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Double Jeopardy was an American robot from Irvine, California which applied to compete in the tenth British series of Robot Wars, but was not selected on the grounds of safety. It would later compete in the 2018, 2019 and 2021 seasons of BattleBots.

Design[]

Double Jeopardy team

Double Jeopardy with its team at BattleBots in 2018

Double Jeopardy was a red box-shaped robot with six wheels and a small raised wedge at the front. Double Jeopardy was fully invertible, and its wheels were housed within the main body of the machine. Its weapon was an air cannon that could fire a single slug of metal weighing 2.2kg (5lbs). Although the weapon was extremely powerful, it was limited to a single shot per battle. This weapon was designed to work as an untethered projectile, and in its BattleBots appearance, the cannon fired at speeds of up to 190mph, as it was required to fit within the tip speed limit for spinning weapons - however the team claim that this is less than a third of the weapon's maximum potential. For its application to Robot Wars, Team Double Trouble modified the weapon into a tethered projectile[1]. However, the robot suffered from its single-use weapon, which was capable of missing its target, and the robot lacked a wedge or alternative weapon to give Double Jeopardy means of attack after firing its weapon. Double Jeopardy's armour was also somewhat fragile.

Qualification[]

Although Double Jeopardy was built to enter BattleBots, the team decided to apply for Series 10 of Robot Wars when the revived American show entered a brief hiatus between the 2016 and 2018 seasons. In order to comply with the Robot Wars build rules - which disallowed untethered projectiles as armament[2] - the robot's cannon and slug were revised to work as a tethered weapon. Despite this, Double Jeopardy's application was still rejected by the producers, due to concerns regarding the cannon and its potential effect on audience safety measures.

"I actually applied to Series 10 with a tethered version of Double Jeopardy. But they didn't want to put spectators in the line of fire, understandably so. It's fully invertible so it would be not terrible against flippers."
— Evan Woolley on Reddit[3]

Series Record[]

Series Double Jeopardy Series Record
Series 1-7 Did not enter
Series 8 Did not enter
Series 9 Did not enter
Series 10 Not selected

Outside Robot Wars[]

Evan Woolley

Evan Woolley at BattleBots, holding Double Jeopardy's slugs

Mecha Rampage vs Double Jeopardy

Double Jeopardy in its loss to Mecha Rampage

After Series 10 was filmed, Double Jeopardy went on to participate in the 2018 season of BattleBots, aired on Discovery Channel and Science Channel. In its first battle, Double Jeopardy took place in a rumble against The Four Horsemen and Gamma 9, but after landing a close-range shot on the front of Gamma 9, Double Jeopardy's armour and wheels were shredded by The Four Horsemen, leading to its immobilisation. Double Jeopardy later fought in a head-to-head battle against Mecha Rampage, and destabilised the horizontal spinner with a cannon shot, but went on to be torn apart by the spinner, losing by knockout in 52 seconds. Double Jeopardy would ultimately not be selected for the Top 16 and was eliminated during the Fight Night rounds.

Double Jeopardy was rebuilt for the 2019 season of BattleBots, boasting stronger armour, and the ability to fire multiple projectiles in a single battle, at the cost of its former invertibility - although the robot ultimately was only able to fire one slug in each fight regardless. Its first battle was a three-way melee against Lucky and The Four Horsemen, although it lost the fight to Lucky on a Judges' decision. It came closer to victory in a rumble with Rainbow and Extinguisher, but still lost the Judges' decision. Double Jeopardy claimed its first victory in an untelevised rumble against Foxtrot and Daisy Cutter, winning by knockout. Nevertheless, Double Jeopardy did not qualify for the Top 16.

Double Jeopardy would return for the 2021 season of Battlebots, having withdrawn from the previous season for unknown reasons[4]. The robot was upgraded with a new brushless drive system and the ability to fire three slugs per match. Double Jeopardy did not compete in the main championship, but instead participated exclusively in the BattleBots: Champions spin-off event where it fought for the right to face Bounty Hunter winner Lock-Jaw. However, it lost its only fight of the competition to Ribbot after having its sides and wheels torn away, despite causing damage with its three slugs.

Team Double Trouble entered a separate, weaponless build of Double Jeopardy into RoboGames 2024 under the name Mandamus.

Trivia[]

  • Had Double Jeopardy been selected to compete, it would have been the first and only competitor in televised Robot Wars series to feature projectile weaponry of any kind.

External Links[]

References[]

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