Team Immersion

"Having only built robots for two years, this competition will be a baptism of fire though, for the team, even though we will see their confidence grow as they get more experience out in that arena."

- Jonathan Pearce

Team Immersion is a roboteering team captained by Newcastle-based roboteer Adam Hamilton, who was joined by various rotating team members in Robot Wars. After competing in the untelevised pilot episode ahead of Series 8 with the borrowed Tanto, Team Immersion competed in Series 10 with their own machine, Vulture.

Outside of Robot Wars, the static roster of Team Immersion consists of captain Adam Hamilton, and teammates Thomas Long and Matthew Pearman.

The Team
When Robot Wars was first announced to be returning in 2016, Team Immersion owned no heavyweight robots of their own, so team captain Adam Hamilton loaned a heavyweight machine from Team Danby, knowing that they had applied for Series 8 with Foxic and Apex. Adam Hamilton applied for Series 8 with Tanto, alongside his static teammate Matthew Pearman, and also enlisted the temporary assistance of Jack Tweedy and Craig Croucher to form Team Tanto. This team competed in the pilot episode of Series 8, where Tanto lost its opening melee.

Once applications opened for Series 9, Jack Tweedy and Craig Croucher purchased Tanto from Team Danby, and renamed the robot Neutron, and applied for the new series separately from Team Immersion. Adam Hamilton and Matthew Pearman started to create computer-aided designs for robots with which they could enter Series 9, and initially conceptualised a clusterbot named Immersion, combining a vertical spinner like the team's featherweight Amnesia, and a two-way flipper. However, the team decided against this design, as they considered it too similar to that of Crackers 'n' Smash. Hamilton and Pearman then created the first concept design of Vulture, and Jarvis Callister then joined Team Immersion at this stage in order to improve the design. However, Matthew Pearman also left the team at this stage to apply for Series 9 as the captain of Team Slam, having recently purchased Dantomkia from Team S.Tek. Matthew Pearman's position was briefly filled by Matt Smith of Riptide Robotics, but ultimately Team Immersion would not qualify for Series 9, and Matt Smith also left the team.

Ahead of Series 10, Adam Hamilton and Jarvis Callister completed the build of Vulture, and were also joined by Hamilton's partner Emma Jones and housemate Thomas Long in order to complete the team, who would then compete in Series 10. After Series 10 concluded, Jarvis Callister parted from the team, with the post-Robot Wars Team Immersion consisting of Adam Hamilton, Thomas Long and Matthew Pearman, with occasional assistance from Emma Jones.

Adam Hamilton
"I'm from Newcastle-upon-Tyne, doing it for the lads!"

- Adam Hamilton in Heat 3 of Series 10

Adam Hamilton is the captain of Team Immersion, making him the lead builder, designer and financer of the team's machines. An accomplished driver, particularly in featherweight competitions outside of Robot Wars, Adam Hamilton was the driver of Vulture in Series 10, and was the only team member to compete in both the 2016 pilot and Series 10 as part of Team Immersion. Hamilton was aged 25 at the time of Series 10, and according to the Robot Wars website, worked in the 3D printing industry. On top of this, Adam Hamilton commissions computer-aided designs for combat robots, having assisted many roboteers in this way while carrying a signature look across his designs, a speciality which Jonathan Pearce mentioned while reading Vulture's statistics.

"Adam does a lot of art and graphics, he's designed album covers for local bands, YouTube background designs, and he does a lot of work for other roboteers to make sure their robot looks aesthetically pleasing."

- Jonathan Pearce

Competing on Robot Wars, Adam Hamilton set out to prove that heavyweight robots can still be built on a smaller budget, inside a series where robots such as Rapid and Sabretooth were exceeding £20,000 in value, and also that a background in engineering is not required to enter the roboteering community as a competitor.

"You don't have to be an engineer. You don't have to have loads of experience, you don't have to be absolutely minted with money. We've started from nothing, and we're here, we're on Robot Wars"

- Adam Hamilton in Heat 3 of Series 10

Adam Hamilton's first robot was a featherweight competitor named Amnesia, which he brought to filming to display alongside Vulture. For more information on Adam Hamilton's projects outside of Robot Wars, see Outside Robot Wars.

Matthew Pearman
Matthew Pearman is a long-term member of Team Immersion, and remains a member of the team to this day, while also captaining Team Slam for solo projects. Matthew Pearman was part of Tanto's team in the 2016 pilot episode as the second static team member, before Jack Tweedy and Craig Croucher were enlisted for additional assistance. Matthew Pearman also assisted Adam Hamilton with the creative process of Vulture prior to Series 9, before purchasing Dantomkia from Team S.Tek and applying for Series 9 with this machine, as the captain of Team Slam. Matthew Pearman did not return to Team Immersion for Series 10 as he and his girlfriend Steph Ziolkowska joined Team Nelly to apply with Nelly the Ellybot, which was not selected to compete.

Jack Tweedy and Craig Croucher
Outside of Robot Wars, Jack Tweedy is the captain of Team Nebula, while Craig Croucher is the captain of Team Snappy Robotics. As neither roboteer had their own heavyweight robot to enter Series 8 with, Adam Hamilton invited Tweedy and Croucher to join him in Team Tanto, and both assisted with the maintenance of Tanto during its brief run in the 2016 pilot episode, while Jack Tweedy was also the driver of Tanto in its only battle.

While Team Immersion applied for Series 9 with Vulture, Jack Tweedy purchased Tanto and united with Craig Croucher under the Team Nebula name to apply for Series 9 with the robot, which they had rebranded as Neutron. After Neutron was not selected to compete in Series 9, Jack Tweedy entered Series 10 as a member of Team Terrafonics, competing with Apex, while Craig Croucher joined Team Die Gracefully Robotics to apply for Series 10 with Jellyfish and Ice Cream, although this was not selected to compete.

For more information on Jack Tweedy and Craig Croucher's robots and excursions outside of Robot Wars, see Neutron.

Jarvis Callister
Outside of Robot Wars, Jarvis Callister is the captain of Team Short Circuit, and at the time of Series 10, he was a computer programming student aged 19. Callister joined Team Immersion ahead of Series 9, after seeing computer-aided designs of Vulture that he felt he was able to improve upon, and many of Callister's modifications were implemented into the final machine, also providing financial assistance towards some parts of Vulture. On the televised show, Jarvis Callister was the weapons operator of Vulture, firing the axe head while Adam Hamilton drove the robot, and also assisted with repairs of the machine, although Callister was largely uninvolved with the build process due to living in the south of England, unlike his three Newcastle-based team members.

"Can you guys come back in like five minutes? Like, this is really stressful and I'm not so keen on having the camera pointed at me while I'm really stressing out over this bolt."

- Jarvis Callister to Henry Imbert

The televised edit of Vulture's heat featured Jarvis Callister prominently, as he repeatedly asked cameraman Henry Imbert to stop filming him while he attempted to repair Vulture, in footage which ultimately made it to air, portraying the stress that Team Immersion felt during the right repair windows they were allotted. A combination of these factors, including Vulture's forfeiture of its planned fight with Track-tion, led to Jarvis Callister parting ways with the rest of Team Immersion immediately after Series 10 concluded.

Thomas Long
Thomas Long was aged 25 at the time of Series 10, and was a barista at the time. Thomas Long was responsible for the wiring and maintenance of Vulture in Series 10, and was partially involved with the build process of the machine which largely took place in Newcastle.

Outside of Robot Wars, Thomas Long is still a member of Team Immersion and occasionally assists Adam Hamilton with CAD commission projects, and briefly operated a featherweight machine, Halcyon.

Emma Jones
Emma Jones was 21 years old at the time of Series 10, and was a student and bar worker. On the Robot Wars website, her team role was listed as tactician, although when filming began, her role shifted more towards team relations, providing support to the rest of Team Immersion where needed, including Jarvis Callister's mother who was also present at filming off-screen. Although Emma Jones is not typically a member of Team Immersion as a competitor, she continues to attend live events alongside the team in a supporting role.

Robots

 * NOTE: Jack Tweedy would later enter Series 10 with Apex

Wins/Losses

 * Wins: 1
 * Losses: 2


 * NOTE: Tanto's unaired battle in the Series 8 Pilot is not included in the tally, and Vulture's withdrawal prior to its battle with Track-tion is not considered a loss

Series Record

 * Matthew Pearman attempted to enter Series 9 with Dantomkia, and Series 10 with Nelly the Ellybot, but was not selected to compete.
 * Jack Tweedy and Craig Croucher applied for Series 9 with Neutron, but were not selected to compete.
 * Craig Croucher attempted to enter Series 10 with Jellyfish and Ice Cream, but was not selected to compete.
 * Jack Tweedy entered Series 10 with Apex.

Team Immersion
In June 2018, the team completed a new heavyweight machine, named Immersion after the long-running team name. A scaled-up version of Amnesia's design, Immersion is armed with a two-stage front-hinged electric flipper, located behind a solid HARDOX wedge. Originally designed for a presumed eleventh series of Robot Wars, Immersion was first test-driven at Robots Live! in Grantham, and also appeared at the 2018 UK Championship in Stevenage. There, Immersion won its first battle by ramming Luna-tic into the arena walls and pitting it, but although Immersion's brushless drive was running perfectly, its flipper was struggling as a result of a weapon control adaptor that the team had outsourced by commission. This faulty adaptor led to Immersion's second-round defeat to Iron-Awe 6, where it was unable to self-right after being flipped.

Commission projects
With assistance from Andy Russell, Adam Hamilton also creates computer-aided designs and occasionally fully-functioning robots under commission. Among these robots are:


 * Utopia, featherweight counterpart to Dystopia, armed with a rear-hinged flipper, designed for Gareth Anstee.
 * General d'Meaner, heavyweight grabber designed by Adam Hamilton and Thomas Long, and built by Gareth Anstee for the University of Greenwich. For more information, see Trolley Rage.
 * Barghest, a featherweight with an Uberclocker-style lifting jaw, built for Christopher Lobley.
 * White Dwarf, an invertible featherweight designed for Joel Ward, with a lifter inspired by Panic Attack.
 * Tempest, an invertible featherweight armed with a horizontal bar spinner, designed for Matthew Pearman (see Team Slam).
 * Force 7, shortened to F7, a middleweight lifter built by Team Tilly to enter RoboGames before it withdrew and instead competed on the UK live circuit.
 * Mad Rush, a featherweight lifter owned by Alex Hall which was selected for the King of Bots UK featherweight championship prior to withdrawing.

Team Slam
In October 2016, Matthew Pearman of Team Slam became the latest owner of Series 6-8 competitor Dantomkia. Under Team Slam's ownership, the robot received numerous modifications including revised armour and a larger flipper plate, and returned to live events in 2017, competing at the Robots Live! event in Stevenage that October. In a battle with Saint and Ka-Pow!, Dantomkia's pneumatic system mounts broke, and the robot eventually became stuck against the arena wall, and was pitted by Ka-Pow! Matthew Pearman still owns Dantomkia to this day, and also owns the empty chassis of Vulture.

In August 2018, Team Slam entered a horizontal featherweight spinner, Tempest, into the inaugural King of Bots UK International Championship, held at Insomnia 63, Birmingham. Designed by Andy Russell and Adam Hamilton when the robot was originally named Slam, Tempest initially lost its first qualifier battle to Calabash Bros, before winning its second against Telekinesis and Beauty 2. Tempest subsequently lost its third and final qualifier to Straddle 2, which saw Straddle 2 splitting its chassis open and both competitors becoming immobilised following their initial collision. The Judges' decision ruled against Tempest; although it still scored enough points to secure a place in the knockout round, it was forced to withdraw from its battle against Barghest due to the damage inflicted by Straddle 2, and was replaced by Calabash Bros.

Team Short Circuit
Jarvis Callister fights in the live event circuit with his own featherweights under the name Team Short Circuit. He started fighting in 2011 with Anti-Gravity which was a Roaming Robots Battle Ant kit - he later built an improved version called Anti-Gravity 2. From 2012, he started fighting with featherweights. Callister's first featherweight was MetalBeak, a black wedge-shaped robot armed with a flipper. His next robot, Project X, which was an invertible six-wheel driven parallelogram-shaped ramming robot. This was succeeded by Ricochet which was a similar design armed with a double-scoop. After initially purchasing it from another team in 2014, Callister's Flow! was armed with a full-pressure flipper. Skyfall was also armed with a powerful flipper, and was made from parts previously used by MetalBeak. Callister previously owned a beetleweight with a vertical disc named RPM, but this has changed hands to Team. Ablaze. He has also stood in as driver of Titan at various live events.

Callister's newest featherweight robot is Shrapnel, a four-wheel driven robot armed with a vertical spinner. At the FRA UK Featherweight Championship in 2017, the robot's debut, Shrapnel finished in fifth place, closing out its tournament on eleven points. It did this by winning one group battle outright, winning another by default, and earning enough points through its remaining two melees to reach the knockout stages. There, it was eliminated by Explosion.

In August 2018, Shrapnel competed in the inaugural King of Bots UK featherweight championship. It won its first battle by immobilising Crabsolutely Clawful and wedging Aegis Mk II against the wall, despite losing the use of its disc in the process. Shrapnel immobilised Calabash Brothers in its second battle, but again lost the use of its disc, this time surviving to and winning the Judges' decision over Strix. Shrapnel comfortably qualified for the Top 20 after ripping Orpheus to pieces with one devastating blow in its final qualification match; it also proceeded to rip away the entire front of Hell's Angel and throw Aegis out of the arena to earn a place in the Quarter-Finals. However, Shrapnel was eliminated at that stage by Calabash Brothers, after the latter ripped its weapon belt out, disabling the disc and preventing Shrapnel from self-righting when thrown upside-down by the Chinese entry.

Trivia

 * Adam Hamilton brought his featherweight Amnesia to the filming of Series 10, and displayed it in The Pits.
 * The team name 'Immersion' is inspired by a Pendulum album of the same name.