teams. The robot has a castor wheel on each surface, and is armoured in 3mm of HARDOX steel, but its main weakness is its hugely exposed two-wheel drive. The back end of the robot is shaped to have steep wedges, and the robot uses a 'baby blue' colour-scheme. Mills and Stark conceptualised the robot as having an 'aggressive spinning claw' with four prongs. Dave Moulds built Arena Cleaner himself, following the design sketch as closely as possible.

Team
Scott Mills first became a DJ at the young age of 16, later joining BBC Radio 1 in 1998, where he gained large success. Mills most famously hosts the daily slot, The Scott Mills Show, and often presents The Official Chart Show when its usual host is unavailable. This long career allowed Scott Mills to appear on other TV shows such as the Eurovision Song Contest and Strictly Come Dancing, and a musical based on his life was even performed in 2009.

Chris Stark is also a DJ, who joined the regular cast of The Scott Mills Show in 2012. In his own right, Chris Stark also had a recurring role in Virtually Famous, and starred in 24 Years at the Tap End.

Dave Moulds is the captain of Team Carbide. He made his Robot Wars debut in the 2016 series with Carbide, which was the runner-up of the series. Moulds had also previously built Turbulence, which brought him success in the live circuit. As the reigning Robot Wars runner-up, Moulds was selected to mentor Mills and Stark throughout the process of building and competing with Arena Cleaner. As Team MAD were not involved with Battle of the Stars, Dave Moulds was the most successful roboteer from the 2016 series to become a mentor.

Battle of the Stars
Arena Cleaner competed in Episode 1. In its first battle, it was drawn against Dr. Maggie Aderin-Pocock's robot, Interstellar: MML.

Results

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Wins/Losses

 * Wins: 3
 * Losses: 1

Series Record
NOTE: This series record reflects the performance of mentor Dave Moulds

Trivia

 * Arena Cleaner was first revealed officially on Christmas Day, in a BBC Make it Digital article.