S.M.I.D.S.Y.

"Sorry Mate I Didn't See You. If you're a biker or a cyclist, you know exactly what that means."

- Mik Reed

S.M.I.D.S.Y. (which stood for Sorry Mate I Didn't See You) was a heavyweight robot, which competed from Series 3-7, also competing in both series of Extreme. Most well known for being formed over the internet, S.M.I.D.S.Y. was one of the most successful robots not to win a heat in the UK Championship. Despite an early exit in Series 3, S.M.I.D.S.Y. first rose to prominence by defeating the seeded Aggrobot 2 in Series 4, after which it was defeated by Panic Attack in the Heat Final. It also reached the Heat Final stage in Series 5, but was defeated there by reigning champion Chaos 2.

S.M.I.D.S.Y. fell in the second round of its Series 6 heat to Dominator 2, but reached the Heat Final again Series 7, which it entered as a seeded machine. However, it was unable to defeat Atomic, which flipped it out of the arena.

S.M.I.D.S.Y. had an aggressive battle strategy and was capable of dominating robots even without the use of its weapon. Despite having nine losses, S.M.I.D.S.Y. was defeated by UK Semi-Finalists on eight of those occasions.

Design
"The first stage was to identify the dangers faced by a RobotWars robot. We came up with something like this- The robot can be out-manoeuvred. Our robot would have to be fast, manoeuvrable, easy to drive and have plenty of traction. The robot can be damaged by other robots, the house robots and the arena itself. Our robot would have to be a compact design, armoured against piercing and cutting weapons, flame-proof and be constructed throughout in a manner resistant to shock and vibration. The robot can be disabled by other robots, the house robots or the arena obstacles. We had all seen TV footage of robots on their backs or grounded on obstacles, sitting ducks for being pushed into the pit. Our robot would have to be heavily armoured, able to run inverted and have sufficient ground clearance to negotiate debris on the arena floor"

- The S.M.I.D.S.Y. website on designing S.M.I.D.S.Y.

S.M.I.D.S.Y. was built in early 1999 in the garage of Andy Pugh, after months of the team members sending each other suggestions and designs over the internet. "Many elements of SMIDSY were chosen with the Gauntlet in mind, but that aspect of the game was dropped before we ever fought. Luckily, being low-slung, stable and manoeuverable is good in a fight too!"

- The S.M.I.D.S.Y. website on designing S.M.I.D.S.Y.

S.M.I.D.S.Y. was a black and red decorated invertible box-shaped robot with aluminium sides (later upgraded to titanium) which ran on go-kart wheels to give it four-wheel drive. Its main weapon was a set of jaws on the front described as "the Gnashing Jaws of Doom", which could either lift, grab, or act as a wedge. The weapon was operated by a luxury car seat actuator, which was later replaced by a windscreen wiper motor. The advantage of these jaws was that they could reset as a wedge even if S.M.I.D.S.Y. was flipped, rather than leaving the wedge set as a gaping ground clearance, which robots such as Tornado often suffered from. "They describe their weaponry as gnashing jaws, crushing jaws, “lift you up and dismember you jaws”. Cor, they can’t half “jaw”, this team! They say it took six weekends to build and six months talking about it!"

- Jonathan Pearce in Series 3

The robot also featured a PVC air cooling duct inside the robot, to prevent it from overheating - however, earlier versions of S.M.I.D.S.Y. were coated in flammable leather on top. The robot's drive system was powered by Bosch GPA750 24V 1HP permanent magnet DC units, overvolted to twice their regulated power, made possible through the internal cooling system. "When it opens those jaws wide, S.M.I.D.S.Y. looks like a giant, great big black and red... clothes peg, I think"

- Jonathan Pearce in Series 3

S.M.I.D.S.Y. originally featured a set of ramming spikes at the back. After the Extreme 1 weight increase, a 11-12.5 kg horizontal spinning disc replaced these spikes, spinning at 200 mph at its teeth, with a wider chassis built to accommodate the new weapon. In Series 3-5, the side armour of S.M.I.D.S.Y. was prioritised, and secondhand polypropylene pipe coated the sides of the robot, creating a curved appearance. "We have rebuilt the entire robot for the 2001 War, because the weight limit was increased by 20kg, which was enough to fit in a whole new weapon - a 200mph, 15kg disk which damages walls, other robots, bits of wood, my thumb, whatever comes near it! At the same time, we built a new chassis, better jaw actuators, re-organised the insides to give more room, pretty much everything was rebuilt, better than before, and in only about twice as many weekends as we estimated. Once again, our thanks to the Pugh family for playing host to lots of bikers who turn up, make a lot of noise with machine tools, sleep all over the house and then vanish into the night."

- The S.M.I.D.S.Y. website on designing S.M.I.D.S.Y.

After Series 5, S.M.I.D.S.Y.'s jaw was replaced by a simple lifting scoop with steel teeth for Series 6 and Extreme 2. However, the team never really relied on these weapons, preferring to use S.M.I.D.S.Y.'s formidable pushing power and speed to pit their opponents or merely send them into CPZs for the House Robots to take care of. "The best weapons in the arena are the House Robots, so we just push them all into all the house robots and let them do the big damage"

- Robin Bennett in Series 7

Qualification
S.M.I.D.S.Y. fought two battles at the Series 4 qualifiers. First, it fought Draco. It won the battle, ramming Draco into submission. "The call comes across, 'Let the wars begin!' And Robin is shooting SMIDSY forward, Draco, caught out by the jump start also begins moving as in our speaker the count of 3... 2... 1... Activate! comes across. About the moment that Activate is mentioned SMIDSY is smashing in under the scoop of Draco and preparing for another hit. We pound in again and again, Andy on the jaw controls, Robin driving round and diving in to gash the sides, or continue to flatten the front scoop. Me, shouting directions over their shoulders. … Draco is trying to get its axe into play, but it stops over 2 inches short of SMIDSY's top, hitting the stops on its bulkhead. Robin has turned SMIDSY and is going in with the spikes, one already bent out of shape thanks to a hard hit on the arena wall. Draco becomes less and less effective and by the time the crowd count down to 0 for the end of the round it's limping with one motor disabled. Surely we've won! Cease is called and the compere announces the judges are not amused with our jump start. Rules can't be broken and sometimes you have to do things you don't like. My heart starts to sink once more, he then announces we have a Yellow Card. This means nothing, I'd been suckered in, I thought the bout was going to be taken from us. He continues, asking the crowd to cheer to decide the winner, bearing in mind our rule-breaking demeanor, Draco gets a poor reception of thumbs down and boo's, he announces SMIDSY and the crowd goes *WILD* :-) . Robin has disappeared down to drive SMIDSY back off of the arena, we're interviewed and blame the jump start on Robin being over eager and getting Red Mist."

- The S.M.I.D.S.Y. website on the battle

Its second battle was against Kronic the Wedgehog. It managed to survive to a judges’ decision, but lost. However, S.M.I.D.S.Y. had still impressed the producers enough to qualify. "This time Robin waits (on pain of hard stares) for Activate to be called. Once more we charge towards each other. This is another slugging match. Wedgehog has the same turn of speed as us, we chase them around the ring trying to get spikes or jaws to bear. They are too tight to the ground for us to get under and eventually while we're pushing them from the front they activate the flipper. We are held vertical on their front armour, they flip again, a third time and we're over. Robin hits the arena floor full forward throttle selected and SMIDSY charges straight back in to the fray. We bash and push for a while and then are flipped back the right way up, once more we land and hit out unscathed. This happens a couple more times, we have had some good hits on Wedgehog, they have almost carried us out of the arena. They can't pin us, we can't do serious damage to them. Finally after five minutes of stand up battle cease is called. The crowd are consulted and Wedgehog gets a better response. Sure enough the judges follow suit and the vote goes against us. Bubble a bit burst we return to the pits, only to be told that winning or losing that bout won't necessarily cause problems. Most 'bots only managed one bout, and some had it very easy. We'd just come out of our second stand up fight and it had had one of the best crowd reactions of the day!"

- The S.M.I.D.S.Y. website

At the Series 5 qualifiers, S.M.I.D.S.Y. took part on the Sheffield leg of the tour. It fought three battles, the first of which was against Derek and Black Knight. S.M.I.D.S.Y. and Derek took Black Knight out together, before S.M.I.D.S.Y. knocked out Derek to win. "Everyone's friendly, the guy with Black Knight (another Steve Parker from Doncaster!) says he doesn't mind being trashed, we agree a plan with Derek for us to hold the knight's head in SMIDSY's Jaws whilst they cut it up :) The bout starts, (it all goes a bit fuzzy now) and basically Black Knight gets walloped by us both, Shunt joins in, we have a scrap with Derek, and clout it with the disk. It jars Derek so badly that its safety link falls out :) Black Knight is finished off by Shunt who then starts scrapping with us. A few seconds before the bout ends, Shunt puts its pick through our top armour and into the nice new Cyclon battery :( Bout ends and it dawns on me that we've won!"

- The S.M.I.D.S.Y. website

S.M.I.D.S.Y. was then asked to take part in the next day’s battles, as a reserve. The next day, S.M.I.D.S.Y. fought two more battles, the first of which was against Brute Force and Ignorance. Despite having a low battery, it won the battle because Brute Force and Ignorance broke down. "As soon as we arrived in the booth the transmitter 'low battery' warning sounded, giving us about a minute before it died. We switched it off until the bout started and were in such a hurry to get it over SMIDSY went on the 3 of 3,2,1... Time goes so slowly when you're in the booth. We stopped half way across the arena and waited for the 'activate'... We rammed them, pushed them around, hit them with the disk etc. They stopped working at some point having never managed to use their flipper. The transmitter switched off entirely but there was so much interference that the bot would occasionally drive across the ring, or spin around, so it looked as if we were moving. Craig came and stood next to us for a better view and to ask what was going on... By leaving the transmitter off for 30 seconds we could get 10 seconds of control before it switched off again, which gave us just enough control to avoid Shunt (and park over the flame pit, which failed to set fire to the vinyl). But we won!"

- The S.M.I.D.S.Y. website

The third battle was a four-way melee against Immortalis, Trident and Viking. S.M.I.D.S.Y. performed well, but ultimately lost the battle. "We attack Trident with the disk and I think it died there and then (well, it was dead when it landed, so we pushed it into the pit :) Immortalis was quietly wrecking itself against any immovable object cus they couldn't steer :( and Viking started tussling with us. This was the point where we lost drive again (low batts). We got shoved into a corner and managed to keep Shunt and Viking at bay with the disk, we got pickaxed again but the damage wasn't so bad. If we'd have gone for Viking first I think we might have won as the other two were BalsaBots but then, who can say :)"

- The S.M.I.D.S.Y. website

S.M.I.D.S.Y. qualified for Series 5, and was awarded the 24th seed.

At the Series 6 qualifiers, S.M.I.D.S.Y. fought Draven, and won, thereby automatically getting an place in Series 6.

S.M.I.D.S.Y. did not have to go through the Series 7 qualifiers as it was seeded.

Series 3
"The gnashing jaws of doom will be inflicted on anyone who comes anywhere near S.M.I.D.S.Y. I think"

- Philippa Forrester

S.M.I.D.S.Y.'s first appearance was in the final heat of the Third Wars, where it fought fellow newcomers Rattus Rattus in the first round. No trace of its future skill was evident yet, as it was suffering from radio interference and moving slowly & sporadically. "What we had was a solid dangerous and competent robot, with a flakey second rate and suspect Radio Control system. We are more than happy that given a degree of actual control of SMIDSY we’d have won our bout after a good solid scrap. As it was we suffered from crippling interference from the second the chainsaws were activated and were unable to do anything much at all. I doubt the cameras will show us dangling Robin out of the cherry pickers by his ankles to try and get control over SMIDSY, but they ought to (well we were almost doing it!) Even with the fact we couldn’t actually control SMIDSY everyone reckoned the bout was one of the best filmed that day as our opponents kept on attacking as best they could (they were also suffering from interference but to a lesser extent.)"

- Mik Reed describes S.M.I.D.S.Y.'s radio issues on the S.M.I.D.S.Y. website S.M.I.D.S.Y. edged away at the start, while Rattus Rattus leaped on the attack, sliding beneath and past S.M.I.D.S.Y. before reversing its grinder into the Cyberspace machine. S.M.I.D.S.Y. sat still, only opening its jaws as Rattus Rattus attacked again, but Rattus Rattus' attack resulted in it driving over an arena spike and being tossed up and down. During this, S.M.I.D.S.Y. had started to move. As Rattus Rattus tried to regather some composure from its incident involving the arena spike, S.M.I.D.S.Y. edged towards them; Rattus Rattus turned, however, and edged S.M.I.D.S.Y. towards Dead Metal. S.M.I.D.S.Y. got away from danger, as Rattus Rattus flew over and past them. Rattus Rattus crashed into S.M.I.D.S.Y. twice in quick succession, while S.M.I.D.S.Y. continued to weakly drive in Dead Metal's direction, and Rattus Rattus shunted it onto an arena spike. "Really, S.M.I.D.S.Y. is doing very little attacking work, it's all Rattus Rattus, and eventually it’s just going to push S.M.I.D.S.Y. into the CPZ."

- Jonathan Pearce Both robots then spun around, before S.M.I.D.S.Y. slowly positioned itself back onto the arena spike, which bounced it three times, with Rattus Rattus then shoving it aside and getting bounced itself. Dead Metal seized S.M.I.D.S.Y., but its claws were too high to grasp it. Rattus Rattus came in to knock the escaping S.M.I.D.S.Y. back in towards the CPZ, but its bodyshell bumped into Dead Metal's claw and was knocked askew. Rattus Rattus slammed into reverse and escaped, but backed onto the flame pit, before Shunt came in and lifted Rattus Rattus up with its scoop, keeping it over the flame pit, causing it to smoke. Meanwhile, S.M.I.D.S.Y. was in a tussle with Sir Killalot, before zipping across the arena floor and into Dead Metal's claws. Rattus Rattus nudged into S.M.I.D.S.Y., keeping it in Dead Metal's grip, which then sliced into it. Dead Metal then wandered out of his CPZ and towards the pit, while still cutting into S.M.I.D.S.Y. The House Robot stopped temporarily, before he pushed S.M.I.D.S.Y. into the pit, beaching himself over the edge in the process. "The Rattus Rattus are really good guys, we wouldn't have even fought today if they hadn't lent us half their tools and a good chunk of their spares!"

- Robin Bennett, gracious in defeat

Series 4
"Upgraded from the last war, we’ve got titanium side panels instead of aluminium, we’ve lowered the gearing so it’ll steer better."

- Mik Reed on the improvements to S.M.I.D.S.Y.

S.M.I.D.S.Y. returned to the wars with a more reliable radio system and titanium replacing the aluminium armour. "That’s gas main, we picked when they were digging up the roads, they don’t put pickaxes through the pipes, we figured they wouldn’t put pickaxes through the side of the robot."

- Mik Reed on the armour

Its first battle was against Overkill GTI, another robot that went out in Round 1 of the previous series, and 4th seeds Panic Attack, champions of Series 2. From the off, both Panic Attack and S.M.I.D.S.Y. moved towards Overkill GTI. S.M.I.D.S.Y. got underneath Overkill GTI's high ground clearance and pushed it over the flame pit, with Overkill GTI tearing up the arena floor in the process with its wedge digging into the floor while being pushed. "And look at the damage caused here to the arena floor! A great chunk taken out!"

- Jonathan Pearce

S.M.I.D.S.Y. then charged at the seeded Panic Attack, before it ran up the front of Overkill GTI and was flipped over. Panic Attack got underneath the front of Overkill GTI, and pushed it into an arena wall, before lifting it up and placing it on a wall spike. Panic Attack then took Overkill GTI off the spike and lifted it up by one of Overkill GTI's tyres. Panic Attack continued to carry it until a ram from S.M.I.D.S.Y. caused Panic Attack to drop Overkill GTI. S.M.I.D.S.Y. then drove over the front of Overkill GTI, and it was flipped over again. S.M.I.D.S.Y. pushed Overkill GTI towards the arena side wall, where Panic Attack came in to lift Overkill GTI again - this time balancing it upright against the arena wall. One of Overkill GTI's flipping arms collapsed against the arena side wall, before firing the other arm in an unsuccessful attempt to self-right. In the meantime, S.M.I.D.S.Y. had strayed into Dead Metal's CPZ, where sparks flew upon S.M.I.D.S.Y.'s contact with Dead Metal's circular saw. Dead Metal tried to grasp S.M.I.D.S.Y. in its claws, but S.M.I.D.S.Y. was beneath them. Panic Attack lifted the troubled Overkill GTI and it crashed back down onto the arena floor, only for S.M.I.D.S.Y. to reverse into it and push it into Dead Metal's CPZ. Dead Metal grasped Overkill GTI and brought its circular saw onto Overkill GTI's armour, while Panic Attack overturned S.M.I.D.S.Y. next to the arena wall, before it retreated towards the centre of the arena. At this point, Overkill GTI looked to have a flat tyre, and was driving at a much lower speed. Panic Attack and S.M.I.D.S.Y. then worked in conjunction, with Panic Attack reversing and S.M.I.D.S.Y. driving forwards, pushing Overkill GTI onto the edge of Sir Killalot's CPZ. While trying to attack Overkill GTI, S.M.I.D.S.Y. strayed into Sir Killalot's CPZ, but it was able to escape, only for Panic Attack to ram it into an arena spike. Panic Attack reversed into Overkill GTI once again, pushing it into an arena wall, before a pushing match between Panic Attack and S.M.I.D.S.Y. occurred. "Panic Attack - little bit of a tug of war with S.M.I.D.S.Y."

- Jonathan Pearce

Panic Attack then pushed S.M.I.D.S.Y. all the way across the arena, near to Sergeant Bash's CPZ. In the closing seconds of the battle, both S.M.I.D.S.Y. and Panic Attack took turns at raising Overkill GTI. The battle ended with S.M.I.D.S.Y. holding Overkill GTI up. The Judges put Panic Attack and S.M.I.D.S.Y. through to the next round. "We've got about the same sort of pushing power, we've got similar weapons, it’s going to be down a bit of luck, driver’s skill, we’ll see how it goes, could go to the judges"

- Mik Reed on fighting Aggrobot 2. In this battle, S.M.I.D.S.Y.'s full potential was beginning to show. S.M.I.D.S.Y. started the match by making two attempts to get underneath the seeded Aggrobot 2's sides using its own jaws. With the second attempt, S.M.I.D.S.Y. was able to gradually push Aggrobot 2 towards Shunt, but Aggrobot 2 escaped, while S.M.I.D.S.Y. remained statuesque underneath a flamethrower, where the leather top of S.M.I.D.S.Y. caught fire, before the fire extinguished itself while S.M.I.D.S.Y. pushed Aggrobot 2 back across the arena floor. "Ooh, a lick of flame to the top there; burning paint, and graphics - charcoaled effect now on the top of S.M.I.D.S.Y."

- Jonathan Pearce

S.M.I.D.S.Y. turned around, and got underneath the front of Aggrobot 2, where S.M.I.D.S.Y. was able to push Aggrobot 2 further across the arena. Aggrobot 2 appeared to make evasive measures, while S.M.I.D.S.Y. attempted to attack the sides of Aggrobot 2 again, with little effect until S.M.I.D.S.Y. finally got underneath Aggrobot 2 again, after which, S.M.I.D.S.Y. made another pushing attack.Aggrobot 2 used its lifting head to get underneath the jaws of S.M.I.D.S.Y., but S.M.I.D.S.Y. escaped, before slamming into Aggrobot 2 into the arena wall at high speed. "It's S.M.I.D.S.Y. here, doing all the work ... it’s SMIDSY here on top in this Heat Semi-Final for me, again slamming underneath Aggrobot... so that’s good style, control and aggression from SMIDSY, they’re on top should this go to the Judges"

- Jonathan Pearce as S.M.I.D.S.Y. rams Aggrobot 2

Like S.M.I.D.S.Y. earlier on in the match, Aggrobot 2 remained temporarily statuesque underneath a flamethrower, where Aggrobot 2's wheels were visibly smouldering. S.M.I.D.S.Y. pushed Aggrobot 2 away from the arena side wall and then got underneath Aggrobot 2 with another drive. With Aggrobot 2 now on top of S.M.I.D.S.Y., it was able to shunt Aggrobot 2 towards the flame pit on the other side of the arena. Aggrobot 2 was now making minimal movement as S.M.I.D.S.Y. nudged it towards Sergeant Bash, who used his pincer to crumple Aggrobot 2. With yet another slam, S.M.I.D.S.Y. drove Aggrobot 2 across the arena and into the arena wall. Aggrobot 2 was left to smoulder underneath the flamethrowers, where its two front wheels caught fire again. The House Robots then treated Aggrobot 2 as immobile, as Sergeant Bash crumpled Aggrobot 2's armour, while Shunt axed the top of it. Sir Killalot tore apart Aggrobot 2's armour using his jaws of life. Aggrobot 2 was situated on the floor flipper, but Dead Metal curiously rammed it off. Sir Killalot picked up Aggrobot 2 once again, span on the spot before tipping over. Cease was called once Sir Killalot held Aggrobot 2 aloft again, and S.M.I.D.S.Y. went through to the Heat Final. "S.M.I.D.S.Y. were very impressive, direct on that attack on Overkill, and against Aggrobot, what a performance this was!"

- Jonathan Pearce reviews SMIDSY’s progress to the Heat Final.

Unfortunately for the team from Cyberspace, the success from S.M.I.D.S.Y. was short-lived as it met the 4th seeds Panic Attack once again, this time in the Heat Final. "If we pick him up and turn him over, he can still run, he’s very small so the forks will lift him up but the wheels will still be able to run so it’s going to be very tough!"

- Kim Davies before the Heat Final

The battle opened with the two robots colliding with each other, after which S.M.I.D.S.Y. pushed Panic Attack over a flame jet and around the arena. S.M.I.D.S.Y. then drove onto the top of Panic Attack, but was able to drive away before Panic Attack could launch a significant attack. S.M.I.D.S.Y. pushed Panic Attack backwards again, but retreated so it could launch a faster ram at the front of Panic Attack. S.M.I.D.S.Y. drove straight up Panic Attack's forks by doing this, falling off the side of the machine, and then attacking again. S.M.I.D.S.Y. drove onto Panic Attack, but Panic Attack could not capitalise, allowing S.M.I.D.S.Y. to push Panic Attack again. "At the moment, Panic Attack just holding the arena centre. I think they're trying to draw S.M.I.D.S.Y. in here."

- Jonathan Pearce

Panic Attack made its first retaliation by pushing S.M.I.D.S.Y. towards Shunt, but Shunt did not attack. S.M.I.D.S.Y. drove over Panic Attack's forks once more, before attempting a different method of offense, by reversing into Panic Attack. "Quite even at the moment; S.M.I.D.S.Y. the more aggressive. Perhaps, Panic Attack the more controlled."

- Jonathan Pearce

This moved Panic Attack, and after the two robots made more minor attacks, Panic Attack drove into the claws of Dead Metal. Dead Metal clutched Panic Attack, but did not use its circular saw. When Panic Attack drove away, S.M.I.D.S.Y. drove into the claws of Dead Metal, though Dead Metal could only grab a corner of S.M.I.D.S.Y., which promptly escaped and rammed the rear of Panic Attack. With S.M.I.D.S.Y. in this position, Panic Attack was able to reverse, and push S.M.I.D.S.Y. across the arena. Once S.M.I.D.S.Y. had driven away, Panic Attack pursued, getting underneath S.M.I.D.S.Y. with its lifting forks, and raising S.M.I.D.S.Y. from the arena floor. Panic Attack's forks fit into S.M.I.D.S.Y.'s wheel arch, so Panic Attack could push and pull S.M.I.D.S.Y. around the arena, holding the leather-coated robot over a flame jet. "The wheels, from go-karts - little bit of a gap around them, and Panic Attack and Kim Davies have found that gap, and now, that could be the single most decisive moment of this entire heat."

- Jonathan Pearce

S.M.I.D.S.Y. did not catch fire, but was subject to being pressed against an arena spike, and held over the closed pit. S.M.I.D.S.Y. opened its jaws to try and escape, which eventually succeeded, with the Pit descending shortly afterwards. Panic Attack then lifted S.M.I.D.S.Y. onto its top, carried it towards the open pit, and then dropping S.M.I.D.S.Y. into it. "Oh, they looked so promising!"

- Jonathan Pearce, regarding S.M.I.D.S.Y.

S.M.I.D.S.Y. was therefore eliminated from Series 4, whilst Panic Attack went through to the Semi-Finals.

S.M.I.D.S.Y. also took part in the Sumo Basho and Pinball Warrior Tournament in the same series. During the Sumo, S.M.I.D.S.Y. attached salt shakers to its jaws as a reference to real life sumo wrestlers who threw salt into the ring for good luck. S.M.I.D.S.Y. dodged Shunt deftly, and then attempted to push Shunt off the ring, but couldn't move Shunt's weight. When Shunt freed itself, S.M.I.D.S.Y. flew off the platform, lasting 14.11 seconds to take 5th place overall on the leaderboard. "S.M.I.D.S.Y. ducked, dived and dodged away from Shunt's mighty bulldozer blade for a grand total of 14.11 seconds. It wasn't enough to win the round, but it was long enough to send the crowd wild with their driving tactics!"

- Robot Wars: The Ultimate Guide

S.M.I.D.S.Y. competed in the Pinball Warrior Tournament, only managing to score 70 points, taking 14th place out of 16. S.M.I.D.S.Y. started well, driving over the bridge and hitting the multi-ball release, but suffered control issues and started smoking. It knocked over some barrels at the second attempt due to control issues, but could not score any more points as the House Robots blocked the targets. "It looked a good run, but in the end was disappointing. Flattered only to decieve"

- Jonathan Pearce at the end of S.M.I.D.S.Y.'s Pinball run

Extreme 1
"We’ve always been tenacious, this year we’ve got more bite, we’re going to smash them up in the ring and leave them to sweep up the pieces"

- Mik Reed’s introduction in Extreme 1

In the first episode of Extreme, S.M.I.D.S.Y. was involved in the Mayhem, and was drawn up against Sumpthing and Pussycat for a place in the first Annihilator. It started by pushing the Series 4 runner-up around a little bit, towards the flame pit. Pussycat veered away and attacked S.M.I.D.S.Y. again, but S.M.I.D.S.Y.'s jaws deflected it. Eventually, Sumpthing made an attack on the two seeded machines, but its first attack on Pussycat dislodged the drive-chain for its saw. S.M.I.D.S.Y., meanwhile, activated the pit (this was the first time the pit release button was shown, despite the pit release button being torn from the wall), but then nearly drove down it, as did Sumpthing. After this, all three robots drove to the other end of the arena, continuing to attack each other. Sumpthing seemed much more sluggish than its two opponents, who began pushing each other, and in trying to catch up managed to impale itself on Sergeant Bash. Matilda eventually dislodged Sumpthing from Sergeant Bash, and attempted to attack Pussycat, who had just pushed S.M.I.D.S.Y. into the CPZ. At this point, part of the cyberspace machine's drive broke, leaving it spinning in circles for the rest of the battle. "...and S.M.I.D.S.Y. stands in the rear, with its ramming jaws; can flip, can drive over attacks, improved mechanical ability, but for me it's Pussycat and Sumpthing doing all the aggressive work here. S.M.I.D.S.Y. dancing around, dodging"

- Jonathan Pearce as S.M.I.D.S.Y. spins in circles whilst Sumpthing and Pussycat battle each other

Sumpthing then rammed into Pussycat, impaling its spike into the previous runner-up's side, but it could not take advantage of this. It took a few shoves from Refbot to finally separate the two, and they both then started attacking the limping S.M.I.D.S.Y., with these attacks forcing it closer and closer to the pit until it got itself beached, whereby Pussycat hit it one last time and forced it in. "S.M.I.D.S.Y. seems to have lost control there, one side is going round in circles, that'll count against it, and it's teetering and tottering on the brink! And S.M.I.D.S.Y. has gone! S.M.I.D.S.Y. is out of it!"

- Jonathan Pearce

Time ran out just as Pussycat got S.M.I.D.S.Y. into the pit properly, and the judges ruled in favour of it over Sumpthing.

S.M.I.D.S.Y was also involved in the Tag Team Terror competition alongside Sumpthing, the two were dubbed 'the grease monkeys' of the competition by Jonathan Pearce. "We're just hoping that they'll [Cerberus and Thermidor 2] run a fair fight, that they won't cheat on us, because we've got everything we need to run them here, just to beat them fair and square, and just run them into the ground, no problem at all!"

- Mik Reed before the battle

The pair went up against Cerberus and Thermidor 2 in the first round. S.M.I.D.S.Y. and Cerberus started, and they began by ramming each other head-on, but neither was able to effectively push each other. Cerberus ran into S.M.I.D.S.Y.'s side and the two machines spun around each other. Cerberus' blade-like jaw caused a small scratch on S.M.I.D.S.Y.'s side, before it used its tail to club the Cyberspace machine away. After another glancing blow between the two, S.M.I.D.S.Y. backed into Cerberus, its disc causing a large scar on its tail. It then ran across the arena towards Sumpthing's CPZ, only to collide head-on with Sumpthing's saws, causing sparks to fly. S.M.I.D.S.Y. turned away and rammed head-first into Cerberus again. It tried to push its opponent, but the Cypriot machine spun away and S.M.I.D.S.Y. simply kept driving forward until it ran straight into the arena wall, near Sergeant Bash's CPZ. "That's a long, long run, that's too long, that's suspiciously long!"

- Jonathan Pearce noting S.M.I.D.S.Y.'s actions

With S.M.I.D.S.Y.'s wheels still turning, it was evident that it had broken down in forward drive. Sumpthing immediately came out of its CPZ, but failed to utilise its saw blades on Cerberus. It missed a second attack, whereby Thermidor 2 (which was still wearing its Team Lobster baseball cap normally seen in the pits) came out to assist its team-mate. This ultimately paid off as Sumpthing became caught between Cerberus' jaws and Thermidor's flipper. Thermidor quickly flipped Sumpthing up onto its front, whereby it became stuck; its front spikes preventing its wheels from reaching the ground. Unable to move, and with its team-mate being assaulted by the house robots, Refbot counted out both machines. Thermidor drove towards S.M.I.D.S.Y., which had now stopped completely, and flipped it over. Cerberus and Sergeant Bash rammed it, before Shunt used his axe to make two large puncture marks in S.M.I.D.S.Y.'s top. He then proceeded to overturn S.M.I.D.S.Y. and attacked its underbelly, which held up better to the punishment. In the end, Shunt pushed S.M.I.D.S.Y. into the pit.

Series 5
"We’ve updated the speed controllers, so that we’ve got a lot more power, completely rebuilt the chassis, which allows us to put in a 4 ½ kilo disc, 200mph on the teeth. Last year we got to our Heat Final, went out to Panic Attack. We’ll be fine this year, provided we don’t come against a previous winner."

- Mik Reed’s introduction in Series 5

For finishing in the Heat Final of Series 4, S.M.I.D.S.Y. was seeded 24 out of 24 for Series 5, and came up against newcomers Obsidian in the first round. Obsidian struck with its axe, jumping off the mark quicker than S.M.I.D.S.Y., but the Cyberspace seed was too durable and quick to sustain serious damage. Obsidian continued to strike with its axe, whilst S.M.I.D.S.Y. positioned itself beside Obsidian and shunted it over a CO2 geyser. S.M.I.D.S.Y. ran into Obsidian with its disc, pushing it into Sergeant Bash. There were now gouges in Obsidian's armour, and it was seemingly unable to drive anywhere but in large circles. S.M.I.D.S.Y. pushed Obsidian away from Matilda and Bash, opening its jaws in an attempt to tip over its foe and end the battle, but was unsuccessful. S.M.I.D.S.Y. then managed to wedge Obsidian under the angle grinder, where Refbot counted it out. "The jaws of S.M.I.D.S.Y. open in a victory grin."

- Jonathan Pearce

Refbot finished his count, and Bash pulled Obsidian free of the wall. Matilda demonstrated her new flywheel by carving through Obsidian's armour effortlessly. It was finally positioned on the floor flipper and thrown, finalising its defeat.

In the Heat Semi-final, S.M.I.D.S.Y.'s opponent was another newcomer in 8645T. 8645T attempted a quick snap of the axe but missed its opponent. 8645T managed to clamp its axe weapon down onto S.M.I.D.S.Y. at the second time of asking, but was out-pushed by the smaller machine, with repeated axe blows doing little to deter the 24th seed. S.M.I.D.S.Y. pushed 8645T into the side wall, where Shunt axed and lifted it, allowing S.M.I.D.S.Y. to get beneath its ground clearance. S.M.I.D.S.Y. used its jaws as a lifter in order to keep 8645T from landing on its wheels. "This is all the work being done by S.M.I.D.S.Y. - great tactics as well."

- Jonathan Pearce

8645T was attacked by Shunt and Killalot and eventually freed when Killalot plucked it out and dropped it. S.M.I.D.S.Y. leaped back onto the offensive, using its jaws as a lifter to push 8645T onto its side. Unable to self-right, 8645T flailed on the flame pit and was counted out. Sir Killalot carried it to the floor flipper, but allowed 8645T to land on its wheels and flee. However, the battle was already decided, and S.M.I.D.S.Y. went through to the Heat Final for a second time.

It went up against Chaos 2, the reigning UK champions for the last two series. "We put off fighting Chaos 2 as long as possible, and here we are"

- Mike Reed on how things go "exactly to plan"

Both robots charged in and Chaos 2 got its first flip on S.M.I.D.S.Y., throwing it into the air twice. S.M.I.D.S.Y. then drove up the front of Chaos 2, and although S.M.I.D.S.Y. was positioned favourably for a flip, Chaos 2 decided against it. Instead, Chaos 2 charged towards the arena wall, where its flipper exploded into life, hurling S.M.I.D.S.Y. up against the wall and throwing Chaos 2 itself into the air. Chaos 2 positioned itself for a second Out of the Arena flip, but threw itself over in the process. "They've flipped themselves over! Are we going to see an almighty shock here!"

- Jonathan Pearce as Chaos 2 puts itself into danger

Chaos 2 attempted to right itself twice, but it couldn't self-right due to damage caused by S.M.I.D.S.Y. . Chaos 2 only vented gas without landing on its wheels. Both robots were unable to move, and cease was called early. "We could be seeing, here, one of the greater shocks in Robot Wars history! Unless S.M.I.D.S.Y. have been immobilised... I think George Francis has been immobilised... What happens now? The judges will have to decide!"

- Jonathan Pearce

According to Andy Pugh of the S.M.I.D.S.Y. team, S.M.I.D.S.Y. fell down from the wall after 30 seconds had elapsed, and proceeded to pit Chaos 2. As this had occurred after 30 seconds, however, this was ignored, and so the battle was restarted. Also, Team Chaos were permitted to repair the damage S.M.I.D.S.Y. had done to the flipper before the rematch.

A more cautious S.M.I.D.S.Y. sped around Chaos 2 rather than making frontal assaults. It got beneath Chaos 2's ground clearance, but did not press home its advantage. Chaos 2 flipped S.M.I.D.S.Y., but the invertible machine could merely continue its attack. Chaos 2 flipped S.M.I.D.S.Y. into Sir Killalot, who sliced S.M.I.D.S.Y. with its large pincer. S.M.I.D.S.Y. was showing no signs of life, and Chaos 2 positioned it against the side wall once again. "Killalot gets out of the way, wisely, with Chaos 2 in this sort of mood! Is it inevitable? A retreat, the onslaught, and there they go! Chaos 2 march on!"

- Jonathan Pearce

S.M.I.D.S.Y. was finally hurled out of the arena and Chaos 2 claimed the Heat. "Power pin flipped out. I'm going to regret thumping that in for a while! ... Saw it as we came out of the arena, dangling up at the top."

- Mik Reed explains S.M.I.D.S.Y.'s lack of power after the battle

Series 6
In the Sixth Wars, an unseeded S.M.I.D.S.Y., fighting with newly designed front lifting jaws, fought against newcomers St. Agro and veterans Comengetorix and Warhog in the first round of the Heat. Comengetorix clashed with S.M.I.D.S.Y., lifting the Cyberspace robot, but failed to flip it, while Warhog got up to full spinning speed. It rained axe blows down on S.M.I.D.S.Y., pushing it backwards. St. Agro attempted to flip its opponent, but missed, seemingly locking its own flippers open in the process. Comengetorix, still pushing S.M.I.D.S.Y., pushed Warhog into the arena wall. The arena wall was smashed by Warhog's spinning body when pushed into it. S.M.I.D.S.Y. pushes Warhog into Shunt, which lifted the full-body spinner onto the body of S.M.I.D.S.Y., which briefly offered it a "piggy-back". Warhog fought back against Comengetorix, but the robot from the Isle of Wight sped across the arena, slamming into a CPZ, before impaling itself on the arena wall with its axe. Growler tried to rip it free, but failed, bending Comengetorix's axe sideways. After sustaining this damage, Comengetorix finally retrieved its axe and escaped, very nearly driving into the pit in the process, while even Warhog skirted around the edge of the pit for the second time in the melee. Meanwhile, S.M.I.D.S.Y. shoved the defenseless St. Agro into the pit, finally ending the streak of near-misses with the pit, while Comengetorix avoided the House Robots. "It's now free, and it's gone into the pit? No! Very nearly, ooh, and the crowd! Dear, dear, Warhog's almost gone in, and now finally St. Agro's bitten the dust and they've gone in! Dear, oh dear, oh dear."

- Jonathan Pearce struggles to keep up as St. Agro finally goes into the pit after close shaves for both Comengetorix and Warhog

S.M.I.D.S.Y. pushed Warhog back towards Shunt, which thrust its axe the wok on top of Warhog, and dragged it around. Comengetorix was pushed into Shunt's CPZ by S.M.I.D.S.Y., but the house robot was still attacking Warhog, so Comengetorix attacked the vulnerable machine as well. S.M.I.D.S.Y. pushed Warhog across the arena, over the flame pit, and into an empty CPZ, and began to lift it. Growler came slamming in, knocking Warhog onto the top of S.M.I.D.S.Y. for a second time, which once again, paraded Warhog around the arena, carrying it all the way to the pit, and dropped it in. "Warhog piggybacking again on S.M.I.D.S.Y. again, trying to take a ride through to the later stages, it's not going to work boys! Go on S.M.I.D.S.Y., get rid!"

- Jonathan Pearce as S.M.I.D.S.Y. carries Warhog to the pit

Jonathan Pearce was very animated during this high-action battle, and declared that it must be one of the greatest fights ever in Robot Wars. S.M.I.D.S.Y. and Comengetorix went through to the second round.

This brought it into a close second round match against the 6th seeds Dominator 2. "On the arena floor, we'll be the people pushing them around, tipping them over, discing them, straight into the pit!"

- Confidence from Mik Reed before the battle

The battle started quickly with Dominator 2 trying to axe S.M.I.D.S.Y., but S.M.I.D.S.Y. used its greater agility to dodge the axe. Dominator 2 was then pushed into an arena wall by S.M.I.D.S.Y., but Dominator 2 escaped and used its axe again and almost punctured one of S.M.I.D.S.Y.'s tyres. More pushing ensued until Dominator 2 almost punctured one of S.M.I.D.S.Y.'s tyres with its axe again. S.M.I.D.S.Y. used its flywheel, but it had little effect on Dominator 2, although this generated many sparks. Both robots then entered a CPZ due to a push from Dominator, and Growler came smashing into both robots and attempted to pin S.M.I.D.S.Y. This huge attack completely split Dominator 2's baseplate in half, and caused major internal damage to S.M.I.D.S.Y. "Oh Growler! Look at that, both went into the CPZ and Growler came in with a right, roar ripping shunt! And S.M.I.D.S.Y. now, needs to get out and get out very quickly, and it's lacking power, you can see that. ... And S.M.I.D.S.Y.'s taken the worst of that"

- Jonathan Pearce on Growler's ferocious drive

Dominator 2 finally managed to puncture one of S.M.I.D.S.Y.'s tyres, but by this time S.M.I.D.S.Y. had slowed down and appeared to have lost drive in one side. It then caught fire from the flame pit just as cease was called. "I think this second round has been turned on its head. I think that damage sustained by S.M.I.D.S.Y. has cut its power and pace, and Dominator 2 can now grapple. ... S.M.I.D.S.Y. is in trouble, and they were well on top. They've backed onto the flame pit, you can see only one side seems to be working and they're on fire at the end."

- Jonathan Pearce towards the end of the battle

The Judges chose Dominator 2 to go through, eliminating S.M.I.D.S.Y. from Series 6. "We had to keep out the axe a bit, so maybe they decided we weren't being aggressive enough. ... We thought we were going to go further this year, we really did"

- Mik Reed after the battle

Extreme 2
S.M.I.D.S.Y. competed in the Tag-Team Terror again, with Sumpthing as its partner as in Extreme 1. In Round 1, they were drawn against X-Terminator and Mini Morg. X-Terminator and S.M.I.D.S.Y. both ran out into the centre of the arena, not colliding but rather allowing each to try and manoeuvre. S.M.I.D.S.Y. ran into X-Terminator broadside and shunted it towards the wall, but X-Terminator escaped and slammed the moving S.M.I.D.S.Y. with its axe, shoving it easily across the arena and near the waiting Sumpthing. S.M.I.D.S.Y. manoeuvred and dragged X-Terminator to the side, bending the deadly axe out of shape. Sumpthing came out of its CPZ once S.M.I.D.S.Y. slipped in and tagged. X-Terminator slammed Sumpthing into an angle grinder, but its axe was too small to strike the unusually shaped Sumpthing. X-Terminator released Sumpthing, who fled to the centre of the arena, whilst Mini Morg tagged out and entered the battle. S.M.I.D.S.Y. rushed out of its CPZ and shunted Mini Morg broadside into X-Terminator, immobilising both robots against each other. S.M.I.D.S.Y. relented, however, allowing Mini Morg to reposition itself and bring its disc into play. Both robots' spinning discs collided with a flash of sparks. They both moved their lifters in next, but Mini Morg was too slow and S.M.I.D.S.Y. reversed away before it could flip. S.M.I.D.S.Y. then rammed the sidelined X-Terminator, who struck with its axe instead. Sumpthing and S.M.I.D.S.Y. reversed into the CPZ, where both were trapped by Shunt, whose axe struck the former. X-Terminator wedged under Mini Morg and pulled it away from the wall, and whilst S.M.I.D.S.Y. moved out for another offensive, Sumpthing fled the two House Robots. S.M.I.D.S.Y. pinned Mini Morg against the wall, but was vulnerable to axe attacks from X-Terminator, which pulled it away from Mini Morg. The arrival of Sumpthing and its pursuers caused a distraction that scattered the robots, and S.M.I.D.S.Y. activated the Disc of Doom. By now, Sumpthing and S.M.I.D.S.Y. were scissored into a CPZ by Dead Metal and Shunt, but X-Terminator was caught by Dead Metal trying to attack S.M.I.D.S.Y., and its axe was bent further out of shape. X-Terminator continued to attack S.M.I.D.S.Y., but Sumpthing had broken down and was counted out during the last ten seconds. A Judge's Decision was made, but was in favour of X-Terminator and Mini Morg by default.

S.M.I.D.S.Y. also fought in the Challenge Belt, fighting previous Semi-finalists Dantomkia, three-times Grand Finalists Hypno-Disc and the experienced Sir Chromalot.

Dantomkia attacked S.M.I.D.S.Y. first, and Hypno-Disc attacked the sides of S.M.I.D.S.Y. as well, but merely bounced off. Dantomkia then turned on Hypno-Disc, one flip turning it onto its back, the second toppling it out of the arena. Mr. Psycho then pinned Dantomkia in the CPZ for a while, but eventually freed it. Meanwhile, S.M.I.D.S.Y. had pressed the pit release button, and, after a few seconds of dodging, Dantomkia flipped S.M.I.D.S.Y. and overturned it, whilst Sir Chromalot dodged trouble, but was eventually caught by Dantomkia and S.M.I.D.S.Y. and flipped, but not overturned. S.M.I.D.S.Y was flipped again, but Sir Chromalot was moving slowly temporarily. Dantomkia then flipped S.M.I.D.S.Y. again, leaving it beached it on the arena wall, and turned on Sir Chromalot again, throwing it over in the CPZ. S.M.ID.S.Y. was picked up, but ultimately freed from the wall by Mr. Psycho. Sir Chromalot, meanwhile, was unable to escape from the CPZ, sustaining severe damage from Matilda before being flung out of the arena by her flywheel. S.M.I.D.S.Y., after pressure from Mr. Psycho, lost drive on one side, before breaking down altogether, but it had already qualified for the next round.

Before the fight ended, Dantomkia proceeded to flip S.M.I.D.S.Y. out of the arena, but this was not shown on the televised airing. S.M.I.D.S.Y.'s round 2 match was against Terrorhurtz. "Not really seen yet the carbide-toothed, 12 kilo rear disc at play"

- Jonathan Pearce as S.M.I.D.S.Y. enters the arena

S.M.I.D.S.Y., after taking one blow from Terrorhurtz, dashed for the pit release button. Terrorhurtz then came in, landing a lot of axe-blows in on the top of S.M.I.D.S.Y., which couldn't use its lifter or disc into any great effect on Terrorhurtz who kept hammering away at it. "Look at that! Absolutely hammering into the protective armament of S.M.I.D.S.Y.! S.M.I.D.S.Y. can't do anything really! It has been absolutely mullered out there! Terrorhurtz have destroyed S.M.I.D.S.Y.! They can't get going! ... Basically S.M.I.D.S.Y., you need the arena floor to collapse"

- Jonathan Pearce as Terrorhurtz batters S.M.I.D.S.Y.

S.M.I.D.S.Y. was then trapped near the wall and eventually after a few more axe blows, S.M.I.D.S.Y. broke down. After S.M.I.D.S.Y. was counted out by Refbot, Sir Killalot disposed of S.M.I.D.S.Y. by putting it on the floor flipper and then dumping it in the pit.

Series 7
"Number 13 seeds, unlucky for some..."

- Jonathan Pearce

S.M.I.D.S.Y. was granted the number 13 seed placing for the Seventh Wars, for reaching two previous heat finals. However, it put on a shaky performance in its first round battle of the heat, where it was placed up against Atomic, Terror Turtle and Cygnus X-1. In the battle, S.M.I.D.S.Y. tried to dodge its opponents before trying to slam them against the arena side wall as they took on each other. But after Cygnus X-1 was flipped over and Terror Turtle was flipped out of the arena (by Atomic each time), S.M.I.D.S.Y. then swooped in and shoved the overturned Cygnus X-1 machine all of the way into Shunt's CPZ, but Atomic came in and flipped S.M.I.D.S.Y. up onto the arena side wall, where it couldn't move away. "What's happened to S.M.I.D.S.Y.?! The seeded machine on its side? Can Atomic get in and thrust them out of the arena? Could we yet have a surprise?"

- Jonathan Pearce as S.M.I.D.S.Y. is stranded

Eventually, S.M.I.D.S.Y. was brought off the arena wall, but then suffered some axe blows from Shunt before it could hurry away. Cygnus X-1 was then eventually counted out by the Refbot, and just in time, because just as the count was up, Atomic flipped S.M.I.D.S.Y. up into the air, causing the seeded machine to become immobilised. S.M.I.D.S.Y. was then pitted by Atomic, but was put through to the next round regardless. "If they do meet again in this Heat, have to be the Final of course now, there could be bad blood, if S.M.I.D.S.Y. is fit to fight again. They've been craftily positioned on the pit by Atomic and there's very little life left in S.M.I.D.S.Y. there. Thank goodness for them Cygnus and Terror Turtle went before them. S.M.I.D.S.Y. and Atomic through, S.M.I.D.S.Y. only just!"

- Jonathan Pearce

In the second round of the Heat, S.M.I.D.S.Y. was drawn up against newcomers Mean Streak. S.M.I.D.S.Y. proved much more dominant in this battle, slamming straight into its opponent on 'Activate!' S.M.I.D.S.Y. dominated the battle throughout, relentlessly pushing Mean Streak across the arena floor into CPZs, first into Sergeant Bash's, and then into Mr. Psycho's. Eventually, Mean Streak seemed to lose drive down one side, this made pushing it an even easier task for the seeded robot. Eventually, S.M.I.D.S.Y. pinned Mean Streak up against the arena wall, and, albeit with a lot of effort, it managed to use its jaws to tip the box-shaped robot onto its side. Mean Streak couldn't move, so it was counted out by the Refbot, and then finished off by the house robots.

This put S.M.I.D.S.Y. through to the Heat Final, however, it had to fight Atomic again. The two robots attempted to attack each other, but the charges of both robots kept on missing their targets. S.M.I.D.S.Y. managed a couple of nudges on the side of its opponent, before Atomic got underneath and flipped S.M.I.D.S.Y. over. "S.M.I.D.S.Y. needs to dodge, turn, dodge, turn, run, draw Atomic towards the pit, towards house robots. This is how grave I feel for the seeded machine."

- Jonathan Pearce

S.M.I.D.S.Y. then attacked Atomic with its spinning disc, but Atomic recovered and continued to get underneath S.M.I.D.S.Y., throwing it into the air twice more. S.M.I.D.S.Y. then began to scamper around the arena, but was soon caught by Atomic who got underneath S.M.I.D.S.Y., pushed it towards the side of the arena and threw it into the wall, which it clipped and then flew over and out of the arena. "OH, it's all over! A very, very good display by Atomic, and the seeds have fallen. Always on the cards. S.M.I.D.S.Y. had to keep dodging and ducking and diving, and they took the big dive instead."

- Jonathan Pearce

As a veteran of five wars, S.M.I.D.S.Y. should have been eligible to enter the All-Stars tournament at the end of Series 7, but did not compete for currently unknown reasons.

Results

 * }

Wins/Losses

 * Wins: 8
 * Losses: 9

Robot Wars Live Events
The recently restored S.M.I.D.S.Y. made an appearance at the Robot Wars Live Event at Guildford in 2016 but due to the speed controller being on full current and burning out the drive, S.M.I.D.S.Y. never managed to fight.

In 2017, S.M.I.D.S.Y. was present for the Gloucester event where it was scheduled to fight Rattler and ACE, however after entering the arena the battery started to smoke resulting in S.M.I.D.S.Y. being taken away and replaced with Donald Thump.

Outside Robot Wars
S.M.I.D.S.Y. was renamed Sprocket for Techno Games, where it fought alongside Storm Chaser in the Football Team, winning 5-0 in the final against Kat's Whiskers and Snowstorm. It also competed in the Tug-of-War where it finished as runner-up, ironically losing to Storm Chaser. Sprocket also competed in the Sumo event, but performed badly in both series, being eliminated in the first round of its first series by eventual champion Big Bro and being disqualified from the second series after using its weapon to throw Bruiser off the platform.

After Robot Wars ended, Team Cylon bought S.M.I.D.S.Y. and completely rebuilt the robot in 2008 and fought with it in many live events, including the Roaming Robots tournament, however Team Cylon then sold S.M.I.D.S.Y. to Team Roaming Robots in late 2010. In 2011, Team Roaming Robots sold S.M.I.D.S.Y. to Team Troublesome. Later that year, S.M.I.D.S.Y. was sold onto Matthew Pearman of "Team Avenger", who rebuilt it back into its former condition. To acquire S.M.I.D.S.Y., he had sold The Grim Reaper. He then sold S.M.I.D.S.Y. to Gary Cairns of Team Typhoon, albeit without the rear disc weapon and motor, so he could buy Bulldog Breed. However, due to a lack of time Cairns couldn't take S.M.I.D.S.Y. on as a project so in 2016, it was sold once more to Team ACE who planned to rebuild it, looking to restore it to fighting condition. Team ACE then revealed the similar HIGH-5, but this was a separate build only based upon S.M.I.D.S.Y. Team ACE passed on S.M.I.D.S.Y. to a newly formed team who then took S.M.I.D.S.Y. to the Extreme Robots Gloucester event in October 2017, having given the robot a new drum spinner weapon.

Aside from working on the heavyweight robot, Team ACE also commissioned Alex Shakespeare of Nuts and Bots to create antweight versions of S.M.I.D.S.Y., five of which were given away at a charity raffle in Bristol, in September 2016, to raise money for Cancer Research UK.

In 2018, it was revealed that team member Mik Reed had passed away.

Trivia
"As 1998 drew to a close, a bunch of about twenty motorcyclists who are among the subscribers of a mailing list for UK bikers called IXION started talking about the Robot Wars series which was airing on BBC TV at the time. Motorcyclists are by nature people who build and modify machines, so it was only a matter of time before a heated discussion about the design shortcomings of the on-screen robots threw up the question-"Why don’t we have a go at Robot Wars ourselves?". Like I said, it all seemed like such a good idea at the time. After a lot of heated email discussions and a meeting in a rather good pub in Oxford, we all threw £20 into the kitty to give ourselves a fighting fund and set to designing our robot."

- Team Ixion website on the origins of S.M.I.D.S.Y.


 * The original team was formed over the internet. Indeed, in Series 5 and Extreme Series 1, the announcer would state that S.M.I.D.S.Y. came from Cyberspace. Every other war, however, stated it came from Kent.
 * The team is credited as being from Kent, Sussex and Yorkshire in Robot Wars: The Official Robot Guide.
 * S.M.I.D.S.Y. has the most losses out of all of the robots from Kent.
 * Three of S.M.I.D.S.Y.'s four first round losses were in battles that also contained Sumpthing, including two tag team partnerships.
 * In the Series 4 Sumo Basho, the S.M.I.D.S.Y. team put salt in their robots jaws so that they could spread it like real sumo wrestlers.
 * S.M.I.D.S.Y. was profiled in Robot Wars: The Ultimate Guide.
 * S.M.I.D.S.Y. is the only robot to reach three Heat Finals without winning any of them.
 * All four robots that beat S.M.I.D.S.Y. in the main competition from Series 4-7 lost in the second round of the Semi-finals.
 * S.M.I.D.S.Y. is one of 11 robots to have fought in 5 or more series of Robot Wars, having fought in Series 3 through 7. It shares this pattern with X-Terminator, Bulldog Breed, Team KaterKiller, Team Big Brother, Team Ming, Team Scutterbots, and Thermidor 2.
 * This should have made it eligible for the All-Stars tournament of Series 7, but like a number of others, it was absent, leaving Dantomkia to fill its place. Many believe that S.M.I.D.S.Y. was badly damaged by clipping the wall during its defeat in its Series 7 Heat Final.
 * Team Ixion are one of three teams to be flipped out of the arena three times, the others are Team Vader and Team Iron-Awe. However, the second instance of S.M.I.D.S.Y. being thrown out of the arena was untelevised.
 * S.M.I.D.S.Y. and Rick are the only two robots to be flipped out in a side competition and not be eliminated. S.M.I.D.S.Y. is the only one of the two to be sent out in round 1 of said side competition by a competitor, not in the final after a unfair House Robot attack.
 * Both televised instances of S.M.I.D.S.Y. being flipped out of the arena resulted in the record for most consecutive Out of the Arena flips being set or matched (by Chaos 2 and Atomic respectively).