Dead Metal

Dead Metal (also known as Death Metal in Dutch Robot Wars) was one of the four original House Robots alongside Matilda, Sergeant Bash and Shunt. Designed to resemble a scorpion, he fought by grabbing hold of contestant robots with his front-mounted claws and cutting into them with the circular saw on his "head". He was driven by a battery powered engine, and moved at a speed of 5.4 metres per second (12 mph). Dead Metal was protected by a steel exoskeleton consisting of jagged armour plates and spiked struts as wheel guards. Dead Metal was originally going to be painted pink to match its lobster-like appearance, but was left grey to give it a more 'menacing' look.

Appearance and Armament
In Series 1 and 2, Dead Metal had a more scorpion-like appearance. His circular saw was attached to a tail-like arm that would move forward from the robot's back and the steel exoskeleton was also much simpler in design. The saw blade was powered by a petrol motor which was found to be very unreliable and caused little damage when in contact with other robots.

For Series 2 the petrol motor was replaced by an electric motor and metal blade. The steel exoskeleton was also changed to accommodate the new saw. This created sparks whenever Dead Metal attempted to saw through other robots. However it didn't give the production team the destructive power they wanted. It was also unreliable and constantly needed maintenance.

In Series 3, the petrol motor was replaced with a modifed Stihl saw mounted at the front which could move forward to attack. The saw had to be moved forward very slowly, otherwise the mechanism would jam.

Dead Metal was one of the fastest House Robots, and his metre-wide body made him very difficult to flip over. Only Gravity ever acheived this; Cassius came close in the Series 2 final but did not succeed.

Dead Metal was also able to lift the front of his body up. This was generally seen when he was introduced before a battle. The idea of this was that it would allow the pincers to grab robots of different heights.

Notable appearances

 * The circular saw produced fantastic sparks when up against titanium. Examples of this included a battle between Hypno-Disc, Ming 3 and Wheely Big Cheese in Robot Wars Extreme. When Gravedigger faced Darke Destroyer in Series 3 the saw produced great sparks again after Darke Destroyer was immobilised.
 * In a battle between Bumblebot and Ultor in Series 3, Dead Metal's saw cut right through Bumblebot's axe leaving it without a head.

Worst Moments

 * Being outmatched in a Tug of War with Chaos in Series 2 and dragged backwards into the pit.
 * Being pushed into the pit by Talos in a gauntlet run in Series 2.
 * In a battle between Terrorpin and Invertabrat Dead Metal reversed straight into the pit.
 * After Dantomkia had won its semi final in the All-Stars, it took on Dead Metal and Growler who both broke down.
 * During a battle with Lightning in Series 7, Gravity flipped Shunt and Dead Metal for fun, resulting in a red card from Refbot.
 * In Battle 4 of The Minor Meltdown between Bigger Brother and Rick, Dead Metal's blade came loose, fell off of its mount, and then proceeded to roll across the arena, passing in between a gap in the arena wall and rolling out of the arena.