Drills

Drills
Ming Dienasty attacks Scraptosaur with its drill
Weapon Category	Rotating weapons
Robots
Pioneer(s)	Bloodletter (1994 US competition) Torque of the Devil (televised series)
Notable Robots	Snake (1994-1997 US competitions) Drillzilla, Ming Dienasty (televised series)
House Robots	Sir Killalot

Drills are a type of narrow rotating weapon which were sporadically used throughout Robot Wars events.

The first robot documented to use them was 1994 US entrant Bloodletter, overall champion of the inaugural Lightweight Melee event. Famous 1997 walker Snake also used one as a tail weapon, though it was considered secondary to its linear-actuated jaws.

In televised series, the first competitor to use drills was UK heavyweight Torque of the Devil in The First Wars. The most successful was the US shufflebot Drillzilla, which won several side competitions in Season 1 of Robot Wars: Extreme Warriors and finished runner-up in The Second World Championship.

House Robot Sir Killalot was also fitted with a drill-like lance on his right arm, which became one of his signature features throughout his appearances.

Definition

Drills (or Hole Saws) refer to any narrow face spinner with spear(s) or chisel(s) on their face. The spear(s) or chisel(s) are mounted parallel to the motor axle, enabling them to grind holes through other robots when they rotate.

There were two basic methods of making a drilling weapon:

• One was to place a spear or drill bit directly onto the motor axle. so that the weapon functioned like a traditional hand drill.
• The other was to take two spears and place them opposite each other on the disc, an equal distance away from the centre.

Advantages and Disadvantages

Sir Killalot's lance easily pierces through W.A.S.P.'s armour

Ming Dienasty self-rights using its arm-mounted drill

Advantages

• Drills, like chainsaws, were very easy to obtain and attach to a robot, as they were simply obtained or converted from ordinary construction tools.
• They could be very effective in piercing through weaker armour or poking through exposed gaps in the robot's armour or chassis. Sir Killalot's lance was especially capable of drilling and skewering through competitors throughout his appearances.
• They could be attached to a lifting mechanism to either offer an effective weapons synergy or act as part of a self-righting mechanism. Sir Killalot's lance was especially capable of lifting and spinning competitors into the air, while Ming Dienasty's arm-mounted drill successfully worked as a srimech at multiple points during its only battle.
• Drills could be easily be fitted into invertible designs, working either way up. Rawbot, Spam and Trazmaniac are examples of invertible robots armed with drills.
• They can inflict damage without spinning as well as with it, so they can simply be used as battering rams if disabled.

Disadvantages

Firestorm 3 was easily able to avoid Bee-Capitator's weapon during their first-round battle

• As with spears, drills were exceptionally narrow, making them difficult to aim properly, and were not usually large or powerful enough to cause any major damage. While Ming Dienasty was able to cause damage to Scraptosaur and Ceros in its Series 7 first-round melee, it was unable to cause enough for it to progress to the next round as a result of it being largely unable to aim its drill for much of the battle.
• They could also be easily damaged or broken off, as Sir Chromalot's Series 4 battle against The Steel Avenger demonstrated.
• Being extremely narrow, facing one direction and requiring a sustained attack to cause damage, drills also had a very limited attack range, and could easily be avoided by opponents. For example, Bee-Capitator's drill proved largely ineffective in preventing Firestorm 3 from getting underneath and flipping it.

List of Robots with Drills

Robots are listed alphabetically.

DESKTOP MODE ONLY: House Robots are listed with a gold background. Robots from the original 1994-1997 US competitions are listed with a purple background.

Robot	Series Appearances with Drills	Notes	Image
Axios	Series 3	Mounted on a lance which could enable the drill to swing at a full 180 degrees.
Basenji	US Season 2, Nickelodeon	A 6-inch, 3,000rpm hole saw mounted at the rear, used in tandem with the robot's front wedge and four-wheel drive. Two static hole saws were used in the Nickelodeon series after the single, active configuration proved fragile in Extreme Warriors.
Bee-Capitator	Series 5	Mounted near floor-height.
Bloodletter	1994 US Championship	First robot armed with a drill. 1994 Lightweight Melee Champion.
Carnivore	1997 US Championship	Lightweight entry. Electric milling drill running on a 'model engine starter' motor. Capable of cutting through Plexiglass and plywood.
Drillzilla	US Season 1	Shufflebot. Drill was mounted at the rear and featured three sharpened flutes. US Season 1 Annihilator and Tag Team champion; runner-up in The Second World Championship. Relied more on its pushing power and speed than the drill or cutting jaw weapons.
King B Remix	Series 8	Upgrade of the robot's electric lifting forks, a weapon carried by previous versions. Both forks could rotate slowly while also being used to ram, spear and lift opponents; demonstrated in the robot's VT segment from Heat C.
Ming Dienasty	Series 7	Rotational speed of 3,000rpm. Drill was mounted on an electric arm, allowing it to self-right.
Niterider	Extreme 2	An 'active spike' weapon, nicknamed a 'Disemboweler'. Added sharp teeth to the tip which could extend outwards when the weapon spun round, and cause substantial internal damage once the spike pierced through other opponents' armour.
Rawbot	Extreme 2, Series 7	Represented Sweden in international competitions.
Robot Redford Jr	1996 US Championship	Used a large lance-like drill on the front-left corner. Referred to as Robert Redford Jnr in American Robot Wars 1996.
Ron	Series 2	A set of four drills, used in tandem with four saw cutters and a 300mm circular saw.
Sir Chromalot	Series 4	Two 18-inch drills accompanying the robot's existing spike weapon, attached to either side of Sir Chromalot's wheel hub body. A single drill was used during its main Series 4 campaign, while the twin-drill set-up was adopted for the Series 4 Celebrity Special. The drills themselves proved very brittle, and were easily damaged in combat. Replaced with a flipping arm in subsequent appearances.
Sir Killalot	Series 3-7, Extreme 1-2, US Season 1-2, Nickelodeon, Dutch Series 1-2, German Series	Mounted on the end of his 'lance' and capable of lifting, drilling and spinning robots over. Did not have drilling capabilities in Series 2 or Series 8-10.
Snake	1997 US Championship	An off-the-shelf power drill forming the robot's tail 'stinger'. Disproportionately small compared to the rest of the robot. Later replaced by a custom drill ("The Punisher") for appearances on BattleBots.
Spam	Series 6	A front rotating 'prong' shaped like a tin-opener, powered by two kinetic flywheels to the robot's top and bottom.
Torque of the Devil	Series 1	First UK competitor with a drill; also the first vertical spinner.
Trazmaniac	Dutch Series 2	Direct drilling attacks allowed Trazmaniac to take future runner-up Philipper 2 to a close Judges' decision in the same series.
Twister	Series 5	Three-bladed drill cutter with a tapered cross bit, mounted on the same axle as a bludgeoner.
Wizard	Series 2	Front-mounted hole saw.