Thwackbots

Thwackbot is the term for any robot that is designed to attack by spinning in place, striking a heavy blow to an opponent's side, should it come within range. This type of design was popular in Robot Wars, but was not considered to be an active weapon. As such, thwackbots were not allowed to participate in Series 7 after a requirement for all robots to have active weapons was instated. Thwackbots can be divided into two basic catergories; Sit-and-Spins and Axlebots.

Sit-and-Spins
A Sit-and-Spin refers to any robot whose only means of attack is to spin on its own axis. Most sit-and-spin robots consisted of an arm with a sharp or blunt weapon on the end, but others featured a round body with spikes or blades around the sides. Sit-and-spins seem like a desirable kind of weapon because they work under the same principle as a Full Body Spinner- a heavy spinning object that makes contact over a small surface area- in theory a sit-and-spin would be just as powerful.

However in practice, there are pitfalls of this design. While it is potent, a sit-and-spin cannot move and attack at the same time; to attack it must spin on the spot. Spinning in place is not considered to be agressive behavior, a fact that the judges will note if a match winner is to be chosen based on points. In addition, if its wheel or drive becomes damaged, not only will its locomotion be crippled, but its weapon will too, since a Sit-and-Spin uses its drive system to attack.

Sit and spins waned in popularity as more advanced weapons took to the stage. Recently though, a builder in the US discovered a way to allow Sit-and-Spins to move and spin at the same time. Dubbed "Meltybrain" technology, it involves equiping a Sit-and-Spin robot with LED's and a detection sytem, allowing it to automatically figure out its position at any given moment.



List of Full Body Spinners
Robots are listed alphabetically. Robots that aren't heavyweight are listed with a green background.