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Not to be confused with UK competitor, Brutus Maximus

Brutus is a heavyweight robot from Belgium which attempted to enter Series 8 of Robot Wars, but was not selected to compete. It was built by Team Rubbish, and would later become Cobra, which competed in Series 9 and 10.

Design[]

Brutus unpainted

Brutus before being painted

Brutus was an invertible, four-wheel drive robot armed with a small wedge which could work either way up. It was armoured in HARDOX, and relied on its brute strength and pushing power as its main offensive capabilities. Brutus cost £1,500 to build, and was planned to be fitted with a hydraulic clamp/cutter for its potential entry into Series 8. However, this weapon was not built until the creation of Cobra, as Brutus was not selected to compete in Series 8.

The Team[]

Main article: Team Rubbish

Brutus was built by Team Rubbish, comprising fish salesman and lead builder Marco van Hek, and the robot's driver and co-builder, Stefan Vanthoor. The Belgian team had previously competed on Robot Wars with Pika, and later entered with Cobra.

Qualification[]

Team Rubbish submitted an online application for Brutus to compete in Series 8, with promise of an active weapon being added to the otherwise complete machine. However, Brutus was not selected to compete in the series. This prompted the team to create a CAD of its successor Cobra for future series.

Series Record[]

UK Series[]

Series Brutus Series Record
The First Wars Did not enter
The Second Wars Did not enter
The Third Wars Did not enter
The Fourth Wars Did not enter
The Fifth Wars Did not enter
The Sixth Wars Did not enter
The Seventh Wars Failed to qualify with Caesar
Series 8 Not selected
Series 9 Entered with Cobra
Series 10 World Series with Cobra

Dutch Series[]

Dutch Series Brutus Series Record
Series 1 Entered with Pika 2
Series 2 Entered with Pika 3

Outside Robot Wars[]

Brutus entered the Bronebots 2016 competition in Moscow, together with Beast, Ripper, Dozer, Stinger, Bullfrog and Kan-Opener H-spec.

Brutus 2018

Brutus in October 2018

Brutus 2019

Brutus in 2019

Although the design of Brutus was succeeded by Cobra for television, the weaponless Brutus fought at the Extreme Robots event in Maidstone, in October 2018. There, it was immobilised by Aftershock in just a few seconds, and also lost to Ripper. However it was more successful in 2019, collecting another win over Sabretooth for the team.

Team Rubbish revealed in December 2021 that work had started on a new version of Brutus for a prospective 2022 live events debut. Along with individual drive motors and gearboxes for each wheel (likely similar to those used by Cobra), this incarnation was confirmed to feature new lithium polymer batteries and a fast-acting crushing/lifting weapon.[1] While this incarnation would not compete that year, Brutus made at least one documented appearance at Extreme Robots Maidstone in October. There, it is known to have fought King Buxton 20 in an even and fast-paced head-to-head, but ended up becoming immobilised by the UK Robot Wars veteran during the closing moments.[2]

Brutus and Thor XR Brentwood 2023

The 2023 Brutus (left) with Thor at Extreme Robots Brentwood

Work on a brand-new Brutus continued into 2023, which included the fabrication of a new welded chassis made from 3.2mm HARDOX,[3] a new scoop with an integrated 'car winch' mechanism,[4] and 'shockproof' top armour panels for defence against axe and hammer weapons.[5] On 27-28 May 2023, this incarnation debuted at Extreme Robots Brentwood, where it faced Thor in its first battle since rebuilding.[6] During the Saturday shows, the Belgian machine would also fight Implosion - a new axe bot completed by Series 10 champions Team Eruption - putting up a dominant performance and lasting the full three minutes.[7] Two additional battles included another head-to-head against Sabretooth,[8] and a four-way melee also involving Implosion, Uriel and Tectonic.[9]

Further improvements were made to Brutus ahead of Extreme Robots Guildford on 17-18 June, including another newly-welded scoop and a 'better' winch mechanism. Though picking up one victory - a 'Spinner Challenge' against Galactus - it would lose its other three battles of the weekend, including a rematch against Implosion. During the Saturday shows, it was found that the soldering for Brutus' wires had loosened as a result of hot weather, contributing to two of its defeats.[10][11][12][13][14]

Brutus returned to the UK once more for Extreme Robots Maidstone (21-22 October), where it was involved in a total of five battles across all three main shows. During the weekend, it adopted a new double-facing front scoop as an interchangeable weapon. While losing and/or becoming immobilised in all of these - including a 3v1 match against Thor, Implosion and Gabriel[15] - Brutus successfully pushed Manta into the Fire Pit and flipped Ignition over during a four-way melee on the Sunday. The latter attack caused Ignition to lose two of its front wedgelets, though the aggressive Brutus still lost the judges' decision to Michael Oates' front-hinged flipper.[16][17][18]

In March 2024, Team Rubbish shared their planned modifications to Brutus' drive for its next Extreme Robots appearance, at Colchester on 14-15 September. These included new KOS gearboxes supplied by Jeroen van der Loo, and a revised gear ratio providing a 33% increase in pushing power. Brutus' top speed would be reduced to 20km/h (approximately 12.4mph) as a result of this work,[19] then to 16km/h (approximately 9.4mph) after further adjustments.[20] Equipped with a pair of hinged wedgelets, Brutus took part in four battles across the entire weekend, accompanied by a brand-new build of Marco van Hek's flipper Hades. Despite suffering recurring issues with the drive gears meshing, it would collect a head-to-head victory against Leviathan during the third and final show of the weekend.[21][22][23]

Ahead of Maidstone (19-20 October), Brutus underwent another complete rebuild, which saw the robot gain a unique set of motorised wedgelets designed to function as pincers. It immediately found success with this configuration, winning a four-way melee against Axel, Beast and Manta during the first show, and being particularly aggressive and dominant in its remaining fights. Brutus, however, would still suffer reliability issues, becoming immobilised in the penultimate battles of the remaining two shows. This proved particularly costly in the Show 2 'Gladiator' match; Brutus' immobility during the final ten seconds contributed to it losing the judges' decision to Implosion.[24][25][26]

Brutus Jr[]

The team also started building a middleweight version of Brutus named Brutus Jr, planned to be 55kg in weight while reusing Bosch GPA 750W motors from Pika 3.Citation? Work on a featherweight version under the same name commenced in November 2024, for future iterations of the Dutch Robot Games.[27] For more information on the team's excursions outside of Brutus, see Team Rubbish.

Robot Wars Live Events[]

Brutus belgian

Brutus in 2015

Brutus fought at a small handful of Robot Wars live events, though it did not appear as frequently as other robots, due to the team being situated in Belgium. Despite this, Brutus appeared at the Robot Wars World Championship 2015 at Colchester. In the first round, Brutus fought Ka-Pow! and Beast. Brutus survived until the end of the match, where it qualified for Round 2 alongside Beast on a Judges' decision. However, Brutus was quickly thrown out of the arena by eventual champion Toxic 2 in the second round. Brutus also fought in a separate Annihilator competition at the event where it reached the second round losing after breaking down 13 seconds into the battle, despite being the last robot left standing in the first round.

Trivia[]

  • Brutus is one of the few robots to adopt a new identity for the sake of entering Robot Wars (Cobra), and then return to its original identity (Brutus) after the show was cancelled.

References[]

  1. https://www.facebook.com/permalink.php?story_fbid=1702324263303499&id=449576285244976
  2. '#ReActivate Episode 21', Extreme Robots (YouTube), uploaded 28 October 2022
  3. https://www.facebook.com/permalink.php?story_fbid=pfbid02x9A4Jnuu2RMszULoYxz7qbfCZPqwyS5EdV84jcvwdr5nSY6YkJX6CGhKLJjXuhNNl&id=100081202247199&comment_id=1942142829470542
  4. https://www.facebook.com/100081202247199/videos/1307966183149524/
  5. https://www.facebook.com/permalink.php?story_fbid=pfbid06LSZDFKQ9oRhmR1KEcg7AShFyKREGMjm2r1GvBdW4GEJkxD4HvFmhEoaMVHkA2Q1l&id=100081202247199
  6. https://www.facebook.com/ThorRobot/posts/pfbid0FmoVq23q9EbtiCuDnp7VmfGxxw42DyNGi9zEJhSngCgfY52wye7HKSa2xqYtBF4Tl
  7. https://www.facebook.com/100081202247199/videos/5950370508404583/
  8. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=U46J9KFbyek
  9. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=e_oRzV0oQkQ
  10. https://www.facebook.com/permalink.php?story_fbid=pfbid02Y55oxvvmM4cjoZxMbjyWYaqDRStukam4kE5GRTZx67o5QLAoCd71hpwNi9f7rq8l&id=100081202247199
  11. https://www.facebook.com/extremerobotshow/posts/pfbid0XX2swRozEHNgW42u6qA8TBc8DfWN8i8vPX268CHoTvVGADRVRtEEr3t9A1gr88Mpl
  12. https://www.facebook.com/extremerobotshow/posts/pfbid0aDrkDDyFXkRVejmkk3ENWP1kkbbssydS1bjwy3y9sgs8y1oiu9sKBGyRiUVyf5MPl
  13. https://www.facebook.com/extremerobotshow/posts/pfbid05BWbDUhBHgE3KaBgSzBQG9E2gvS1pbenKrfejt2Y3iaYJk1XvmXipcFT89GbY9yzl
  14. https://www.facebook.com/permalink.php?story_fbid=pfbid0239EcAmR6RqbrD9gTDELPwacRMPuBKxAF2vTQq5LXsBBd1eyDz3gk3d3qsYj2vhZrl&id=100081202247199
  15. https://www.facebook.com/permalink.php?story_fbid=pfbid034TRXshL7xnB52Z91bgEiqgBaKfo6zts5btQJGH5dBrkbDfQzgLuhezCxhQJWngobl&id=100081202247199
  16. 'Extreme Robots 2023 Maidstone Show 1 LIVESTREAM', Extreme Robots (YouTube), streamed 21 October 2023
  17. 'Extreme Robots 2023 Maidstone Show 2 LIVESTREAM', Extreme Robots (YouTube), streamed 21 October 2023
  18. 'Extreme Robots 2023 Maidstone Show 3 LIVESTREAM', Extreme Robots (YouTube), streamed 22 October 2023
  19. https://www.facebook.com/permalink.php?story_fbid=pfbid06ZdrXvnnUMEdAeXQ9QYy2gbh9qXU8QPPKGLiJtjq7vxtzKhfAnFYxTCoVAwWzLnkl&id=100081202247199
  20. https://www.facebook.com/100081202247199/videos/436431109455468
  21. 'Colchester Live Show 1 - 2024 Tour', Extreme Robots TV
  22. 'Colchester Live Show 2 - 2024 Tour', Extreme Robots TV
  23. 'Colchester Live Show 3 - 2024 Tour', Extreme Robots TV
  24. 'Maidstone Live Show 1 - 2024 Tour', Extreme Robots TV
  25. 'Maidstone Live Show 2 - 2024 Tour', Extreme Robots TV
  26. 'Maidstone Live Show 3 - 2024 Tour', Extreme Robots TV
  27. https://www.facebook.com/100081202247199/videos/2279723689026840

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