Mute

"Lets others talk the talk, Mute can walk the walk!"

- Jonathan Pearce introducing Mute

Mute was a wedge-shaped robot with front and rear flippers that competed in Series 7 of Robot Wars. Prior to Series 7, Mute finished as runner-up in the New Blood Championship in Extreme Series 2, losing in the final to Storm 2 on a judges' decision. Mute reached the semi-finals of Series 7, eventually being thrown out of the arena by the 2nd seeds Firestorm 5.

Design
The armour was extreme-composite 12mm polycarbonate and 2mm stainless steel and the robot carried 4kg of CO2 to power both flippers. The front flipper ran on a two ton ram and opened outwards in similar fashion to Cassius and Firestorm and had titanium barbs on the top to stop other robots driving off, while the rear flipper was more of a lifting arm, similar to that of Steg-O-Saw-Us and G.B.H. 2. The flipper was often unreliable in its power, as it often launched Mute high into the air whilst self-righting, unlike most self-righters that only pushed the robot onto its wheels. "Extremely Self Right-eous!"

- Craig Charles

It would often throw itself around and onto its back again, which ultimately cost it in Series 7 after it flipped itself too close to the arena wall. Daring not to right itself, in case it flipped itself out of the arena, Firestorm 5 was quick to finish it off. The show often referred to Mute's flipper as "Opening the wrong way", as Mute's shape, size and the way the flipper looks confuses people, making them think it's a rear-hinged flipper. Also, Jonathan Pearce claimed in the New Blood competition that Mute's flipper design was poor as it would have to wedge far underneath an opponent for it to flip them, despite robots such as Cassius and Firestorm using this form of attack to great effect.

Qualification
Mute was originally due attempt to qualify for Series 4, but the robot wasn't finished in time, so the team withdrew from the qualifiers. In Series 5, the same Mute was completed and slightly modified from its Series 4 appearance, this time resembling the televised model much more, but failed to qualify. At the qualifiers, it lost to The Stag, and also fought General Carnage 2 in another battle, which ended in a draw. "We went to the Series 5 qualifiers and fought against General Carnage but didn't get onto the show, we were told at a later date that we should have been on but there was a mix up with robots. Not sure if its true but was a pity if it was a mix up."

- Team Mute's Facebook Page

Mute also failed to qualify for Series 6, as its aerial fell off during the battle, although open applications for the New Blood Championship allowed Mute to debut in Robot Wars Extreme: Series 2.

Mute finally qualified for a main championship in Series 7, defeating two robots in a battle alongside Iron-Awe 2.1, where both robots were deemed victors, and qualified for the Seventh Wars.

Team Mute hoped to enter the 2016 series of Robot Wars with Mute, but the robot began to suffer from warm motors as a result of its recent battery and speed controller upgrades, and required testing, so the team entered Bonk instead, and hope to enter a hypothetical future series with Mute instead.

Extreme 2
Mute fought in Heat A of the New Blood Championship in Extreme Series 2. In Mute’s first fight, it fought Terror Turtle and Roobarb. Mute was successful in the opening moments, avoiding the action while Terror Turtle was flipped by Roobarb, before proceeding to launch Roobarb across the arena. After this, however, Mute nearly went out in Round 1 when it accidentally drove down the pit, after flipping Roobarb around the arena and nearly into the pit. However, as Terror Turtle had been flipped very early on in the fight by Roobarb, (despite not being counted out, the judges ruled that Terror Turtle was clearly immobile and was immobile for a long time) so Mute and Roobarb went through to the second round.

Mute won the Heat semi-final against Mr Nasty on a judges' decision, because it had flipped Mr Nasty several times in the air, and it appeared that Mr Nasty had lost drive on one side, because it was only moving round in circles by the end of the fight. Mute then went through to the heat final and went against Roobarb for the second time in the Heat.

Here, Mute won on a judges' decision again, having pushed Roobarb around the arena for most of the fight, flipping it several times, and nearly getting Roobarb out of the arena at one point, the psychedelic robot fortunate to keep itself in. Mute still won despite the fact that Roobarb appeared to get the upper hand at the end of the fight, by flipping Mute over a few times and pinning it down, and also Mute became stuck on the flame pit at the time of cease and had already lost the power in its front flipper.

Mute's first round battle in the grand final against Cedric Slammer was quite controversial. Cedric Slammer pushed Mute around in the opening stages, with Mute's armour being grazed by the spinning disc. Mute got one flip on Cedric Slammer, but then both robots seemed to break down simultanesously. Cedric Slammer was limping in circles whilst Mute had stopped altogether. Refbot counted out both robots, before the House Robots took over. The battle went to a Judges' decision, awarding a split decision (two to one) in favour of Mute.

In the Grand Final, Mute fought Storm 2. Storm 2 drove side on at Mute, which prevented Mute from using its flipper. Then, Mute suddenly used its flipper, but Storm landed on its wheels. "This is the old rumble in the jungle tactics, where Ali drew George Foreman on in the World Heavyweight and then caught him with a sucker punch, and Mute have done that to Storm 2!"

- Boxing analogies from Jonathan Pearce Mute got one last good flip in the dying seconds of the fight, almost getting Storm 2 out of the arena. Cease was called and the battle went to a judges' decision, unfortunately for Mute, the judges ruled in favour of Storm 2, making Storm 2 the New Blood Champion.

Series 7
In Round 1 of Series 7, Mute was the only newcomer to the main competition in its battle as it went up against Demolition Man, Judge Shred 3 and Corkscrew Two. At the start of the battle, Mute pushed Demolition Man straight into Shunt’s CPZ. Demolition Man appeared to not be moving properly, as it could not escape Shunt’s CPZ. Mute and Judge Shred 3 then attacked Corkscrew Two together, with Judge Shred 3 flipping it straight over. Judge Shred 3 then ended the battle by overturning Demolition Man, before flipping Corkscrew Two out of the arena, just as Demolition Man was fully counted out by Refbot.



Mute were then drawn up against the tenth seeds Behemoth in the second round. Behemoth got the first flip in, but Mute flicked itself back over, and landed on Behemoth’s top. This did some internal damage to Behemoth, who got stuck in forward gear. This sent Behemoth running straight into the arena wall and on the receiving end of Mr. Psycho's hammer. Behemoth was counted out by Refbot and Mute was then through to the heat final, where it fought Judge Shred 3 again.

It almost looked like Mute would lose the Heat Final, as it constantly failed to self right properly, as its flipper was too powerful, but in the last few seconds of the match, Judge Shred 3 seemed to stop moving forwards. Judge Shred 3 was not counted out officially, but Mute still won on a controversial judges' decision, sending it through to the Series Semi-Finals.



Mute’s dream ended in round one of the Semi-finals though, as it was drawn against the second seeds and three times grand finalist Firestorm 5. Firestorm 5 constantly flipped Mute around the arena, and Mute, once again, could not self right properly due to the flipper's power. Firestorm 5 pushed the upturned Mute against the arena side wall, then drove under Mute. Both robots fired their flippers at the same time, resulting in Mute flying out of the arena.

Results

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Wins/Losses

 * Wins: 7
 * Losses: 2

Outside Robot Wars
After Robot Wars began its hiatus, Mute continued to fight in other FRA competitions, most notably finishing as runner-up in the 2004 Roaming Robots competition, but lost to Terrorhurtz after its removable link fell out. Mute was due to return in 2005 as the 2nd seed, but withdrew before the competition started, and Mute was then retired afterwards.

Mute was rebuilt in 2012, keeping the original chassis, for it to return to the live circuit. It came back from retirement by featuring in an exhibition event hosted by Robots Live! in July 2012, where it fought several battles (most of which against Merlin), one of which where it self righted out of the arena. Since then, Mute continued to participate in various live events, with varying degrees of success, before retiring for a few years.

Mute was upgraded again in 2016, now sporting Hardox, HDPE, stainless steel, and titanium armour, despite still running on the 2002 chassis. Upgrades to the speed controllers and batteries were also made. This version of Mute will debut at the Robots Live! event in Cannock.

Trivia

 * Mute was originally called Kick Robutt, but the show informed the team that the name was already taken, possibly to avoid confusion with the super heavyweight champion of the same name.
 * If Mute had tried to self-right near the wall in its Semi-Final battle against Firestorm 5 in Series 7 and flew over the wall, it could have earned the rather dubious honour of being the only robot with a self-inflicted Out of the Arena.