Drills

Drills
Ming Dienasty attacks Scraptosaur with its drill
Weapon Category	Rotating weapons
Robots
Pioneer(s)	Torque of the Devil
Notable Robots	Drillzilla
House Robots	Sir Killalot

Drills are a type of narrow rotating weapon which were sporadically used throughout Robot Wars. The first robot to use them was Torque of the Devil in Series 1, while the most successful was the US shufflebot Drillzilla, which won several side competitions in 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 one point during its only battle.

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

Drillzilla

Ming Dienasty

Sir Chromalot in Series 4

Spam

Sir Killalot as he appeared in Series 3-7, with his lance raised

Torque of the Devil, pioneer of drills

Robots are listed alphabetically. Robots that are not heavyweight are listed with a green background. House Robots are listed with a red background.

Robot	Series Appearances with Drills	Notes
Armadrillo	Series 6
Axios	Series 3	Mounted on a lance
Basenji	US Season 2, Nickelodeon
Bee-Capitator	Series 5
Drillzilla	US Season 1	Shufflebot. Annihalator and Tag Team champion and World Championship runner-up. Used pushing power more than drill.
Ming Dienasty	Series 7	Drill mounted on an electric arm, allowing it to self-right.
Niterider	Extreme 2	Nicknamed a "Disemboweler". Added sharp teeth to the tip so that it could gut its opponents after penetrating with the drill.
Rawbot	Extreme 2, Series 7
Ron	Series 2
Sir Chromalot	Series 4	Were very brittle, and easily sliced off by the blade of Pussycat. Replaced with a flipping arm in subsequent appearances.
Sir Killalot	Series 3-9, 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.
Spam	Series 6	A flywheel-driven weapon shaped like a tin-opener.
Torque of the Devil	Series 1	First robot with a drill.
Trazmaniac	Dutch Series 2
Twister	Series 5	Featured a tapered cross bit.
Wizard	Series 2