- "From Arthurian legend, their Merlin-like wizardry includes a motor-driver arm with hardened steel axe and pneumatic ram. The team had Disruptor in the last series, but they hope Excalibur has a Camelot more success."
- — Jonathan Pearce introduces Excalibur
Excalibur was a robot that competed in Series 3 of Robot Wars. In its only series appearance, it lost in the first round to Centurion after both robots locked together and Excalibur was deemed immobilised. The team had previously competed in Series 2 with Disruptor.
Design[]
Excalibur in the arena
Excalibur was a silver wedge-shaped robot with red tribal markings and two weapons; a double-headed electric axe and a small rear pneumatic lifter. While its wheels were partially exposed at the rear and the robot itself suffered reliability issues, Excalibur's axe proved very effective, easily punching holes through Centurion's armour during its only appearance.
Etymology[]
The robot was named after the sword from Arthurian legend, Excalibur, wielded by King Arthur.
Robot History[]
Series 3[]
- "Let's hope it's not a hair-raising experience for Excalibur!"
- — Jonathan Pearce as Excalibur's first battle begins
Centurion gets in behind Excalibur
The axes lock
Excalibur competed in Heat J of Series 3, facing Centurion in its first round battle. It slowly approached Centurion as the latter charged into it, before using its axe to attack Centurion's right-hand side. Another axe blow punched through Centurion's left-hand armour - immediately above the latter's left wheel - but Excalibur was slow to move away, and eventually turned towards Sergeant Bash's CPZ. This allowed Centurion to ram Excalibur against the wall and axe it repeatedly, although without causing any damage to Excalibur's armour. Excalibur spun away, but briefly stopped moving as Centurion charged at it. It drove forwards as Centurion got itself stuck on the arena spikes, before dodging Centurion and stopping again close to the wall. Excalibur stood motionless as Centurion rammed it against the wall again, lifted it, and drove it towards the flame jet near Sir Killalot's CPZ. It fired its axe as Centurion tried to push it into Sir Killalot, briefly getting itself stuck on the arena floor, before trying to axe Sir Killalot as he pushed it back towards Sergeant Bash. After being turned round in the process, Excalibur proceeded to attack Sergeant Bash, before driving away from him and being pushed aside by Centurion.
- "And Excalibur... having a go at Sergeant Bash! Is that wise this late on...?"
- — Jonathan Pearce as Excalibur attacks Sergeant Bash
Excalibur sticks its axe in Sergeant Bash's armour
Sir Killalot closes in on the immobile Excalibur
Excalibur axed Sgt. Bash's top armour as Centurion pushed it into him, leaving both robots stuck together before Excalibur retracted its axe just as Sir Killalot approached. Centurion axed Excalibur a few more times - at one point causing both of their axes to lock together - before Excalibur was declared immobilised, allowing Matilda, Sir Killalot and Sgt. Bash to attack it further. After sustaining damage to its armour from the House Robots, Excalibur was eliminated from The Third Wars as a result.
- "Oh dear, in the Robot Wars pits sweepstake, I had Excalibur to win this! They're out, Centurion through."
- — Jonathan Pearce
Results[]
| EXCALIBUR - RESULTS | ||
| Series 3 | ||
| The Third Wars - UK Championship Heat, Round 1 | ||
| Heat J, Round 1 | vs. Centurion | Lost |
Wins/Losses[]
- Wins: 0
- Losses: 1
Series Record[]
| Series | Excalibur Series Record |
|---|---|
| The First Wars | Did not enter |
| The Second Wars | Entered with Disruptor |
| The Third Wars | Heat, Round 1 |
| The Fourth Wars | Did not enter |
| The Fifth Wars | Did not enter |
| The Sixth Wars | Did not enter |
| The Seventh Wars | Did not enter |
| Series 8 | Did not enter |
| Series 9 | Did not enter |
| Series 10 | Did not enter |
Gallery[]
Outside Robot Wars[]
Excalibur II in Anthony's garage
After Excalibur's initial Robot Wars, Anthony Lockwood would go on to build an improved Excalibur II with forks on the back and improved 750w motors for the drive. It was built with the intention of competing in the 4th series of Robot Wars. Unfortunately, due to unknown circumstances, Excalibur II never ended up competing in any capacity. Excalibur was scrapped not long after its Robot Wars appearance, as its internals, including the Sinclair C5 motors, were originally pulled from scrap, and were showing signs of age. The robot's batteries and transmitter had also become unreliable. Anthony Lockwood still displayed Excalibur's axe on his wall some time after the robot was dismantled.Citation?
In November 2014, Lockwood publicly stated that he had partially completed an unidentified new heavyweight. The invertible machine was to be armed with a front vertical spinner and rear flipper, and conceptualised for a later series of Robot Wars prior to Five's acquisition of the original show. Lockwood revealed at the time his intention to complete the robot once powerful spinning weapons were allowed to compete at newer heavyweight live events.[1]
- Anthony Lockwood: "I hope they do heavyweight spinners then I will finish my new robot."
- Nate Franklin: "What kind of bot are you building? "
- Anthony Lockwood: "I half built a vertical spinner with a flipper at the back. I put a lot of design into it, it runs both ways up and can crawl lol. 100kg."
- Nate Franklin: "Why would you build it if you knew you wouldn't be able to compete with it?"
- Anthony Lockwood: "I built it years ago when spinners were allowed. My third robot; I had Disruptor on Series 2 and Excalibur on Series 3, old school stuff, my third machine took me a while to build then BBC sold the show and I never finished it."
- — Public correspondence from the Official Robot Wars Facebook group (November 2014), discussing Anthony Lockwood's third heavyweight[1]
In 2016, the team expressed interest in completing a heavyweight robot named KONG, having missed out on Series 8, although it is unknown if this plan ever came to fruition.Citation?
Trivia[]
Excalibur's statistics board
- Excalibur's name was erroneously spelt as Excaliber several times during its televised appearance.
- Excalibur was the only robot to be excluded from the list of all the robots that competed in Series 3.