Berserk 2

Berserk 2
Berserk 2 from Series 4
Participation Information
UK Series	3-4
Team Information
Team	Team Berserk
Team Members	Stuart Ford Christopher O'Connell Graham Kershaw Martin Kershaw (Series 3)
Robot Statistics
Weight	78.3kg
Dimensions	0.92m x 0.69m x 0.91m
Clearance	4cm
Top Speed	6mph
Power	Electric motors
Weapons	Lifting forks & axe
Statistics correct as of its most recent show/competition appearance, or if not applicable, qualification attempt.

Berserk 2 (misspelled as Beserk II in Series 3) was a silver dome-like robot built to resemble a human skull. It entered Series 3 and Series 4 of Robot Wars. The robot featured steel pneumatic lifting rear forks and an axe as its weapons and cost £2,000 over four months. Being made from aluminium alloy, Berserk 2 was the first robot to prove it could truly withstand punishment from Hypno-Disc's spinning disc weapon, and only went down on a tight judges' decision. In Series 4, it was seeded number 24 and redesigned so that it was made from steel and the body shape allowed it to self-right, but kept the exact same name, however this newer robot performed no better as it was shoved around and beaten by Tornado in Round 2 of the heat.

The original Berserk robot entered the Super Heavyweight Competition (Super Showdown) in Series 2 and reached the final before losing to Kick Robut. In Series 5, Team Berserk returned to Robot Wars with the team's new robot Twister after they had retired Berserk 2, Twister was also redesigned for Series 6 but then failed to qualify for the main competition.

Berserk 2 was notable as all of its team members were deaf, and were allowed a fourth team member as an interpreter.

Robot History

Series 3

"Will they go Berserk twice or leave in a trice against Tut's Revenge?"

— Jonathan Pearce annouces the first round line-up for the heat

Series 3 appearance

In Heat H of the Third Wars, Berserk 2 was drawn up against the experienced Mega Hurts team with their new robot Tut's Revenge, in the first round. Of the two competitor robots, Berserk 2 had a slower start, but Tut's Revenge carelessly slammed into the arena side wall. Berserk 2 reversed into it and swiftly flipped it over onto its side, qualifying for the next round. In the second round of the heat, Berserk 2 was drawn up against newcomers Ally Gator, and the two circled each other for a while, neither successful in flipping the other robot. Finally, Berserk 2 got in underneath and flipped over Ally Gator. As it didn't have a self-righting mechanism, Ally Gator couldn't get back onto its wheels, and was declared immobilised. This put Berserk 2 through to the heat final. Berserk 2 went in as the underdogs, as it was rather unfortunately up against dark horses for the title Hypno-Disc. Hypno-Disc's weapon was only working at half-speed, though, meaining that Berserk 2's armour took far less punsishment than Hypno-Disc's two previous opponents. Hypno-Disc managed to cut a couple of slices in the rear of Berserk 2 upon the first contact between the two machines. Berserk 2 then attempted to flip Hypno-Disc over with its forklift, but did not succeed. Hypno-Disc drove away, while Berserk 2 reversed across the arena floor and was flipped by an arena spike. Hypno-Disc bumped it back onto its wheels, and Berserk 2 tried again unsuccessfully to flip Hypno-Disc. The axe had little effect, and Hypno-Disc pushed them into Sir Killalot, but Berserk 2 manged to escape the Corner Patrol Zone. Hypno-Disc and Berserk 2 then attacked each other while moving closer to Sergeant Bash's Corner Patrol Zone. In the dying seconds of the battle, Hypno-Disc was caught by Sergeant Bash's jaws, and was lifted up off the arena floor as a result of being grabbed. Just then, time ran out and the battle went to a judges' decision. The decision went in favour of Hypno-Disc, eliminating Berserk 2 from the competition.

Series 4

"...and judging by your competition, I think they're in with a pretty strong chance"

— Julia Reed overlooks Berserk 2 before its Round 1 battle

Berserk 2 returned to Robot Wars for the Fourth Wars with a slightly different design from the previous series. Due to reaching the heat final, and holding Hypno-Disc to a very close judges' decision, Berserk 2 was granted the 24th seed placing for this series, to put some starch in its spine. In Heat F of the Fourth Wars, the seeded Berserk 2 was drawn up against two returning teams in The Creature and fellow previous heat finalists Inverterbrat in its first round melee. The three competitors met near the centre of the arena, with Berserk 2 being the slowest to reach the others. On impact with The Creature, Inverterbrat's lifting weapon locked up, bringing its wheels off the arena floor, immobilising it. Berserk 2 pushed and lifted The Creature away from the defeated machine, before charging back to axe the bludgeoner weapon of Inverterbrat into submission, but instead receiving a few scratches on the armour. Berserk 2 then ran away to let the house robots finish off Inverterbrat, cease was eventually called and Berserk 2 was put through to the next round along with The Creature. In the second round, Berserk 2 was drawn up against the promising newcomers Tornado. In this battle, Berserk 2's sluggish speed proved to be its achilles heel, as it was too slow for its opponent and was immobilised by the sheer power of Tornado as the seed spent the duration of the battle being slammed from arena wall to arena wall before eventually being immobilised and subsequently attacked by the house robots and eliminated from the competition. Berserk 2 was retired from Robot Wars after this brutal defeat and replaced with Twister.

Results

Wins/Losses

• Wins: 3
• Losses: 2

Series Record

• Series 1: Did not enter
• Series 2: Entered with Berserk
• Series 3: Heat Final
• Series 4: Heat, Round 2
• Series 5: Entered with Twister
• Series 6: Failed to qualify with Twister
• Series 7: Did not enter

Trivia

• Berserk 2 was the first competitor robot that was able to withstand the destructive disc of Hypno-Disc.
• Berserk 2 was one of five seeds for the Fourth Wars that reached the heat final of the Third Wars but fell in the second round of the heat in this series, it shares this statistic with Dreadnaut, King Buxton, Aggrobot and the Dartford Girls Grammar.