Tanto

Tanto was a small robot that was selected as a reserve for Series 7 of Robot Wars. Under loan to Team Immersion, Tanto did not qualify for the main 2016 series, but it was chosen to compete at the pilot episode, where the team were known as 'Team Tanto'. Unfortunately, upon their arrival, the arena was deemed unsafe for spinning weapons, and Tanto fought in the first round without the use of its weapon. Dara Ó Briain remarked that he particularly liked Tanto at the event.

Tanto remained in the possession of Team Immersion, nowadays known as Team Nebula, after the pilot episode, and the robot was rebranded as Nebula, with the hopes of entering a possible future series.

The name Tanto is derived from Japanese tanto blades, which are short and compact like the robot Tanto itself.

Design
At the time of Series 7, Tanto was a grey box-wedge with some ramming prongs and a disc for a weapon. It weighed 89kg, and could reach top speeds of 22mph. The grinding disc was added on because of the rule for Series 7 that all heavyweight competitors must have a moving weapon. The robot was actually built in Spain. In 2016, Tanto was rebuilt to house a 300mm diameter, 25mm thick single toothed HARDOX disc. It maintained its invertible two-wheeled design, though featured longer wedges previously seen on versions of Tanto that competed outside of Robot Wars to lead robots into its disc.

Qualification
Tanto defeated Piranha in its qualifier battle for Series 7. Usually, winning a qualifer would grant a robot automatic entry to the series, but Tanto was merely considered a reserve, and went unused. The team also failed to qualify that year with TX-108, which had previously failed to qualify for Series 5 and 6.

Team History
Tanto was originally built by Team Danby, one of the oldest running teams in the UK. They first competed in the Featherweight Championship of Series 2, fighting with a robot called Deadline, and have built several robots since then, including TX-108 which has competed in Roaming Robots 2006 alongside Tanto. Despite this, the team had very limited coverage on Robot Wars, with Anto and Gi-Ant-O being the only two of their machines to appear on the televised show.

For the 2016 series, Tanto was entered by Team Immersion, a young team of roboteers with experience on the live circuit with different weight classes and formed in January 2016. Initially fighting individually, the team have built several notable robots between them. The team's most successful robots are Adam Hamilton's featherweight, 'Amnesia' placing 4th in the 2016 World Championship and Craig Croucher's 'Mr Snappy', winning the UK Beetleweight Championship Annihilator in 2015. They have also owned several other notable robots, such as Bulldog Breed, S.M.I.D.S.Y. & The Grim Reaper.

Tanto was sold to newly formed Team Nebula after the Robot Wars pilot episode was filmed, who rebranded the robot as Nebula.

2016 Series
Although Tanto was selected to compete at the untelevised pilot episode, an event used to test the camera equipment, the arena was unfinished upon Tanto's arrival, meaning Tanto was unable to use its spinning disc weapon for safety reasons.

Tanto fought Basher, Turbulence, and Ka-Pow! in the first round. Tanto was defeated when it drove over the top of Ka-Pow!, causing the small robot to somersault in the air, and lose its safety link upon landing. Tanto was immobile because of this, and Basher attempted to push it into the pit, but fell down with Tanto, and both robots were eliminated from the competition.

Results

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Series Record

 * Series 1: Did not enter
 * Series 2: Entered Featherweight Championship with Deadline
 * Series 3: Entered Super Heavyweight Championship with Toxin (event cancelled)
 * Series 4: Failed to qualify with Vindicare
 * Series 5-6: Failed to qualify with TX-108
 * Series 7: Unused reserve, also failed to qualify with TX-108
 * 2016 Series: Pilot only

NOTE: Team Danby qualified for the 2016 series with Foxic, also failing to qualify with Apex.

Robot Wars Live Events
Tanto version 6 made its debut in the new Robot Wars Live Events at Guildford. It only fought once in the heats where it was beaten in its battle against Ripper, Cherub & Thor. In the Robot Wars 2013 UK Championship at Newport, it finished second in its heat against Ripper & Iron-Awe 7 allowing it to have another chance in the loser's melee, but didn't make much impact as it was immobilised on one wheel. Tanto also took part in the Robot Wars Winter Tour 2013 at the end of the year. It fought in the secondary heat stages against Dystopia & DTK, but was immobilised in the corner and went out.

Tanto made its last appearance at a live event under ownership of Team Danby in 2015, at the Robot Wars World Championships held in Colchester. Tanto fought Iron-Awe 5, Tiberius and Thor, but was thrown out of the arena by Iron-Awe 5.

Outside of Robot Wars
In 2014, Tanto fought at the STEM Tech Olympiad event in Miami, Florida where it was destroyed by Brazilian competitor Touro Maximus. Tanto was repaired but lost to Team Toad's Polar Vortex by knock out.

Versions of Tanto
All versions of Tanto have been compact, fast and invertible. Each version of Tanto has been around 65cm long, 50cm wide and 25cm tall.

Under Team Danby
Version 1 of Tanto was originally a weapon-less robot but was armed with a spinning disc mounted on the front wedge so that it could try to qualify for Series 7 of Robot Wars. It, however, failed to qualify but was considered a reserve. It had wheel guards. This version could reach 22mph.

Version 2 had a wedge with black stripes and wheels in wheel guards.

Version 3 had two prongs to attack and push with instead of a solid wedge. This version of Tanto had thin wheel guards. This version displayed the huge pushing power that all the versions of Tanto possesses. This was because Tanto had 2x 11kw motors, that's 30HP in 100kg or 300HP per tonne. At a event in Magna in 2005, Tanto pushed 5 robots in one go.

Version 4 had prongs like the previous version but lacked the wheel guards.

Version 5 featured similar prongs and exposed wheels. This version never competed after it lost a wheel when it clipped a curb during a test drive.

Version 6 of Tanto was built in 2013. The new design maintains the tradition of Tanto being very small for a heavyweight, weighing in at 92kg and being just 65cm long, 50cm wide and 25cm tall. It also sports a new Union Flag-style livery, which was inspired by a robot design uploaded onto the Official Robot Wars Facebook page. Craig has revealed that this version can reach speed of 25-30mph. Tanto has a new top design consisting of the Danby family crest by the forks, Tanto at the back of the top and a "lucky" number, 23, to the side by a wheel.

Under Team Immersion
The final version of Tanto, and the first version of the machine since Version 1 to feature an active weapon. Team Immersion redesigned Tanto to feature a 25mm Hardox vertical single tooth disc. Craig Danby & Team Immersion worked together to build the setup in time for the pilot episode of Robot Wars in 2016. The robot was sold to Team Nebula consisting of Craig Croucher and Jack Tweedy after the Pilot, and subsequently renamed Neutron.