Heavy rotating blades are a type of heavy rotating weapon. First appearing in Robot Wars: The Third Wars in the form of Hammertron, they gained widespread recognition during the appearance of Fluffy in Robot Wars: The Fifth Wars.
To date, the most successful robot to use a heavy rotating blade is Series 9 champion Carbide. Other successful robots with this weapon type include Battle of the Stars co-champion Arena Cleaner and Series 9 third- and fourth-place finishers Ironside3 and Aftershock, whose bar spinner was interchangeable with a vertical spinning disc.
Definition
Heavy rotating blades can exist in any shape or form, such as bars, spiked/bladed axes, hammers or triangles. A weapon falls into this category if it is shaped like a propeller blade or a bar rather than a disc. Just as flywheels are considered the larger and heavier versions of cutting discs, heavy rotating blades are the larger, heavier and more powerful versions of Lawnmower blades.
Heavy rotating blades are very versatile weapons. Not only are their designs open to variation, but they can also be mounted horizontally or vertically, incorporated into an invertible design, and designed for either piercing or hammering other robots. Heavy rotating blades in the form of spinning bars are often also called bar spinners.
Advantages and Disadvantages
- "Bar spinners such as Carbide try to take engagement to the extreme. By compromising on the flywheel effect of having the mass on the outside of the spinner, having a rotating bar means you have literally no limits on the amount of engagement. This trade-off increases wind resistance of spinning bars, which in turn increases current draw for your motor and places more stress on your components."
- — Robot Wars: Build Your Own Robot
Advantages
Fluffy cleaves Pussycat's blade from its mount
Carbide tears off Thor's front plate
IG-88's vertical spinning hammer rips away a panel from Scorpion
The gyroscopic forces acting on Carbide's bar spinner allowed it to remain upright even after it was thrown by Eruption's flipper
- Because heavy rotating blades have a heavier mass behind the weapon strike than the teeth on flywheels, the blows from the weapon have a far more concussive effect. They are more capable of causing instant immobilisations or deal greater damage with single blows than flywheels, which often require several successive attacks in order to become effective. They are also adept at removing loose parts from robots- whilst Hypno-Disc's weapon bent Pussycat's blade inwards during their single clash in the Fourth Wars, a single blow from Fluffy was capable of breaking the weapon, along with a castor, clean off in the Fifth Wars. Arena Cleaner's weapon was also capable of tearing away a wheel from The Cat during the course of Battle of the Stars.
- Because the weight of a rotating blade is distributed in a smaller but denser weapon than a disc, the attack zone can be greater whilst actually increasing damage output. Compare the weapons of IG-88 and Vader for example.
- When mounted horizontally, robots can incorporate them into invertible designs. Many successful wielders of this weapon are invertible, such as Carbide, Fluffy and Arena Cleaner.
- Vertical heavy rotating blades can also be incorporated into invertible designs, as seen with Revolution 2.
- Depending on the weapon's size and power, the gyroscopic forces of a horizontal rotating blade can prevent the robot from being completely flipped over when the weapon spins at full speed. Carbide demonstrated this characteristic during two of its fights against Apollo in the Series 8 Grand Final, and in its Series 9 Grand Final battle against Eruption.
Disadvantages
Fluffy was very unreliable, and often broke down even after dominating its battles
Carbide was vulnerable to attacks from TR2 and Apollo after its weapon clutch failed during the Series 8 Grand Final
Due to the short build time for Ironside3, the robot's srimech could not be fully operational, leading to a quick defeat at the hands of Pulsar
- As with other heavy rotating weapons, they require a lot of kinetic energy which drains batteries quickly and sometimes causes the weapon motors and/or clutches to malfunction. Zorro was defeated in its Series 7 first round battle after its excessive energy consumption drained its batteries of essential power to its weapon and srimech. Fluffy and Carbide's blades were also susceptible to failure on various occasions in Series 8, with the latter's Grand Final defeat to Apollo being partly blamed on its weapon breaking.
- As with other spinning weapons, the recoil from a heavy rotating blade can also adversely affect the robot's reliability. Fluffy was notorious for breaking down as a result of its attacks on other competitors throughout its appearances, such as its Series 5 Heat Final battle against Pussycat.
- Furthermore, said recoil can also cause the robot to be launched in a different direction or even airborne, as shown in most of Carbide's battles during Series 8 and 9.
- As one of the heaviest weapons, very few robots with this weapon have a fallback in the event that the weapon breaks. Carbide struggled to respond to TR2 and Apollo's attacks in Series 8 once its weapon failed to work, and Das Gepäck was able to recover ground once Fluffy's weapon broke.
- Given that heavy rotating blades are prohibited from most live events, it is very expensive to create one when chances of qualification are limited. Some robots like Ironside3 were built at short notice after being informed of qualification and as such, there was no time to implement a fully operational srimech.
- Unlike discs, which tear through obstructing objects due to the minimal surface area to be impacted, heavy rotating blades are easier to stop if a robot is heavy enough to absorb the impact. Fluffy's weapon was halted by Das Gepack in the UK v Germany final, and was unable to start spinning again.
List of robots with Heavy rotating blades
Aftershock with its bar spinner fitted
Ansgar 3
Arena Cleaner
Series 9 champion Carbide
Donald Thump
Fluffy
Hammertron, the pioneer of this weapon type
Hobgoblin in Series 9
IG-88
Ironside3 in Series 9
Propeller-Head
Revolution 2
Tauron
Zorro
Robots are listed alphabetically. Robots which are not heavyweight entries are listed with a green background.
| Robot | Series Appearances with Heavy rotating blades | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| Aftershock | Series 9-10 | Uses a 14kg vertical spinning bar, interchangeable with a 24kg vertical flywheel. Bar spinner rotates at 3,000rpm. Asymmetric bar spinner created for Series 10. Finished fourth in Series 9. |
| Ansgar 3 | Series 7 | Competed exclusively in The Third World Championship. Blades weighed 10kg. |
| Apex | Series 9 | Heavy vertical blade which covers the robot's whole surface area. Can spin at 1,750rpm. |
| Arena Cleaner | Series 9 | Competed exclusively in Battle of the Stars. A 20kg spinning bar with two spiked blades. Joint Battle of the Stars champion along with Kadeena Machina. |
| Axe-C-Dent | Series 5-6 | Featured only one hammer, with the reverse serving as a counterweight. |
| Carbide | Series 8-10 | Weapon weighs 25kg and spins up to 2,300rpm. Series 9 champion and Series 8 runner-up. |
| Clyde Built | Series 9 | Withdrew from Series 9 due to a fuse combusting. Originally a reserve which was meant to then fight in Episode 5. |
| Crank-E | Series 9 | A 'vertical asymmetric spinner', weighing 22kg and rotating at 6,000rpm. |
| Crazy Coupe 88 | Series 8 | Bar spinner is at the front, a vertical disc is at the rear. |
| Chopper | Extreme 2 | Overhead horizontal blade |
| Donald Thump | Series 10 | Vertical bar spinner, weighing 16kg and spinning at up to 5,000rpm (145mph). |
| Fluffy | Series 5-7, Extreme 1-2 | A double-headed 'spinning axe' weighing 20kg. Series 5 Heat Finalist and joint winner of the UK vs Germany Special, along with Das Gepäck. |
| Frostbite | Series 9 | Spins at 2,000rpm, small compared to most other bar spinners |
| Hammertron | Series 3 | A double-ended 'spinning hammer', mounted on a panel which lifted up to 90 degrees and was said to double as a self-righting mechanism. |
| Hobgoblin | Series 9 | A 250mm-diameter 'egg beater' spinner, the first of its kind to appear on Robot Wars. Weapon operates similarly to a drum, weighs 20kg and spins at 2,500rpm. |
| I Bot One Beta | Series 7 | Two small horizontal blades, referred to as 'discs' on its statistics board. |
| IG-88 | Series 7 | A double-headed 'bi-rotational axe', capable of spinning in both forward and reverse directions. |
| Ironside3 | Series 8-9 | Weapon weighs 18kg, spins at 1,500rpm and is one metre in diameter. Finished third in Series 9, equipped with interchangeable flat- and 'cutting-edge' bladed bars. |
| Killerkat | Series 7 | |
| Mobot | Series 7 | Located underneath the robot's body, weighing 20kg and spinning at up to 45mph. |
| Paul Bunyan | US Season 2 | A four-bladed 'spinning cross'. Spun at only 230rpm. |
| Pod | Series 8 | Part of a set of interchangeable weapons. Withdrew from Series 8 due to being overweight. |
| Propeller-Head | US Season 2, Nickelodeon | US Season 2 Grand Finalist, and Nickelodeon Mayhem Champion |
| Revolution 2 | Series 6, Extreme 2 | Three sets of large twin blades, shaped like claws and spinning at up to 200mph. |
| Shockwave | Extreme 1 | Vertical spinning blade |
| Tauron | Series 9 | Mounted on a pivot, so the blade is always in an upright position, even when Tauron is overturned. Weapon weighs 13kg and spins at approximately 3,100rpm. |
| Terror Turtle | Series 6, Extreme 2 | An overhead spinning bar. Removed and replaced with a spinning disc for Series 7-8. |
| The Alien | Series 5-7 | Weighed in between 7-12kg and spun at between 1,000-1,300rpm. A 'spinning hammer' incorporating two 1.5kg lump hammers at the tips. Capable of flipping opponents over. |
| The Executioner | Series 7 | Replaced the robot's spinning disc prior to competing in order to keep it within the weight limit. |
| The Spider | Extreme 1 | Two blades, described as 'rotating spikes', mounted on either side of the robot. |
| The Swarm | Series 10 | Bar spinner belongs to Blenda, one fourth of the clusterbot. |
| Tornado | Series 6-7, Extreme 2 | Horizontal bar spinner attached to a metal frame surrounding the robot's chassis. Formed part of an 'anti-crusher weapon' specifically designed for use against Razer. Converted into a vertical bar spinner for Series 7, but was never used in this form. |
| Zorro | Series 7 | Three interconnected bars with double-headed blades. |
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