Inverterbrat

Invertabrat was a competitor robot that fought in Series 3 and 4 of Robot Wars. In Series 4, it was known as Inverterbrat. Its weapons were a unique lifter at one end of the robot, which had two arms which separated when lifting an opponent, and a 2000RPM rotating bludgeoner at the other (described as a multi carbide-tipped saw and milling cutter in Series 3) which, according to captain Peter Bignall, had the high-energy storage capability of three rifle bullets. As its name suggested, Invertabrat was completely invertible. Unusually, it was made entirely of recycled parts. It was powered by batteries and compressed air to lift in excess of 100 kg.

Despite its arguably shabby appearance, it performed surprisingly well, making the heat final in Series 3, eventually losing to Beast of Bodmin, from the First Wars winners Bodmin Community College. Invertabrat returned to Series 4 as one of two unseeded Series 3 heat finalists, but a malfunction on its flipper rendered it immobile in the first round of the main competition, before breaking down in the Tag Team Terror tournament as well in the same series. In Series 4, the team had a small soft toy rat as their mascot which was called Invertarat.

Invertabrat also failed to qualify for Series 5, despite beating Barber-Ous in its qualifier battle. Barber-Ous started well, throwing Invertabrat in the air with its drum, but then broke down and was pitted by Shunt. However, Barber-Ous eventually qualified unlike Invertabrat.

Its name originated from Invertebrate, the scientific term given to a creature without a backbone, however, the actual inspiration for the name was the fact that the robot was invertible, and its main tactic was to invert opponents; something it never succeeded in doing.

Series 3
In the first round of its debut appearance, newcomers Invertabrat was placed up against a returning team in The Witch in Heat I of the Third Wars. In the battle, Invertabrat's flipper weapon made no effect whatsoever, so Invertabrat instead decided to ram the much more sluggish Witch machine. Eventually, the Witch broke down. After the Witch was cut apart by Dead Metal, cease was called and Invertabrat was put through to the second round of the heat.

In the second round, Invertabrat was placed up against fellow newcomers Terrorpin. In this battle, once again, the flipper of Invertabrat had no effect on its opponents, because of Terrorpin's zero ground clearance. Pushing it into the CPZ, Invertabrat was then attacked by house robot Dead Metal. After Dead Metal suddenly reversed into the Pit of Oblivion, Invertabrat and Terrorpin chased each other around until cease was called for the battle to go to a judges' decision. The decision went in favour of Invertabrat, putting them through to the next round of the heat.

Invertabrat was placed up against Beast of Bodmin, the team who had been champions of the First Wars, in the Heat Final. In this battle, both robots started sluggishly. Despite lifting the robot from Cornwall up where its wheels couldn't touch the ground, Invertabrat could not flip its hefty opponent over, but did push the Beast of Bodmin into the CPZ of Matilda. However, Beast of Bodmin got away, and Invertabrat then tried to escape from Beast of Bodmin. Invertabrat then suddenly came back and lifted up its opponent again. It was unable to flip it over, and so Beast of Bodmin then scooped Invertabrat into Matilda's CPZ, dumping it onto the arena spikes, where Invertabrat lost drive in one of its wheels. Spinning in circles, Invertabrat was unable to escape the attacks from the house robots. Cease was called, and Invertabrat had already been declared immobilised by the judges, eliminating Invertabrat from the competition.

Series 4
"They have been updated, but from the scrapyard, back to the scrapyard is a possibility"

- Jonathan Pearce

Inverterbrat was surprisingly unseeded for the Fourth Wars, despite reaching the Heat Final in the previous series. In the first round melee of its Heat, Inverterbrat was placed up against two other returning teams: The Creature and the number 24 seeds Berserk 2. In this battle, Inverterbrat started promisingly, lifting the Creature up into the air twice, but then, following a grapple with Berserk 2, its lifting arm flipped back on itself, pinning it off the ground, meaning Inverterbrat could get no traction on the arena floor. The judges declared that Inverterbrat had been immobilised, this was then when the House Robots closed in, attacked the defeated machine and put it down the pit of oblivion, eliminating Inverterbrat from the competition.

Inverterbrat failed to properly redeem itself as it entered in the Pinball Warrior Tournament later in the series, finishing with an overall score of 95 points, which placed it joint 10th out of 16 along with previous winners Razer. Inverterbrat also participated in the Tag Team Terror tournament during the Christmas season of the Fourth Wars, with X-Terminator 2 as their partners. These two teams only formed together due to the fact that Peter Bignell, the captain of the Inverterbrat team, once went to Hereford, which is where the X-Terminator 2 team were from. They went up against 101 and King B3 in the eliminator round. After Inverterbrat got stuck on its flipper weapon yet again after the excessive ramming by King B3 and 101, it was declared immobilised after it was left in the CPZ by 101. X-Terminator 2 was unable to turn the tide of the battle after its axe weapon lost power. X-Terminator 2 survived to a judges' decision, but the team lost the decision, placing them out of the running for the Tag Team Championship.

The team had a chance to redeem themselves against Bigger Brother and Plunderbird 4 in the playoff, especially as Plunderbird was suffering technical difficulties. Inverterbrat sat out the early moments of the match as X-Terminator fought Bigger Brother, but was eventually tagged out. However, it was unable to launch a proper attack on the more aggressive Bigger Brother and was forced back into its tag zone, where it broke down yet again. The team eventually lost the playoff after X-Terminator, despite fighting back strongly against Bigger Brother, drove into the pit by mistake.

Results

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Wins/Losses

 * Wins: 2
 * Losses: 4

Series Record

 * Series 1-2: Did not enter
 * Series 3: Heat Final
 * Series 4: Heat, Round 1
 * Series 5: Failed to qualify
 * Series 6-7, 2016: Did not enter

Trivia

 * Inverterbrat had a brief cameo on the sitcom Spaced in the episode "Mettle."