Crushtacean

Crushtacean was an oval-shaped silver robot that competed in Series 5, 6 and 7 of Robot Wars, and the second series of Robot Wars Extreme. It was designed to resemble a crab, and was entirely made of 12mm thick aerospace aluminium making it "indestructible" and manoeuvrable, with its main weapon being a pair of pincers, crushing at 300-500kg of pressure, but it had a 1m turning circle, a 4cm ground clearance and a vulnerable aerial, therefore suffering from radio interference. Rather than being controlled by a button or a joystick, the claws were operated by a uniquely designed pair of gloves, which had sensors so that the claws would open or close in relation to the wearer's hand movement. It was originally planned to be redesigned for the Sixth Wars but due to the complexity of hydraulics (suggested by George Francis) the original robot was brought back. Crushtacean's best performance in the main competition was in its début season, where it defeated the seeded favourite Behemoth and reached the heat final, losing to Wheely Big Cheese. It was nominated for the Best Newcomer Award that series, but missed out to Fluffy. However, the next season, it won the award for Most Original Entry, thanks to its unusual technology. Its name was a pun on Crustacean, the group of arthropods to which the crab belongs.

The team originated from South Africa and represented the country in certain international competitions, finishing as runner-up to Firestorm 4 in the Commonwealth Carnage competition in Extreme Series 2, and coming joint third with Tough As Nails in The Third World Championship.

Crushtacean also competed in Dutch Robot Wars under the name Krab-Bot, reaching the Grand Final of the second series. Captain Ian Visser was able to get through the interviews by speaking Afrikaans, a native South African language which is virtually identical to Dutch.

Series 5
The newcomers Crushtacean started its first appearance in the wars very well against Robochicken-Evo in the first round of the heat. It got flipped a few times by Robochicken-Evo but paraded the chicken-like robot from CPZ to CPZ where it took damage from the house robots, Crushtacean was also able to cause a bit of external damage to Robochicken-Evo using the claws. The fight went to a judges' decision, with the decision awarding the win to Crushtacean, putting them through to the next round. In the second round of the heat, Crushtacean was up against the far more experienced Behemoth. Crushtacean provided a huge shock in this battle against the 15th seeds. Crushtacean activated the pit release button, then Behemoth in an attempt to flip Crushtacean over levered itself over with its shovel, and Crushtacean preceded in grabbing Team Make Robotics' machine before slamming it into an angle grinder, and then dumping it down the pit for the win. This put the newcomers Crushtacean through to the Heat Final were it was up against the 10th seeds Wheely Big Cheese, Crushtacean had a cheese grater tied to its claw for this battle, however it was no help. The seeded Wheely Big Cheese dominated the battle, as the crab-like robot was unable to grab Wheely Big Cheese, and the cheese was therefore able to flip Crushtacean into Dead Metal's CPZ. However Crushtacean escaped to try and attack again, but a massive flip from Wheely Big Cheese was enough to rip the aerial from Crushtacean, immobilising it completely. It wasn't counted out despite being immobilised, but Wheely Big Cheese did slowly push it down the pit and out of the competition.

At the end of the series, Crushtacean was nominated for the Most Promising Newcomer Award, but lost out to Fluffy.

Series 6
Crushtacean's first round battle for the Sixth Wars had Dantomkia, Mr Nasty and Dr Fist in it, three newcomers to the main competition. Crushtacean attacked Mr Nasty at first, instantly immobilising it by cutting off its aerial, but then got flipped against the arena wall in the CPZ by Dantomkia. Crushtacean was an open target for Sir Killalot and seemed to be in trouble as the big house robot picked up Crushtacean and nearly dropped it out the arena. In the end, Killalot let it go. Crushtacean was pressurized a lot by Dantomkia and seemed to have lost its mobility, but Crushtacean went through with Dantomkia as Mr Nasty and Dr Fist had already broken down. In Round 2 Crushtacean was up against the 5th seeds and former UK Champion Chaos 2. Crushtacean started off well as Chaos 2 tried to flip Crushtacean but leaned itself forward, then Crushtacean thrusted the two times UK Champion onto the wall where it landed on its side but it managed to recover. Chaos 2 got some flips in on Crushtacean but had no effect on the crab-like robot due to it being invertible. Crushtacean then activated the pit release and then reversed into the pit eliminating itself from the Sixth Wars.

At the end of the series, Crushtacean was given the Most Original Entry Award.

Extreme 2
Crushtacean came back for Extreme Series 2 and singularly took part in the Commonwealth Carnage representing South Africa. In the opening round melee, Crushtacean went up against Panic Attack representing Wales, Cerberus representing Cyprus and Terror Turtle representing Canada. Crushtacean started very well by chasing down and soon grabbing hold of Cerberus before opening the pit and throwing the machine from Cyprus down. Meanwhile, Sir Killalot had grabbed Terror Turtle in his arms, so Crushtacean slipped around the house robot's backside and cut his hydraulic cables, disabling the claw & lance. For the second round, Crushtacean then faced the Scottish Corkscrew. The fight started with Corkscrew doing its usual tactic of running away to get up to speed but Crushtacean then managed to chase the Scottish robot into the arena wall and stopping the disc allowing Crushtacean to grab hold of the blades. Crushtacean then waltzed Corkscrew into the pit release before pushing it down. The final was against the English Firestorm 4 who managed to turn Crushtacean onto its side where it couldn't get back down onto its wheels and the Refbot then counted Crushtacean out of the Commonwealth Carnage.

Series 7
In Round 1 of the Seventh Wars, Crushtacean went up against UFO, Tartarus and the 10th seeds Behemoth, this then being a rematch for the Series 5 shock. Crushtacean attacked UFO at the start of the battle, but couldn't grab hold of UFO's wedge shape. UFO then got underneath Crushtacean, but as its flipper didn't work, UFO just pushed Crushtacean around. Then Behemoth rammed and tried to lift Crushtacean, but then quickly flipped Crushtacean into an arena wall. Crushtacean was briefly impeded by UFO, but was then flipped very close to the wall again. However Crushtacean escaped, but Behemoth and UFO had ganged up on Crushtacean, ramming and flipping it around the arena, until it drove over UFO and became stuck on the arena wall. Finally left immobile, Behemoth flipped it out as an act of vengeance for the Series 5 defeat at Crushtacean's claws.

Crushtacean returned for The Third World Championship. In its qualifier it faced Irish robot Topbot. Crushtacean quickly grabbed hold of Topbot and pushed it into the CPZ, but it escaped. Topbot attacked Crushtacean with its spinning disc but it did no damage. Topbot then drove into the arena wall and Crushtacean grabbed hold of it again and pushed it around the arena. Crushtacean then nudged the pit release button and dropped Topbot into the pit of oblivion. In the next round it faced Dutch Champions PulverizeR and Swiss robot Snake Bite. Crushtacean immediately opened the pit, but was attacked by PulverizeR. Meanwhile, Snake Bite looked like it had broken down. Crushtacean then rammed PulverizeR against the arena wall, but couldn't get a grip on PulverizeR's slanted body. Snake Bite had been counted out, but had also come back to life and started attacking both of its opponents and tried to crush into Crushtacean. The match ended and the Judges decided that Crushtacean had qualified for the Semi-Finals.

Here it met Supernova, which was representing Sri Lanka. Crushtacean quickly rammed Supernova, but it looked like some pieces came off Crushtacean after colliding front on with Supernova's disc. Crushtacean then appeared to be losing mobility and was left stranded near Shunt's CPZ. Supernova attacked it a few more times and Crushtacean completely stopped. Crushtacean was then counted out and picked up by Sir Killalot, who paraded Crushtacean around the arena, eventually dropping it on the floor flipper. Crushtacean was flipped and then due to its rounded shaped rolled into the arena wall and almost out of the arena. One of Crushtacean's claws had broken and cease was called, eliminating Crushtacean from the tournament.

Dutch Series 2
Krab-Bot's first battle was against Alien Destructor 2. Krab-Bot grabbed Alien Destructor, and tried to push it around, but it escaped and shoved Krab-Bot into Dead Metal's CPZ. Krab-Bot escaped unharmed and grabbed Alien Destructor again. Dead Metal intervened to separate the two, and began cutting into Alien Destructor, puncturing two of its tyres. Time ran out, and the judges ruled that Krab-Bot was the winner. In the next round, Krab-Bot immediately grabbed and dragged Hammerhead 2 around the arena. Hammerhead 2 got free and tried to flip Krab-Bot over, but couldn't manage to. It rammed Krab-Bot, and Krab-Bot began limping. Krab-Bot attempted to get hold of Hammerhead again, and eventually succeeded and pushed it into an angle grinder, where it was held until time was called. Once again, the judges had to make the decision, and once again they ruled in favour of Krab-Bot. In the heat final, Krab-Bot met Twisted Metal Evo, and began the battle in its usual style, grabbing Twisted Metal and pushing it around the arena. Twisted Metal tried to come back on the attack, but couldn't get its disc spinning. It drove into Matilda's CPZ, and the house robot's flywheel put a huge gash in its armour. Krab-Bot pushed Twisted Metal into Sir Killalot's CPZ, so Killalot picked up Twisted Metal and began spinning it round and round. Krab-Bot opened up the pit, but could not push Twisted Metal down into it before time ran out. The jury ruled that Krab-Bot was the heat winner.

In the Grand Final, Krab-Bot came up against Philipper 2. Krab-Bot tried to grab Philipper, but couldn't due to Philipper's odd shape. Philipper flipped Krab-Bot onto an angle grinder, and the Refbot helped it down. Krab-Bot then managed to grab Philipper by its open flipper, and pushed it into a CPZ, where Shunt and Growler forcefully separated the two. Philipper flipped Krab-Bot again, and before it could close up its flipper, Krab-Bot got its claw stuck inside. Growler separated the two again, and Krab-Bot attacked Philipper from the rear. Both robots tried to dig into one another with their crushing weapons as the timer ran out. The judges ruled in favour of Philipper 2.

Results

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Wins/Losses

 * UK Wins: 7
 * UK Losses: 5
 * Dutch Wins: 3
 * Dutch Losses: 1

UK Series

 * Series 1-4: Did not enter
 * Series 5: Heat Final
 * Series 6: Heat, Round 2
 * Series 7: Heat, Round 1

Dutch Series

 * Series 1: Did not enter
 * Series 2: Grand Final, Round 1

Trivia

 * On the board listing the nominations for the Most Promising Newcomer in Series 5, Crushtacean was erroneously spelt as Crushtacen.
 * Crushtacean is the only South African robot to compete in any main competition of Robot Wars.
 * All of the seeds Crushtacean faced in the main competition were multiples of 5.