Enderbot

Enderbot
Participation Information
Dutch Series	1
Team Information
Team	Team Cydragon
Team Members	Don Kwast Richard Jansen Peter Oushoorn
Robot Statistics
Weight	100kg
Dimensions	1.42m x 1.11m x 0.42 m
Drive	2 x 36V Electric Motors
Weapons	Pneumatic Hammer
Statistics correct as of its most recent show/competition appearance, or if not applicable, qualification attempt.

"No metal shall be spared!"

— Don Kwast

Enderbot was a robot that competed in the first series of Dutch Robot Wars. Although Enderbot was the very first robot to lose to the eventual champion Slicer, it won its losers' melee and heat semi-final in order to reach the Heat Final, where it once again fell to Slicer.

Design

"Enderbot has two wheelchair motors, two hard, plastic wheels, and a big, steel hammer, that’ll finish off any robot."

— Don Kwast (translated from Dutch)

Enderbot shortly prior to the series

Enderbot's body consisted of two parallelogram box-sections welded together, with a steel pneumatic hammer in-between both halves, powered by a Kos gearbox and a SMC rotary actuator. The robot was invertible and its hammer could be fired in either direction, although the weapon was useless when the robot was inverted, as it did not function as a self-righting mechanism. The robot had an intentionally high ground clearance at the front and back, allowing the robot to carry its own momentum while swinging its hammer, without the robot's chassis immediately ceasing the motion. Enderbot's large plastic tyres gave it great traction, and the robot's speed was listed as the robot's strength on its statistics board, although the tyres also created a target for spinning weapons, which ultimately cost it in battle.

"Fun detail about this Enderbot: when building, it was discovered that the wheels of this Enderbot catch fire rather quickly, which cost them two houses!"

— Eric Corton (translated from Dutch)

The Team

"The men in black!"

— Eric Corton describes the team (translated from Dutch)

Team Cydragon with Enderbot

Enderbot was entered by a Dutch team known as Team Cydragon. The team was captained by Don Kwast, who was joined by Richard Jansen and Peter 'Oush' Oushoorn. Team Cydragon pretended to be a secret socialist government organisation, and Don Kwast carried a riding crop and dressed like Che Guevara. He was particularly confident in interviews, particularly in the first round as he showed no fear of eventual champion Slicer.

Robot History

Dutch Series 1

Bridget Maasland: "Isn’t this a bit too long? Because the previous fights kind of proved that a long bar isn’t always advantageous."

Don Kwast: "In this case it is. Because we can already hit the opponent, while they’re at a distance. So we’ll already be able to hit them, and they won’t be able to get near us."

Bridget Maasland: "Is it fast?"

Don Kwast: "It is reasonably fast, yes."

Bridget Maasland: "Seen your opponent?"

Don Kwast: "Yep."

Bridget Maasland: "Whatcha reckon?"

Don Kwast: "That we don’t need to be scared of them at all."

— Strong confidence from Team Cydragon before Round 1 (translated from Dutch)

In its very first battle of the Dutch Wars, Enderbot was drawn against the eventual series champion, Slicer.

Enderbot is thrown over after charging at Slicer

Enderbot becomes stuck on top of Slicer

Enderbot made the first move, and drove directly into Slicer's drum spinner, but exposed its high ground clearance, and Slicer turned Enderbot over. Inverted, Enderbot could no longer use its weapon, and it aimlessly drove around the surface of the pit, hitting the arena floor with its hammer. Enderbot was eventually able to lift its inverted hammer high enough to pose a threat to Slicer, and drove straight towards it, but again took damage from Slicer's drum, which seemed to damage one of Enderbot's tyres, preventing its escape. When Slicer drove towards Enderbot, the high ground clearance of Enderbot allowed it to park on top of Slicer briefly, but after being released, Slicer tore a small piece of metal away from Enderbot.

"Upside down. Boy, you turn me..."

— Eric Corton references Diana Ross when Slicer throws Enderbot over

Enderbot is counted out while being blocked by Slicer

The beaten Enderbot is held by Sir Killalot

Visibly struggling, Enderbot sustained a blow to its tyre from Slicer, and was pushed into the CPZ where Sir Killalot waited. The House Robot was slow to act, so Slicer blocked Enderbot's escape route until Sir Killalot acted, only pushing Enderbot back into the centre of the arena, but it was clear that Enderbot could not leave its own circumference, spinning only in circles. Slicer still charged it once again, and drove it over a steam vent, where Enderbot finally ground to a halt. Sir Killalot held Enderbot up by its hammer, when suddenly one of Enderbot's tyres started turning again in mid-air, but Slicer blocked its movements once Enderbot was grounded again, and Refbot counted out the beaten machine which could not push past Slicer. Sir Killalot held Enderbot high in the air, and spun in circles to cast it aside, throwing it to the arena wall. 'Cease' was called, and Enderbot was resigned to the losers' melee.

"I expected a little more from those other guys. Apparently I tossed it upside-down with that first hit, I didn’t quite see, so I was carefully driving around it to avoid that enormous hammer, but that turned out to be on the bottom side!"

— Team Slicer on Enderbot's performance (translated from Dutch)

In the losers' melee, Enderbot was joined by two other robots which had lost their first battle, Project One and Flextreme. The Enderbot team jokingly claims that Blue had sabotaged them, resulting in their early exit in the first battle. WJ Dijkstra of Project One would later claim to be the saboteur himself later in the interview.

Bridget Maasland: "So, this Enderbot stands a little chance, still?"

Don Kwast: "Enderbot beats everyone."

Bridget Maasland: "Well that’s what you said before, and it didn’t work there did it?"

Don Kwast: "Sabotage. We already found out the culprit. It is Blue."

Bridget Maasland: "…Yeah!"

— Team Cydragon speak of 'sabotage' to their robot (translated from Dutch)

Enderbot lands a hammer blow on Project One

Although Enderbot missed its initial strike on Project One, it became clear that Project One could not leave its current position and after Enderbot's hammer blow made its mark on the lifting weapon of Project One, Enderbot left the immobile machine idle and shifted its attention to Flextreme. Enderbot drove into the side of Flextreme and edged it backwards, but missed its hammer blow, striking the arena floor. Flextreme pressured Enderbot backwards, but sustained a blow from the nearby Project One, and Enderbot capitalised by hitting the top of the distracted Flextreme.

"The guys of Enderbot are actually trying this time, they didn’t really do anything in the last round but this time they’re at least attempting."

— Eric Corton (translated from Dutch)

Enderbot strikes the flat top of Flextreme

After Flextreme retreated to open the pit, Enderbot laid in wait to punish with another hammer blow, and also briefly took the time to attack the vulnerable top of Project One. Enderbot was broadsided by Flextreme, and suddenly, it seemed incapable of controlled movement. Enderbot struck the arena floor, and was brought to the centre of the arena by Flextreme, and eventually came to a complete standstill near the open pit. It would not move from this position as the fight drew to a close.

"At the start of the fight, Enderbot uses its hammer successfully against both other robots, and that initial aggressiveness is something that the Jury will look out for. But Project One also showed aggression, especially against Sir Killalot."

— Eric Corton during the highlights (translated from Dutch)

Nevertheless, Enderbot was not counted out during the battle, and thus it survived to a Judge's decision. Enderbot was deemed to have been more aggressive during the time it was active, and was declared the winner by split decision, despite its immobility. It is not clear whether the remaining judge voted for Project One or Flextreme.

Don Kwast: "Well this feels good, but I did predict it after all, that we would win."

Rob Kamphues: "Will you go after Sir Killalot?"

Don Kwast: "Hmmm, maybe if the other robot is immobilised, we could have a go."

— Post-match interview after Enderbot is awarded the win by split decision (translated from Dutch)

This reprieve from the Judges reinstated Enderbot into the main competition, where it entered the second round and faced Blue, one of their alleged 'saboteurs' from earlier in the heat.

Don Kwast: "Because Enderbot is here to end, among other things, those Blue… what are they, smurfs or something? We will shortly finish them off. That’s one of the missions we have received while we are here at Robot Wars."

Bridget Maasland: "So they stand no chance?"

Don Kwast: "Absolutely not, Enderbot definitely ends every other robot."

— Interview before the second round fight (translated from Dutch)

Enderbot's first attack on Blue

Enderbot turned straight around, and missed its first attack, but composed itself, and pierced straight through the sacrificial top armour of Blue with its hammer. Enderbot retracted its hammer, and as Blue reversed away, Enderbot delivered a direct blow to its spinning disc. The top panel of Blue had fallen from the robot as a result of Enderbot's earlier damage, and Enderbot hit its target atop the vulnerable Blue. No terminal damage had been caused, but Enderbot ripped away more of Blue's decorative armour with another hammer blow, scraping away the side of the crumbling machine.

"They’re not from out of this planet at all! And now we can see that in their machine as well, because Blue is being carefully and professionally deconstructed by Enderbot, as the boys of the team had promised."

— Eric Corton (translated from Dutch)

Enderbot peels decorative armour from Blue

After a missed blow, a powerful hit from Enderbot struck directly between Blue's side panel and its wheel, causing Blue's entire side to fall off under pressure from Enderbot. Dominant, Enderbot again hit the top of Blue, and the motion of Blue driving forwards meant that Enderbot could pull even more armour from the top of the fleeing Blue. As Blue was seemingly now immobile on one side, Enderbot hit it twice more, shaking the machine and causing Blue to become immobile. Oddly, Enderbot lost all mobility itself shortly afterwards, but it had already secured the knockout victory, and was ignored while the House Robots put the completely disassembled Blue on the floor flipper, and pitted it.

Bridget Maasland: "Oh, it has some bloodstains from opponents, and I see that you put a piece of Blue on as a souvenir?"

Don Kwast: "That’s true, we have already been infected by Blue, we were afraid of this happening. It’s very annoying because it spreads very quickly, I’m afraid it’s very contagious."

Bridget Maasland: "But you’re still talking?"

Don Kwast: "Yes, it seems to have no effect on humans."

Bridget Maasland: "So only on robots? Well at least it gives you a nice excuse if you lose to Slicer."

Don Kwast: "We could but, the pro is that this time around we weren’t sabotaged, because all the saboteurs were eliminated, so we stand a greater chance against Slicer."

Bridget Maasland: "Do you really think you stand even a little chance?"

Don Kwast: "Yeah, we are Enderbot!"

— Interview with Enderbot before its rematch with Slicer (translated from Dutch)

Enderbot advanced to the Heat Final, where it was once again drawn against the soon-to-be-crowned champion of the series, Slicer. To commemorate its win over Blue, Enderbot was now adorned with part of Blue's decorative armour.

"Slicer is so fast that maybe he could use it [Enderbot] as a ramp! Oh, and there’s something that you shouldn’t do when you are Enderbot, don’t hit the House Robots because then they get angry!"

— Eric Corton (translated from Dutch)

Enderbot misses its mark

Enderbot's tyres are targeted by Slicer again

Fearful of a second loss to Slicer, Enderbot headed straight towards the pit release button, and did not engage with Slicer until it was nearby, driving tyre-first into the drum spinner. Enderbot's wedge resisted the next attack from Slicer's drum, which had not reached top speed, but Enderbot could not bring its hammer into play. Enderbot turned in place, and Slicer rammed its exposed tyre, causing visible damage while also edging Enderbot towards Dead Metal. In self-defence, Enderbot hit the top of the House Robot, but was backed into the arena wall, and struggled to escape. When Enderbot finally broke free, Slicer delivered a critical blow to Enderbot's tyre, throwing the robot up. Enderbot retreated to the centre of the arena, and then near the pit release, all the while not attacking Slicer. While being hit in the tyre again, Enderbot was pushed back into Dead Metal by Slicer, and its hammer briefly suspended outside of the arena.

"That seems to be a tyre swap, perhaps it’s raining and the slicks need to be replaced for the rain tyres!"

— Eric Corton as Enderbot's wheel is pulled off (translated from Dutch)

Dead Metal pulls a tyre away from Enderbot

Enderbot is left with a tyre missing

In a joint attack, Slicer held Enderbot against the arena wall, while Dead Metal grabbed the damaged tyre of Enderbot, and used its claws to pull it from Enderbot's side entirely. With one tyre missing, and now the other tyre motionless, Enderbot had been immobilised, and Dead Metal dragged it back into the CPZ to cut through the remaining tyre of Slicer, causing air to be released. Dead Metal passed Enderbot to Sir Killalot, and the beaten machine was counted out by Refbot. Sir Killalot picked up Enderbot, but fell forwards, and dragged Enderbot back towards the floor flipper while barely grounded. The floor flipper tossed Enderbot back onto its severed tyre, and Dead Metal closed in to cause more damage when 'cease' was called. Enderbot was eliminated at the Heat Final stage, at the hands of the eventual champion.

Rob Kamphues: "Well it was a beautiful fight, what a shame that your robot got destroyed!"

Don Kwast: "Yes, that is definitely true, but I have one thing to say, we were never here and you did not see us."

Rob Kamphues: "Uh, OK! B-Because of the shame? Because you actually want to hide deep in the ground?"

Don Kwast: "N-No!"

Rob Kamphues: "So this was the strategy, you were never here, and we aren’t supposed to broadcast this?"

Don Kwast: "No comment."

— Team Cyberdragon deny all involvement with the show upon their defeat (translated from Dutch)

Results

Wins/Losses

• Wins: 2
• Losses: 2

Series Record

Dutch Series	Enderbot Series Record
Series 1	Heat Final
Series 2	Did not enter

Gallery

Enderbot in the arena

Enderbot with its hammer rested

The internals of Enderbot

Outside Robot Wars

After Dutch Series 1 had been filmed, Enderbot competed at the Dutch Robot Games in 2001. It was knocked out of the Dutch bracket in the first round by Flextreme, and lost to Bigger Brother at the same stage of the international bracket.

Trivia

• Out of every robot in Dutch Robot Wars to only compete in one episode, Enderbot fought in the most battles with four (unless Pika 2 is counted separately from Pika 3).
  • Prior to the reboot, Enderbot was also the only robot that lost to the same robot twice in the space of one series.
• Whether it won or lost, Enderbot became immobile in all four of its fights.