Magnetar

Magnetar was a heavyweight robot which competed in Series 10 of Robot Wars. Built and entered by Team Ranglebots, it was the successor to their Series 8-9 entry - and former Grand Finalist - Pulsar. It lived up to this reputation by reaching the Grand Final by earning three consecutive knockouts.

Design
Although an entirely new machine, Magnetar is essentially an improved version of Pulsar, featuring a largely similar design to the latter. It runs on two pairs of wheels located either side of the chassis, powered by brushless skateboard motors and a 50V lithium polymer battery, the highest voltage seen on the show. This drive system makes Magnetar invertible, although it can use its self-righting mechanism to ensure that its steep wedge - which features the robot's name on each corner - is always on the arena floor.

This wedge leads into Magnetar’s spinning ‘drisc’, which uses two large copper-coloured teeth on each side of the thin spinning drum to make maximum contact with opponents. The drum weighs 21kg and is estimated to spin at 8,500rpm, with a tip speed of 250mph. Magnetar itself is heavily armoured, using 8mm HARDOX 600 with areas in 6mm and 3.2mm thick HARDOX 450, and 3D-printed parts. The armour is finished in grey with grey and copper welds, with the robot also featuring dark grey wheels and orange LED lights on the self-righting arm.

Magnetar differs from Pulsar through featuring reworked internals and a reduced top speed of 13mph; the latter to make the robot more controllable. Its front wedge also features an extra blade, bolted onto the surface for a lower ground clearance. According to Robot Wars: The Official Handbook, Magnetar can flip itself over; the gyroscopic forces of its drum, however, can be countered through the use of four neodymium magnets attached to its baseplate. These magnets offer up to 200kg of downforce, enabling Magnetar to remain upright while turning with the weapon spinning, as well as providing it with extra traction on the arena floor.

Series 10
"In it’s previous iteration as Pulsar, this incredibly well engineered machine startled us all with the power of its drum and that scary siren sound it makes when getting up to speed. It didn’t do as well as I thought it would last series and was let down by a couple technical problems. Now, as Magnetar, it has had a major upgrade and I think that Team Captain Ellis could be onto a winner."

- Professor Noel Sharkey

Magnetar competed in Heat 5 of Series 10, where it drew Push to Exit and Hobgoblin. With Hobgoblin eliminated early on, it made a decisive attack on Push to Exit, overturning it on the floor flipper. The floor flipper threw Push to Exit up and it landed on Magnetar's drum, and Magnetar battered it across the arena and into Shunt. The entanglement weapons of Push to Exit were snapped off without posing a challenge, and Push to Exit was left immobile on the undescended Pit. Magnetar spun its weapon up to full speed and gyro-danced while the two robots were counted out. "Magnetar didn't even have to do anything!"

- Angela Scanlon

Magnetar's second fight was determined with similar speed. Expulsion went for the pit release but instead triggered the Fog of War. Hidden in the clouds, Magnetar reached full speed unchallenged and struck Expulsion, sending the 70kg machine flying into the air. As Expulsion landed on the floor flipper, it was thrown even higher, and crashed to the arena floor immobile. "What am I hearing - I'm hearing Mangetar's death drum whirring up! Oh what a powerful onslaught! Ellis used that fog of war brilliantly to get his weapon up to speed, his lethal drum catapulting Expulsion right onto that flipper..."

- Jonathan Pearce

In the heat final, Magnetar drew a fellow Series 8 finalist in Thor, who had proceeded at Pulsar's expense in the Series 8 Grand Final. Thor was armed with a halo of steel cables to entangle Magnetar's drum and snare a drive motor. Magnetar landed the first attack, knocking Thor in a powerful uppercut. Thor recovered and made the most of Magnetar's slowed weapon to get behind and shove it into the arena wall, landing several successive axe blows. Magentar pivoted away, and Thor lost its momentum when it drove over the arena floor flipper. Though Thor recovered by self-righting, it was on the back foot when Magnetar chopped off one of the steel cables and landed a heavy blow to Thor's rear. Herding Thor against the arena floor flipper again, Magnetar chopped off more cables and sent Thor flying in a backflip. When Thor was thrown by the floor flipper once again, Expulsion landed an attack on the CO2 canister and ruptured it. Thor vanished beneath clouds of venting C02 and was left immobile. "Magnetar, we now know it has the power, we now know it has the control, we now know it has a place in the Grand Final."

- Jonathan Pearce

Results

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Wins/Losses

 * Wins: 3
 * Losses: 0

Outside Robot Wars
Although Magnetar has never competed outside of Robot Wars, Team Ranglebots have competed with various robots in lower weight classes. For more information, see Team Ranglebots.