Apex

"New and untested robot Apex is pushing spinner size to the limit with their huge hammer bar!"

- Dara Ó Briain

Apex was a heavyweight robot built by Team Terrafonics, which competed in Series 9-10 of Robot Wars. In each of its appearances, it was eliminated at the Group Battle stage under different circumstances; in Series 9, it was immobilised by a knockout blow from Pulsar. In Series 10, it again became immobilised by Terrorhurtz, before spectacularly self-destructing against Track-tion in the Robot Redemption stage.

Apex was the distant successor to TX-108 and was originally built with a similar hydraulic crushing claw under the name TX-109.

Design
"Apex is the biggest bar spinner ever to compete in Robot Wars!"

- Craig Danby

Apex was defined by its 1.2m horizontal spinning bars, painted gold. The robot's chassis was somewhat triangular, with the front section cut into the shape of blades, and the robot runs on a two-wheel drive system. Apex could inflict major damage with its 37kg bar which spun at a top speed 1850rpm. Its HARDOX chassis was also durable, and the robot was surprisingly fast at 18mph. Apex could self-right by spinning the robot's body in place until centrifugal forces turned the robot back over. However, the robot's weapon was untested before entering the arena, and as such, it was discovered during combat that Apex's bar spinner took a comparatively long time to reach its top speed.

While Apex was painted maroon in Series 9, it used a blue colour-scheme in Series 10, and its weapon spin-up time was improved. The team also created a new 38.45kg asymmetric spinner which they can use interchangeably with their existing gold bar, itself now weighing 39.75kg. The guitar-shaped asymmetric spinner can deliver more or less damage depending on which end connects with opponents, while the symmetrical bar is slightly the heavier. Apex was planned to enter Series 10 as a shufflebot, and arrived at the studio using legs, but one side of the drive failed in the testing arena, and it was reverted back into its two-wheel setup. Had Apex been given the weight bonus with its legs, it would've been equipped with some featherweight minibots which were kept under Apex's bench.

Qualification
Apex was built by Craig Danby and Chris Danby of Team Danby. Despite this, Apex applied for Series 8 under the pure captaincy of Chris Danby, where the team becomes known as Team Terrafonics, as Craig Danby had applied with another robot made by the team, Foxic. At the time of applications, Apex had changed to a bar spinner in anticipation of the new series. The pervious version was a 100kg robot with a vertical crushing spike as its weapon. The crushing spike was intended to pierce through opponents, and also serve as the robot's self-righting mechanism, much unlike other crusher-wielding robots as Razer and Tiberius, which have separate srimechs. However, Apex was not selected to compete in Series 8, while Foxic was. Chris Danby then joined Foxic's team for filming of Series 8.

"Since not being accepted into Robot Wars last year, Apex has been completely redesigned, with the only shared component being the speed controller. Both Chris and Sam used to be in Team Foxic and have now created their own team."

- The Robot Wars website

Following its conversion into a bar spinner, Apex was not originally chosen to compete in Series 9, but was brought into the series after PacifieR withdrew with a minor circuity issue, while Craig Danby also qualified with Foxic for a second series.

In Series 10, Apex qualified for the series outright, as its application form stated the team's intentions to convert the robot into a shufflebot. Craig Danby did not qualify with Foxic, so he rejoined Team Terrafonics for the series.

Series 9
Apex competed in Episode 4, where it replaced the last-minute withdrawal PacifieR. It was drawn into a difficult Group Battle, facing a veteran from the classic series, Crushtacean, a fellow bar spinner in Ironside3, and Grand Finalist from Series 8, Pulsar. However, Apex started the battle at a disadvantage, as a communication error led Team Terrafonics and Team Crushtacean to believe that the '3, 2, 1, Activate' signal was a test for the audience, when in fact it was the beginning of the battle.

"This could be all about the weight and power of Apex's huge bar, or that drum of Pulsar."

- Jonathan Pearce

Apex initially hesitated to get involved as a result of this error, and began spinning its weapon up to speed as its opponents attacked and drove around the arena, with Crushtacean already immobilised at this stage. Eventually, Pulsar's drum hit Apex's spinner, sending Apex spinning violently into the air and causing it to land hard on the arena floor. The attack damaged the bearings and motors for both Apex's drive and weapon, immobilising it instantly, with Apex eventually being counted out and eliminated from Series 9 along with Crushtacean. "The bar is spinning - it's not anymore!"

- Jonathan Pearce as Apex sits immobile

Series 10
"Apex represents about three thousand hours of work. If Apex gets destroyed, it would be just the worst feeling in the world."

- Craig Danby

Apex returned in Heat 3 of Series 10. For its Group Battle – against original series Grand Finalist Terrorhurtz and series newcomer Vulture – Team Terrafonics fitted its new asymmetrical bar spinner for the first time. The team had earlier encountered problems with Apex in testing (see Design), resulting in them also replacing its shuffling mechanism with its original two-wheel drive system prior to the battle.

Unmentioned on the televised broadcast, Apex’s Group Battle was fought twice. In the first attempt, Apex was rammed by Terrorhurtz almost immediately, sparks flying as it was sent gyrating towards the wall. Apex’s spinner broke a panel off the wall upon impact, stopping the battle after just four seconds had elapsed. This hit caused Apex's bar to flex and hit the pulley. Repairs were carried out to the arena, and the battle was restarted. "The pressure is massively on. We’ll either go down in a blaze of glory, or it’ll win everything!"

- Craig Danby prior to the Group Battle

At the start of the second battle, Apex spun round in circles as it tried to get its bar spinner up to speed. However, it was swiftly rammed by Terrorhurtz, the impact causing the top nut, and the belt, of Apex’s spinner to shear off and the weapon to be disabled. Apex and Vulture were simultaneously pushed back by Terrorhurtz, with the former sustaining two axe blows from Terrorhurtz as Vulture broke free. "…and they’re locked together, in a dance of doom!"

- Jonathan Pearce as Apex sustains axe blows from Terrorhurtz in the televised Group Battle

After being pushed into an empty CPZ, Apex drove away from Terrorhurtz and was collected by Vulture, but sustained no damage from the newcomer’s overhead bar spinner as it turned round and backed away. As its opponents fought on, Apex pressed the Arena Tyre, triggering ‘Fog of War’ mode and interfering with Team Immersion’s vision. It continued to avoid the action until it drove into Vulture and was spun around following a shove from Terrorhurtz. After several seconds avoiding each of its opponents, Apex backed into Terrorhurtz and Vulture, the three robots becoming wedged together over the Flame Pit as a result, to laughter from Team Terrafonics.

Shunt prised the competitors apart, before Apex got underneath and briefly pushed Terrorhurtz. Apex attempted to push Terrorhurtz again, only to drive itself up Vulture’s wedge and expose itself to another succession of blows from the former’s axe. After being left in a CPZ, Apex met Terrorhurtz again, smoke pouring from it as it was being pushed and axed by the Team Hurtz machine. Apex lured Terrorhurtz across the arena, dodging another blow as Terrorhurtz threw itself forwards and into Shunt. Another push from Terrorhurtz immobilised Apex near the arena spikes, where it was left to be counted out. "Apex now stilled… and then there was one."

- Jonathan Pearce as Apex stands immobile and smoking

With this, Apex was consigned to the Robot Redemption round, where it fought Track-tion for a chance to progress to the Heat Semi-Finals. Complications arose in The Pits, where Craig Danby discovered that as a prank, Jason Marston had taped all of Team Terrafonics’ tools onto their pit table. However, the team were able to carry out the necessary repairs, and decided to equip Apex with its symmetrical bar for this battle. "If we lose this fight, that’s… a big-time suckie. It’s just a case of putting the bar on, and destroying the hopes and dreams of some children."

- Craig Danby discusses Apex’s chances of success against Track-tion

Both robots started tentatively, with Apex gingerly approaching Track-tion as it got its bar spinner up to speed. Momentarily spinning round, it steered itself into Track-tion’s wedge, sending sparks flying with two successive hits. However, these attacks destabilised Apex; seconds later, its bar spinner hit its own pulley system, causing the weapon to shear off and Apex itself to flip violently into Sir Killalot’s CPZ. "Oh, well, they’ve spun horribly out of control! What on earth happened there? Bits flying off completely… oh my goodness me, I’ve never seen it before… the arena’s in shards!"

- Jonathan Pearce as Apex destroys itself – and the arena wall

Apex’s bar spinner cleaved through one of the bulletproof wall panels, while the robot itself was picked up and pitted by Sir Killlalot after ‘cease’ had been called. This defeat resulted in Apex being eliminated from Series 10, with Craig Danby and Dara Ó Briain discussing afterwards the damage its bar dealt to the arena wall.

Results

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Wins/Losses

 * Wins: 0
 * Losses: 3

Series Record
NOTE: Tanto also entered the 2016 pilot episode, under new ownership of Team Nebula

Outside Robot Wars
Apex attended Extreme Robots in Gloucester in October 2017, where spinners were legalised, but Apex chose not to run its weapon in battle with TR3, ThunderChild and Up Vote. It survived for longer than ThunderChild and Up Vote, but was eventually pitted by Major Damage, who also dumped TR3 out of the arena.

Robot Wars Live Events
After TX-108 had regularly participated in Roaming Robots events, TX-109 competed at its first official Robot Wars live event at Newport in 2014. TX-109 continued to take part under the new name of Apex, including an appearance at Barnsley in 2015, though did not find major success.

Apex fought at the Robot Wars World Championships held at Colchester in 2015, where in the first round, it was drawn against Manta, DTK and Titan. DTK was quickly thrown out of the arena by Manta, at which point, Apex broke down. With Manta and Titan both mobile, it seemed as though Apex would be eliminated – however, it was saved by a stroke of luck when Manta threw Titan out of the arena before Apex could be officially deemed immobile. In the second round, Apex faced Thunderchild and Nuts. Thunderchild's flipper was broken, and so could not self-right when turned over by the floor flipper, leaving Apex to fight Nuts alone. However, Nuts was too tall and slippery for Apex to grab properly, and so Apex lost the Judges’ decision. Apex was given a second chance in a losers’ melee against Cherub, but Apex broke down again, leaving it to be turned over by Cherub's lifting prongs.

Apex was converted into a bar spinner in 2016, and fought at the Robot Wars Live Tour in 2016, which was at Portsmouth, but due to safety regulations, could only run its bar spinner at 100RPM. Apex's speed controller burnt out during a battle with Behemoth. For the Colchester event, held in September of the same year, Apex was rebuilt as Big Panda Hatchet, after the series of featherweights under the name of Hatchet. Both robots feature an electric axe, both in the style of a typical axe instead of a proper hatchet, as well as two-wheel drive and a wedge with very little length. However, that is where the similarities end. Big Panda Hatchet did not enjoy as much success as the robot it was based on, losing all of its battles. The reason for this was that Team Danby was building a new chassis for Apex and did not want to scrap the original chassis.

Trivia

 * The Series 9 Apex was unofficially revealed in an AI mod for the video game Robot Arena 2, alongside the Series 9 Foxic.
 * Terrorhurtz's push on Apex during the initial four seconds of their Series 10 Group Battle was used in montages shown before the Third Place Playoff rounds of every heat in that series. However, the clip was not broadcast as part of the battle due to Apex breaking the arena wall so quickly.
 * Apex, like Track-tion, featured a Team Toad sticker.