Barber-Ous

"Its one of those robots that makes you think the name came before the design. Barber-Ous.....barber's pole."

- Phillipa Forrester talking to Jonathan Pearce, pre the Series 6 heat final

Barber-Ous was a cylinder-shaped robot that competed in three series of Robot Wars. Particularly significant is the fact that it was made of plastic, a rare material for robot armour. It was a red-and-white coloured spinning cylinder, based on a barber's pole, with the vertical spinner with metal barbs to act as a kinetic flipper, somewhat surprisingly, being capable of destruction on a large scale. It could also travel at 10mph and, from Extreme 2 onwards, the team added yellow 'flanges' to push against so that when the wheels tipped back, the robot could steer forwards or backwards. It lost in the first round of Series 5, but not before severely damaging the Series 2 champion Panic Attack.

Barber-Ous 2 was more successful, making the heat final in Series 6, before being "mashed" by Hypno-Disc. In Extreme 2, the team upgraded the wheels with rubber so that they were more flexible to deflect impact. To solve the problem of removable links, the team made them more flexible for the final version, named Barber-Ous 2'n a Bit. However, the robot landed hard on its outrigger, which shattered, causing the links to detach from the robot, costing Barber-Ous 2'n a Bit both of its battles in Series 7. It is interesting to note that every battle that Barber-Ous lost across the show's history resulted in Barber-Ous in the pit. In addition, Barber-Ous is one of the few machines to never be eliminated or put through via the judges.

Series 5
Barber-Ous's debut in Robot Wars put it against Series 2 champion Panic Attack. Although it started promisingly, damaging the front end of the Welsh machine and rendering the forklift weapon useless, it was eventually rammed into Sgt. Bash's CPZ, where it became immobilised. Panic Attack was then finally able to pit it. "Barber-Ous! Gets a pudding cut!"

- Craig Charles comments on the demise of Barber-Ous

Series 6
"The strengths; it's made of plastic, the weaknesses... oh, it's made of plastic. Curious."

- Jonathan Pearce an Barber-Ous 2's stats.

Barber-Ous 2 returned vastly improved since the last series. Its first battle saw it against 4x4, Granny's Revenge 2 and Hypno-Disc, the one robot the team admitted they did not want to face. Nevertheless, Barber-Ous 2 went straight on the attack, almost flinging Granny's Revenge 2 out of the arena in the process. Leaving the wrecked robot, it hacked into 4x4, with 4x4's cloth snag getting tangled on Barber-Ous 2's weapon. Soon after, Hypno-Disc landed a blow on Barber-Ous, shredding the cloth and the armour and causing the weapon to stop. Barber-Ous 2 had survived the attack, but more followed and Barber-Ous 2 broke down. However, as the last robot to have done so, it went through.

In between battles, however, it was revealed that the wheels of Barber-Ous 2 had been severely damage by Hypno-Disc. The team could not repair them and were forced to equip a new, untested system. However, these wheels proved to be better as it effectively beat Kat 3, throwing it over and damaging it so that it couldn't self-right. However, when it came up against Hypno-Disc again, it was immobilised in one blow, then pitted.

Extreme 2
In the eliminator of Challenge Belt, Barber-Ous 2 did severe damage to Iron Awe 2, while Vader was hacked into submission by Terrorhurtz. With Vader out, Barber-Ous was picked on by Iron Awe and Terrorhurtz. As the pit descended, a smoking Barber-Ous 2 was punctured by Iron Awe's axe, but when Iron Awe retracted its axe, Barber-Ous was still on the end, and the weight dragged Iron Awe onto its back. At this point, both robots broke down. Terrorhurtz decided the winner by pitting Barber-Ous 2, eliminating it once more.

Series 7
Barber-Ous 2'n a Bit returned with a stronger construction than in the sixth wars. In its first round battle, Thunderpants broke down on entry to the arena, leaving Barber-Ous against Leveler 2 and Tetanus Booster. It managed to hit the wedge-shaped Leveler 2 twice, flipping it over once. However, the aggressive attacks knocked out the removable link, rendering it immobile. It was counted out and left to the mercy of Mr. Psycho.

Barber-Ous 2'n a Bit also featured in the "Battle of the Spinners" special event of Heat C alongside Infernal Contraption and Shredder Evolution. After a run-in with Mr. Psycho, it skidded straight down the pit.

Results

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Wins/Losses

 * Wins: 2
 * Losses: 5

Series Record

 * Series 1-3: Did not enter
 * Series 4: Failed to qualify with Rotraktor
 * Series 5: Heat, Round 1
 * Series 6: Heat Final
 * Series 7: Heat, Round 1

Trivia

 * Barber-Ous never had a judge's decision during its career.
 * In all five of its losses, Barber-Ous was pitted.
 * Barber-Ous 2'n a Bit and Judge Shred 2½ are the only robots to name a robot part sequentially. Interestingly, both robots named it between 2 and 3, although Judge Shred was the only one to go on to make a '3'.