Drums

Spinning Drums are medium-to-large vertical spinning weapons which are generally wider than flywheels. The first Robot Wars competitors to be equipped with them were Suicidal Tendencies, Blade and Challenger 2, all of which appeared in Series 3. Despite their popularity in outside competitions, especially the USA, they have rarely been seen in Robot Wars, with notable examples including Dutch Series 1 champion Slicer, UK Series 6 champion Tornado and Series 8 Grand Finalist Pulsar.

Drums would become a lot more notable following the original run of Robot Wars, with US robots and Combat Robot Hall of Fame entries Solaris and Professor Chaos showing this weapon's true potential before Pulsar's run in Series 8.

Definition
Drums are usually cylindrically-shaped weapons thicker than vertical flywheels, which cover a wider surface area than a conventional disc and are always mounted vertically. They often use barbs or sharp teeth attached to the drum in order to grind, tear and flip opponents over, and can be built in a variety of shapes and sizes, from the narrow disc-like drum of Tornado, to wider weapons like Slicer's or even full-bodied drums in the case of the Barber-Ous series of robots. Some roboteers refer to narrow drums as driscs.

Drums could also be built out of any cylindrical object. For example, Blade's drum consisted of lawnmower blades attached to the weapon, while the weapon of Widow's Revenge was made out of a rolling pin.

Advantages and Disadvantages
Advantages Disadvantages
 * Drums are broader and sturdier than flywheels or heavy rotating blades, offering a wider range of attack while generally being more durable than a flywheel or rotating blade.
 * As with vertical flywheels, drums can allow a robot to remain stable while attacking opponents, enabling them to inflict several quick attacks in succession and 'churn' away at opponents upon sustained contact with them. Sabretooth was able to cause extensive damage to the armour of TMHWK and Terrorhurtz in Series 9, while Pulsar immobilised Beast in Series 8 with two hits landed within seconds of each other.
 * They are capable of launching opponents into the air or flipping them over completely. Slicer, Barber-Ous and Pulsar were especially effective at this.
 * With the use of a reversible speed controller, some spinning drums could work in both directions and still be effective even if the robot was inverted.
 * The drum can easily be incorporated into an invertible design, as proven by Tornado, Slicer, Pulsar, the Series 3 version of Suicidal Tendencies and, in the most extreme case, Barber-Ous.
 * A full-bodied drum could also offer the robot a similar degree of protection to a full-body spinner, acting as both the robot's weapon and armour. Barber-Ous's drum was the only one to possess this capability.
 * Earlier large drums tended to consume large amounts of energy, which reduced their capacity to spin for prolonged periods of time. Slicer noticeably rationed its drum usage in every battle it fought in.
 * As with other heavy spinning weapons, the recoil from a drum's impact could cause the robot to do damage to itself, or even immobilise it completely. This cost Barber-Ous 2'n a Bit in Series 7 when the recoil from its drum shattered its outrigger, causing its removable link to detach despite dominating its first round battle.
 * If not built properly, the drum could either be ripped or broken off completely. This was best shown in Clawed Hopper's battle with Pussycat, where Pussycat sliced off one of Clawed Hopper's side drums.
 * Like vertical flywheels, more powerful drums can also cause the robot to encounter control issues and lift onto one side while turning, due to the gyroscopic forces acting upon the robot while the weapon is spinning. However, these issues are considerably less pronounced in drums than in vertical flywheels, due to their lower moment of inertia.
 * While generally durable, it is still possible for drums to become damaged following prolonged contact with or direct attacks from opponents. Sabretooth in particular lost a large chunk of its drum during its Series 9 battle against Terrorhurtz, which required Team Legion to make substantial repairs to it for the remainder of its Head-to-Head battles.

List of Robots with Drums
Robots are listed alphabetically. Robots that are not heavyweight competitors are listed with a green background.