Shockwave

''This article is about the modern robot that entered Robot Wars 2016. For the Police representative in the Forces Special of Robot Wars Extreme, see Shockwave (Extreme 1).''

Shockwave is a heavyweight robot, which was entered into the 2016 series of Robot Wars by Team Shock. It reached the Grand Final, but lost its Group Battle to Apollo and Carbide after sustaining severe damage from Carbide that forced it to withdraw before the fight could be restarted following repairs to the arena wall.

Upon the announcement of the 2016 series, Shockwave, having previously been retired from live events, underwent a rebuild specifically in order to participate in the new series.

Team Shock also attempted to enter the series with Manta and Maelstrom, neither of which were accepted, although Manta made a cameo appearance in the team's VT, played before Shockwave's Head to Head battles.

Design
Shockwave is an invertible heavyweight robot, with four-wheel drive and armed with interchangeable lifting scoops. The robot is covered in 4mm of armour plating steel, with 15mm of high density polyethylene plastic. Shockwave's scoop can lift 200kg, and can rotate 360° around the robot, which also allows the robot to turn itself over, which is used as the robot's victory move the end of its battles.

Shockwave can alternate between a solid HARDOX wedge scoop, and a sacrificial HDPE curved scoop. The wedge scoop was undeniably the most effective, with the team only using the HDPE scoop in battles where they did not want the signature scoop to be damaged.

2016 series
Shockwave competed in Episode 2, where it faced three veterans; DisConstructor, Thor, and Tough as Nails. "During testing, Shockwave, they apparently drove it through a neighbour's fence! This team claim their scoop arm will allow them to climb out of the pit - yeah, we'll have to see about that!"

- Jonathan Pearce

When the battle begun, Shockwave did not hesistate before pressing the pit release, having planned to dispose of the threatening spinner DisConstructor early on. The plan succeeded, as Shockwave rammed DisConstructor into the arena wall, which rebounded towards the pit, and Shockwave capitalised by pushing its early fears down. Down to three robots, Shockwave slammed into the back of Thor, which was gripped by Tough as Nails, although this caused Shockwave to slide completely under Thor, into Tough as Nails' grip. Shockwave pushed Tough as Nails into the corner of the arena. Shockwave appeared to try and team up with fellow live circuit competitor Thor, constantly pushing it closer to Tough as Nails' weak spots, or wedging underneath Tough as Nails to put it at a better angle for striking. Thor succeeded in immobilising Tough as Nails, allowing Shockwave to progress with it. "It was the disc we were really worried about, because we're so exposed with our four-wheel drive, we just said, we've got to go for the disc!"

- Ian Thomas

It was later revealed that Shockwave lost drive to one of its wheels during the melee, but this damage was repaired in time for the next round. In Shockwave's first battle of the head-to-head stage, Foxic was to be its first opponent. Both robots met in the centre of the arena, but Foxic's wedge was lower, and Shockwave simply drove on top of its opponent. It retreated, pressing the pit release button, then drove back towards Foxic which had briefly stopped moving, and pushed it into Dead Metal. When Foxic began to push Dead Metal across the arena, Shockwave capitalised by slipping underneath its distracted opponent, allowing Dead Metal to push back and cut into Foxic. Shockwave rammed Foxic into the arena wall, turning it over, and when Foxic escape, raising its scoop, Shockwave could slip underneath and push Foxic into the pit. Shockwave celebrated by turning itself over repeatedly.

Shockwave next fought Thor, its ally from the first round. In preparation, Shockwave applied a new front scoop, intended to deflect Thor's axe, made from a gas pipe outside the team's house. "Thor can smack this all day long!"

- Will Thomas

Shockwave raised its scoop at the beginning of the fight, in order to deflect Thor's axe, though no axe blows were fired until after Shockwave had pressed the pit release button, where Thor turned Shockwave over and pushed it into Dead Metal, which sliced into one of Shockwave's tyres. Shockwave could still drive reasonably well, but a blow from Thor knocked a third of Shockwave's scoop off completely. Shockwave could not breach Thor's ground clearance with this scoop, so it went on the defensive, but Thor pushed it towards Matilda and landed another blow. Shockwave protected itself from some attacks using the scoop, but continued to sustain damage nontheless, being pushed into the arena wall to lose another third of its scoop. Shockwave pushed Thor broadside, but could not defend itself from Thor bending its lifting mechanism, and attacking its wheel hub. The final piece of Shockwave's bucket was lost simply from a ram, but during this time, Shockwave pushed Thor into Matilda's flywheel, damaging Thor's own wheel guard. Both robots survived to a Judges' decision, but it was scored in favour of Thor. After the battle with Thor, Team Shock dropped their robot onto Will Thomas's fingers, requiring medical attention in a local A&E, leaving Ian Thomas to repair the robot alone. Will returned to the studio two hours later, ready for their last battle in the second round, against M.R. Speed Squared.

Shockwave showed no fear of M.R. Speed Squared, and barged into it, pushing it towards Sir Killalot, pressing the pit release button for a fourth time while it had the chance. Shockwave's tactics were to stop M.R. Speed Squared from accelerating its spinning rim, which it did by pushing the robot relentlessly, and into Dead Metal. When M.R. Speed Squared retaliated, Shockwave lost a drive chain, and sustained damage on its bucket, but Shockwave's response was to lift M.R. Speed Squared onto the arena wall, where smoke emitted from it. Shockwave carried M.R. Speed Squared towards Sir Killalot again, and turned it over near Dead Metal, exposing their unprotected internals. Another lift held their prey completely airborne, while buckling their own scoop. Shockwave almost lost the fight after carrying M.R. Speed Squared towards the pit, but lost grip and almost drove in, but on a second attempt, pitted its opponent, and earned a place in the Heat Final. In a third encounter with Thor, Shockwave returned to its original metal scoop. The first contact caused Thor to rebound away from Shockwave, and a push from Shockwave into the arena wall left Thor immobilised in the opening moments. Shockwave pressed the pit release, and then had a simple task of pushing the beaten machine into the pit, which it did very quickly, earning vengeance for the earlier loss and awarding Shockwave a surprise place in the Grand Final. "What an upset, Shockwave have won! I cannot believe it!"

- Jonathan Pearce

In the Grand Final group stages, Shockwave was placed against Apollo and Carbide. Shockwave's plan was to either drive into Carbide's blade to stop it from spinning, or to sacrificially push Apollo into the spinning bar. "We could be going home in a bin bag!"

- Will Thomas

In the opening moments of the battle, Shockwave collided with Carbide near a CPZ. Shockwave slipped underneath Carbide, and pushed it into the arena wall, where Carbide's spinning blade rebounded and knocked a panel out of the arena side wall. Shockwave drove away from the scene, but Carbide landed a huge blow to Shockwave before cease was called for safety reasons. The battle was set to be restarted when the arena was repaired, but upon closer inspection it was revealed that Carbide's attack had damaged Shockwave significantly, dislodging one of its tyres and ripping through its armour. The damage was so severe that Shockwave was unable to continue, eliminating it and leaving Apollo and Carbide to progress to the head-to-heads. "It's always disappointing to lose, but we always knew that Carbide was going to be a fantastic robot to fight, and I reckon they'll go far"

- Will Thomas

Shockwave was repaired to fighting condition before the end of filming, so Team Shock and Team Eruption decided to have a friendly battle in the arena to entertain the audience, in a whiteboard fight. Shockwave's ground clearance proved to be inferior to Eruption's, and it was tossed around the arena. Shockwave managed to retaliate by slipping underneath Eruption to charge it into the arena wall. However, Shockwave's wheels were still weak after the encounter with Carbide, and after it was flipped a few more times by Eruption, a drive chain was lost, leaving Shockwave with only three working wheels. Team Shock encouraged Team Eruption to keep attacking, so Shockwave was thrown out of the arena, and lost the battle, retiring after this fight.

Results

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Wins/Losses

 * Wins: 4
 * Losses: 2

NOTE: Whiteboard matches are not included

Robot Wars Live Events
Shockwave only a limited number of appearances at live events prior to the TV series being filmed, as Team Shock have mostly competed with their more successful robots at the events, Manta and Maelstrom. But it did fight in Autumn 2015 against Steel Avenger. It started well by lifting Steel Avenger in the air but then Steel Avenger got a axe blow in which stopped Shockwaves drive on one side. Then a year later the new Shockwave made an appearance at the Greenwich University event in Autumn 2016, where it defeated Stinger, Halo and The Steel Avenger.

Outside Robot Wars
Shockwave originally competed in Techno Games 2003 as Joker but lost to Storm Chaser in round one due to the sumo blade not being ready and the football scoop being the only weapon available. It was sold to Team Shock in 2015 with its history between Techno Games and 2015 being unknown. The 2016 version of Shockwave is almost a completely separate machine to the original with only the drive and weapon motors remaining.

Team Shock have teased a successor to Shockwave, using the hashtag #aftershockiscoming.

Trivia

 * With non-qualifier Manta being the first, Shockwave is the second robot from Team Shock to share its name with a robot from earlier episodes of Robot Wars, as a robot named Shockwave competed in the Forces Special of Robot Wars Extreme. Coincidentally, the two robots that Team Shock's robots share names with both featured in the first series of Extreme.