Nuts

Nuts
Participation Information
UK Series	8-10
Robot Wars Live Circuit	2013-16
Other Names	Nuts 2 (Series 9-10)
Team Information
Team	Team Nuts
Team Members	Rory Mangles Alex Shakespeare Chris Shakespeare Dave Lawrie (Series 8) Gareth Barnaby (Series 9)
From	Crewkerne, Somerset
Associated Robots	Jellyfish (Dave Lawrie)
Robot Statistics
Weight	97kg (Nuts 2) 110kg (combined)
Top Speed	26mph
Power	2x 33.6v LiPo batteries
Drive	2x A28-400 AmpFlow motors
Weapons	Meltybrain flail spinner
Statistics correct as of its most recent show/competition appearance, or if not applicable, qualification attempt.

"Never in my wildest dreams did I think this lumbering daddy long legs of a robot would make it this far in this competition!"

— Jonathan Pearce during Nuts 2's campaign in Series 10

Nuts (competing in Series 9 and 10 as Nuts 2) was a heavyweight robot which entered Series 8-10 of Robot Wars, becoming a one-time Grand Finalist.

The original version of Nuts reached the Head-to-Head stage in Series 8, losing all three matches there, but survived to two Judges' decisions in the process. Nuts 2 was eliminated in the first round of Series 9, after suffering drive issues and being thrown out of the arena by Matilda, but returned to Series 10 in greater form. Equipped with a Meltybrain system, it achieved a string of unlikely wins including victories over previous Grand Finalist Concussion, and even the defending champion Carbide during the Grand Final. Nuts 2 would ultimately finish Series 10 joint-third overall alongside Behemoth.

Versions of Nuts

Nuts

"A two-wheeled robot with 1kg weighted chains attached to each wheel. It attacks by spinning on the spot so that the chains whip around with it to impact on its opponents"

— Robot Wars: Build Your Own Robot

Nuts on the turntable

Nuts was an invertible two-wheeled thwackbot, armed with a set of chain flails as its primary weapon. Its wheels were made from HDPE, a very tough plastic. The robot protected its huge wheels with a metal ring around the outside, which the flails are attached to. The ring was able to rotate vertically in order to provide extra mobility, turn the robot over to escape from danger, and the ability to lift other robots, as well as satisfying the requirement for a robot to have an active weapon. Nuts had a top speed of 13mph, and its combined weight with its minibots was 110kg. Like most thwackbots, Nuts could spin on the spot at 180rpm for a defensive form of attack, with exceptionally far reach due to the length of its flails.

"...all eager to do damage with spinners, axes, flippers and...whatever that is."

— Jonathan Pearce previewing some competitors, including Nuts, in Meet the House Robots

Nuts with two minibots in Series 8

A minibot before the fur was removed

Nuts was accompanied by two smaller wedge-shaped minibots, to attempt to impede the movement of opponents by driving underneath them, and cause distractions. The clusterbots were originally covered in fur which had to be removed for safety reasons. The team claimed that Nuts sacrificed better armour to make its weaponry as strong as possible.

"Our unique style of weaponry comes from our original design of making this sort of cheap robot, and wanting something very unique that...the live events at the time are very dominated by wedge-shaped flippers. We thought, what's as far away from that as we can go?"

— Alex Shakespeare

Nuts 2

"For Series 9, Nuts returned with an increased top speed of 20mph, allowing its weapon to flail twice as fast as previously. It has three cluster bots that distract opponents."

— Robot Wars: Build Your Own Robot

Nuts 2 with its team in Series 9

Turntable shot of Nuts 2 with white minibot in Series 9

Nuts 2 used a lighter and more compact design, now weighing 97kg (90kg in Series 9), and swapped the square ring for an octagonal ring. Its 3m flails had 2kg heads, and Nuts 2's upgrade to 20mph top speeds in Series 9 meant that the robot could now spin on the spot at well over 300rpm. The drive speed was further upgraded to 26mph in Series 10, enabling spins at 400rpm. Nuts 2's wheels were sleeker, and abandoned the self-righting aids on the side of the previous version. Its chassis was made from 3.2mm HARDOX, with 6mm HARDOX end caps, while the ring was made from 3mm mild steel. In Series 10, Nuts 2 had interchangeable outer rings, including the hexagonal ring from Series 9, a solid flail-less toothed ring and the original style square ring.

"This thing should pack a serious punch! Similar to being hit by a 180mph sledgehammer in fact..."

— Team Nuts Facebook page

Nuts 2 on the turntable in the filming of Series 9

Nuts 2 surrounded by its minibots in Series 9

The team had aspirations of using Meltybrain technology to enable Nuts 2 to controllably move around the arena while spinning, being the first robot on the show to use such a method. However, due to a lack of testing, the Meltybrain was not used in Series 9.

"A "Meltybrain" controller works by measuring how fast the robot is spinning, and then stopping each motor for a section of the rotation. Repeating this over and over causes the robot to move forward whilst spinning. By having the drive system power the weapon as well, it reduced the cost and made the robot more reliable by having fewer moving parts. It's also a unique system that hasn't been seen on Robot Wars before, so we wanted to try it out."

— Rory Mangles in Robot Wars: Build Your Own Robot

Nuts 2's minibots in Series 9

Nuts 2 was accompanied by three new minibots in Series 9, which were lighter than that of the previous series at 3kg each. The minibots' wheels were no longer exposed, slotting into the 10mm HDPE base plates of each minibot, compared to the 8mm HDPE of their predecessors. Each were driven by Alex Shakespeare, Chris Shakespeare, and Gareth Barnaby, whilst Rory Mangles controlled Nuts 2.

"All fully CNCd, including custom battle hardened googly eyes!"

— Team Nuts Facebook page

Nuts 2 in Series 10

Nuts 2 on the matchup boards of Series 10

When Nuts 2 returned in Series 10, the Meltybrain technology was implemented, allowing the robot to fight at its full potential, with the flails proving capable of punching through HARDOX armour. It possessed interchangeable rings, and its top speed was upgraded from 20mph to 26mph. The revised Nuts 2 could spin up to full speed much more quickly as a result of these changes, which also rectified the reliability issues that affected it in Series 9. However, Nuts 2 was hampered somewhat by poor traction on the arena floor, which reduced its Meltybrain movement to a very slow speed, and affected its spinning and driving as the wheels slipped frequently. As a partial response to this, Nuts 2's wheels were inverted after its Series 9 appearance, with the bike tread found on one side of each wheel now facing inwards, instead of facing outwards like in the previous series.

Nuts 2 in the arena after its Heat Final

Nuts 2 with minibots in Series 10

Nuts 2 was accompanied by another new selection of minibots in Series 10; all four were invertible, two-wheeled wedge-shaped robots with a top speed of 12mph and each had individual designs. With Team Nuts consisting of three members in this series, only two of the minibots could be used in the arena at any one time, driven by Alex and Chris Shakespeare while Rory Mangles remained the driver of Nuts 2. The minibots consisted of the following machines, two of which were new for Series 10:

Nuts with two minibots in the arena during Series 10

• Red and blue minibots with googly eyes and black front wedges, each originally used in Series 9.
• A second red minibot (driven by Chris Shakespeare) with green wheels and two extended forks at the front. The forks were spiked on top to hold robots in place, at the cost of nullifying its wedge when inverted.
• A white minibot (driven by Alex Shakespeare) with green wheels and powered by brushless motors, giving it six horsepower of drive. This robot featured a bulkier design with two red wedges at the front, as well as an opening in the main body of the wedge which housed an on-board camera.

The Team

Main article: Team Nuts

Team Nuts in Series 8

Team Nuts in Series 10

Nuts was originally built by Rory Mangles, who was a Cybernetics student at the time of Series 8, and he drove the main body of Nuts in all of its battles. Throughout all three of the series where Nuts took part, Rory Mangles was joined by father-and-son Chris and Alex Shakespeare, who would each drive a minibot in battle. In Series 8 only, Dave Lawrie competed as part of the team, before he parted ways with the team to compete in Series 9 with Jellyfish. In Series 9, the team was completed by Gareth Barnaby, a roboteer in lower weight classes with experience in Meltybrain programming, although he did not appear on the three-man team in Series 10.

After Nuts 2 was eliminated in Series 9, Rory Mangles and Alex Shakespeare also rejoined Dave Lawrie to compete in the second round as part of the Jellyfish team.

Robot History

Series 8

"This was by far the most fun we had across all 3 series. Everything we built for this 'only had to last one fight' as we fully expected to go out first round, but somehow it survived (more or less) for 4 fights and still staggers on to this day!"

— Team Nuts reflect on their three series, in October 2019

Debuting in Heat A of Series 8, Nuts received an extremely tough draw for its first battle. It was pitted against former UK and double World Champion Razer, Series 6 fourth-place finisher Terrorhurtz, and Kill-E-Crank-E, a new machine from a team lead by Classic Series Grand Finalist Robin Herrick.

Dara Ó Briain: "How does it fight?"

Dave Lawrie: "We're not actually sure! The idea is to confuse everybody, including ourselves! We're not quite sure how it's going to react to anything!"

— The Team Nuts approach

Terrorhurtz misses Nuts

Nuts' minibots wedge Razer and Kill-E Crank-E, preventing movement

Razer pierces one of Nuts' minibots and holds it aloft

Terrorhurtz shoves Nuts on the flame pit

Although its minibots quickly fled, Nuts started slowly, being pushed towards the fire by Terrorhurtz, avoiding an axe blow, eventually being rolled over by Terrorhurtz and Razer. Nuts was pursued by Terrorhurtz, and drove over the pit, which Kill-E-Crank-E had just opened, narrowly avoiding an early demise, but tumbling over in the process. Nuts righted itself, and spun on the spot as a defensive technique, but Razer had pierced one of its minibots, and held it aloft. Nuts continued to spin in the face of Terrorhurtz, landing blows while being edged back. Nuts was backed into a corner, but at this stage, Razer pitted Kill-E-Crank-E, and was dragged in with it, so Nuts was left victorious alongside Terrorhurtz.

"Look at the boys from Nuts, they've got more tricks up their sleeve than Derren Brown, they say, and they're stunned, they're through!"

— Jonathan Pearce

This put Nuts through to the head-to-head stage, where it would be guaranteed another three fights. In the first, Nuts fought another Robot Wars veteran, Behemoth.

Nuts is immediately thrown onto the Flame Pit

Nuts lands a few hits with its flails

Nuts is shovelled by Behemoth

Nuts is thrown into the pit release button

It was immediately rammed and flipped over onto the Flame Pit by Behemoth, but escaped, proceeding to spin in the centre of the arena and hit Behemoth and one of its minibots with its flails. Shortly after, Nuts was pushed into the arena spikes by Behemoth, before being flipped into the clutches of Dead Metal by the Team Make Robotics machine. Slowly escaping, Nuts and its minibots attempted to evade Behemoth, only for the main robot to be pushed into a CPZ and thrown into the pit release button. Nuts and Behemoth were briefly blocked by the Floor Flipper, which proceeded to catch one of Nuts' flails while Behemoth catapulted the orange minibot towards the ceiling.

"Up went the arena flipper – HA, HA, HA, HA! Did you see that? Look at this! Get out of it! You're an irritant!"

— Jonathan Pearce as Nuts' orange minibot is thrown by Behemoth

Both competitors fall foul of the Floor Flipper

The orange minibot is thrown through the air by Behemoth

Nuts briefly pushes Behemoth back, allowing the orange minibot to get underneath the Robot Wars veteran

Although it freed itself, Nuts did not capitalise on Matilda throwing Behemoth over, and in turn sustained repeated attacks from the House Robot's flywheel while the red minibot tussled with a re-righted Behemoth. The orange minibot was subsequently thrown into Matilda's CPZ by Behemoth, before the Hemel Hempstead machine pushed and flipped Nuts into the wall again. Nuts briefly wedged under Behemoth's opened scoop and pushed it back, allowing the orange minibot to briefly slip underneath the former series Semi-Finalist. It proceeded to hit Behemoth a few more times with the flails, only for the latter to throw it into the pit release button again. After this, the main part of Nuts was pushed around for some time, before Behemoth attempted to throw the red minibot out of the arena. Nuts was flipped twice more by Behemoth, before being pushed onto the Floor Flipper again and thrown off-balance one last time before 'cease' was called. The battle went to a Judges' decision, which went against Nuts in spite of its spirited and entertaining display.

This result gave Nuts no points ahead of its second Head-to-Head, against the horizontal bar spinner of Carbide.

"Our tactic against Carbide is to try and use our chains to disable their weapon. They're in a bad state, so we think if we can make them impart a lot of energy, wasting it on stuff like our chains, their spinner mechanism will eat itself and from there we can have the main part and the minibots go to town and take it to the pit."

— Alex Shakespeare

Nuts loses its outer rim to Carbide

Nuts is flung into the pit release by Carbide's blade

Carbide tears off Nuts' wheel

A dismantled Nuts lays across the arena

Although Nuts used its usual tactic of spinning on the spot, this did not deflect the bar spinner, and two hits from Carbide removed Nuts's outer rim, including the chain flails. With no weapon and a damaged wheel, Nuts simply ran away, but crashed into the arena wall, and sustained further damage from Carbide. Nuts avoided Sir Killalot, but a huge blow from Carbide threw Nuts straight into the pit release button, and Carbide's next attack split a wheel from Nuts, throwing the wheel out of the arena. With only one wheel left, Nuts could no longer move, and it was rendered immobile while Carbide attacked a minibot, which surprisingly remained mobile, but this loss made it impossible for Nuts to qualify for the Heat Final.

"Myself and Angela were watching this battle in the other control room, and midway through, there's an almighty crash against the glass we're watching, and this was the shard of Nuts that had come smashing at us at God knows what speed, and it's razor sharp!"

— Dara Ó Briain's 'near-death experience' from a piece of Nuts

Despite being eliminated from the competition, Nuts still needed to be repaired in order to fight Terrorhurtz for a second time, despite the extensive damage taken. Dara Ó Briain and Team Nuts joked that they may have needed to compete with only the minibots that compete alongside Nuts.

"Do you like jigsaw puzzles?"

— Dara Ó Briain

Nuts' chain is caught in Terrorhurtz' wheel hub

Nuts loses its outer rim again

Nuts barely avoids the pit

Shunt strikes Nuts

Nuts re-entered the arena, battered and bruised, but functional, with one minibot alongside it. It was axed by Terrorhurtz and pushed into Shunt, but Nuts managed to hook Terrorhurtz when its chain flail slotted through a gap in Terrorhurtz's armour near its wheel. This did not prove to be advantageous, as an axe blow from Terrorhurtz caused Nuts to lose its outer rim once again, leaving it without a weapon for a second time. Curiously, Nuts' rim was still stuck to Terrorhurtz, which used the rim to attack Nuts in combination with axe and spinning attacks. Out of options, Nuts opened the pit, but was pushed straight towards it and barely avoided falling in. With one minute remaining, Nuts was axed by both Terrorhurtz and Shunt. A minibot trapped Terrorhurtz in place, so cease was called after three minutes without a knockout.

Nuts had survived until a second Judges' decision, although it lost the decision unanimously again. Nuts therefore exited the Head-to-Head stage with no wins, but it had proven entertaining along the way.

"The real star of the show was Nuts, because its control was beautiful! They managed to survive for three minutes with a broken robot, that was astonishing!"

— Professor Noel Sharkey

Series 9

As with its predecessor, Nuts 2 competed in Heat A of Series 9, and was drawn alongside Terrorhurtz in the opening Group Battle of the series. The pair faced newcomers Rapid and Jellyfish, the latter captained by former team member Dave Lawrie. In the build-up to the fight, Chris Shakespeare jokingly threatened to turn Jellyfish 'into sushi'.

Angela Scanlon: "It was quite out of control last time. Will you be able to control it this time?"

Rory Mangles: "Even less!"

— Subjective improvements to Nuts 2

Nuts 2's chain is trapped by Rapid

When the battle began, Nuts 2's minibots spread, but the main robot was suffering a drive failure on one side from the start, preventing it from spinning up to speed, uninvolved with the main action. Matilda flipped Nuts 2 to try and bring it into the fray but its movement was limited and only inflicted a glancing blow on Terrorhurtz before the three active robots avoided it again. Nuts 2's white minibot became stuck under Terrorhurtz, and was flipped over, while the red minibot had blown its fuse.

"Nuts 2, turning, spinning...control problems?"

— Jonathan Pearce

Matilda throws Nuts 2 out of the arena

Nuts 2 was slowly turning on the closed pit, when Rapid rushed in and closed its flipper on Nuts 2's flail, trapping it. This allowed Rapid to push Nuts 2 into Matilda, and the House Robot flung it out of the arena using her flywheel. The white minibot remained active, attacking Terrorhurtz and turning itself over again, also being slammed by Rapid while Jellyfish was being counted out, but with the main robot out of the arena, Nuts 2 was eliminated from the competition.

"One of our ESCs got stagefright and wouldn't function properly. It was fine all through testing but the moment it saw the arena it played up. The exact cause was interference into the ESC's signal line...That was shielded."

— Team Nuts on Reddit

Nuts 2 sits outside the arena

Later into the competition, Rapid forfeited during the second round after sustaining heavy damage from Aftershock, so one robot from this melee was given the opportunity to rejoin the competition, but as Nuts 2 was the first robot to be immobilised in the battle, Jellyfish was the robot chosen to be reinstated. Regardless, Rory Mangles and Alex Shakespeare were invited to join Jellyfish's team for its remaining two fights with Terrorhurtz and Sabretooth, helping to repair the robot along the way. Jellyfish lost to Terrorhurtz by knockout, but won a tight Judges' decision over Sabretooth, closing out the heat in fourth place.

"No wonder the Nuts team have been back to help them, their machine's out!"

— Jonathan Pearce during Jellyfish's head-to-head with Terrorhurtz

Series 10

"It may seem odd, but I think that Nuts 2 is worth watching this series. They have been the clowns of Robot Wars for the past couple of series with their crazy design. Nuts 2 may look just the same as it’s previous version but when you look closer it has a much more robust frame and massively upgraded motors to power those enormous flails."

— Professor Noel Sharkey

A revised Nuts 2 returned for Series 10, competing in Heat D. Its Group Battle draw saw the Crewkerne machine face newcomer Androne 4000, along with previous series Grand Finalist Concussion. In pre-match interviews, Rory Mangles spoke to Angela Scanlon about the new Meltybrain technology, hoping for success in the arena.

Angela Scanlon: "So the furry vests, the hats, are they all a kind of decoy?"

Rory Mangles: "Well, I wouldn't say it's a serious team, but it's got some serious engineering behind it..."

Angela Scanlon: "Come, on, you're a professional roboteer!!"

— Angela Scanlon encourages Rory Mangles' career as a full-time roboteer

The minibots wedge under Androne 4000

Nuts 2 batters Concussion's wheel

Nuts 2 held off in the opening stages, in order to reach maximum spinning speed, while Concussion and Androne 4000 fought separately. The minibots briefly harassed Androne 4000 while Concussion engaged Nuts 2, with the latter's flail smashing the former's wheel hub and limiting Concussion's mobility.

"The flail is up to speed and whirring, oh and Concussion gone on the attack, and I think that's damaged one of the wheels of Concussion!"

— Jonathan Pearce

Nuts 2's white minibot rights itself using the floor flipper

Nuts 2's damage to Concussion

The white minibot was flipped upside down by an arena spike. Nuts 2 maintained full spinning speed as it slowly coasted around the arena, while the red minibot attacked Androne 4000, and the white minibot used the floor flipper to right itself. Nuts 2 closed in on Concussion and Androne 4000, striking both with its flails. The white minibot wedged itself under the now-inverted Concussion briefly, while Nuts 2 drove closer to its opponents to start spinning within their proximity. However, at this stage, Androne 4000 drove over the floor flipper while gripping Concussion and broke down, unable to release Concussion, leaving Nuts 2 the winner by proxy. To secure the knockout, Nuts 2 closed in on Androne 4000 and Concussion, spinning its flails along the surface of both robots.

"Look at him battering it!"

— Angela Scanlon

Nuts 2 punched a hole in the side of Concussion, and 'cease' was called. Team Nuts were unsure if they had won the fight at this stage, due to Concussion still being mobile within the grip of Androne 4000, and it was unclear if the fight had lasted for three minutes. Dara Ó Briain was the one to break the news of victory to Team Nuts.

Dara Ó Briain: "I've been waiting three seasons now to tell you this - Nuts is the winners! And actually, it worked!"

Rory Mangles: "Yes, Nuts wins a fight! It was a little bit slower than we hoped, we've got a new bit of firmware to upgrade it, so hopefully for the next fight, we're gonna get it a bit faster!"

— The jubilant Team Nuts celebrate their outright victory

Nuts 2 progressed to the Semi-Final stage, and after Androne 4000 and Concussion both won their Robot Redemption Knockouts, Nuts 2 would face Androne 4000 for a second time in its next battle. Alex Shakespeare was confident, knowing that Nuts 2's minibots had previously held Androne 4000 still, allowing Nuts 2 to spin up to speed, which the team wanted to repeat. Angela Scanlon predicted that Nuts 2 would win the battle, based on the damaged state of Androne 4000 following its battle with Tauron Mk 2.

"If we win here, we go straight through to the Heat Final, which is kind of scary, because you know...it is Nuts, and Nuts isn't supposed to be a good robot!"

— Rory Mangles

Nuts 2 ruptures the hydraulic pipes of Androne 4000

In accordance with their strategy, Alex and Chris Shakespeare drove their minibots into Androne 4000 while Nuts 2 reached a high spinning speed, delivering a huge hit when Androne 4000 reached its opponent. Nuts 2's attack caused Androne 4000 to leak hydraulic fluid, also bending the crushing arm and denting its back armour, although Androne 4000 was able to push Nuts 2 towards Dead Metal, where it quickly escaped. As a result of the earlier attack from Nuts 2, the hydraulic pipes of Androne 4000 had now completely burst, spewing hydraulic fluid across the arena. Nuts 2 spun in place while a panicked Androne 4000 drove over the floor flipper, and due to the loss of hydraulic fluid, Androne 4000 could no longer self-right. A victorious Nuts 2 bumped into Androne 4000 without spinning until 'cease' was called.

Dara Ó Briain: "Well done Nuts! The wins keep coming!"

Rory Mangles: "That wasn't quite how I was expecting to win it, but it was good to win it either way! Quite exciting, fighting on an oil slick! Nuts is very difficult to drive as it is, but with oily wheels, it becomes very undriveable, very drifty."

Dara Ó Briain: "It's actually becoming quite a threatening machine."

Rory Mangles: "Yeah, I mean, you can still be silly and crazy, and kill things!"

Dara Ó Briain: "What a wonderful motto that is to take away on Sunday evening entertainment! Silly and crazy, but kill things! It's touching."

— Dara Ó Briain talks to Rory Mangles after the battle

Having reached the Heat Final, Nuts 2 entered another rematch, this time against the drum spinner, Concussion. To defend against the spinning flails, polycarbonate panels were added to the side of Concussion, appropriately named the 'Nut Busters', to protect its wheels from the initial blows of Nuts 2.

"A win here, and these jokers will finally be taken seriously!"

— Angela Scanlon

Nuts 2 starts in the ascendancy against Concussion

Unopposed by the Nuts 2 minibots, Concussion charged straight into the spinning Nuts 2, with its wheels protected. However, the pressure of the flail spinner led Concussion to drive onto the floor flipper, where it was thrown into the spinner. Nuts 2 landed successive blows onto Concussion, which drove onto the floor flipper again, and was turned over. In its advantageous state, Nuts 2 continued to spin in place, even throttling its own red minibot, while Concussion struggled to drive while inverted due to the addition of its polycarbonate sides. The white minibot had also been immobilised at this stage after suffering a direct hit from Nuts 2.

"Taking out his own teammates, there!"

— Dara Ó Briain

The red minibot impedes the movement of Concussion

Nuts 2 edged towards Concussion, which was trying to use gyroscopic forces to turn itself back over, and caused more damage. Concussion was left near Shunt, which took away the power of the drum spinner with an axe blow, and Nuts 2 struck the side of Concussion, then ripped away a 'Nut Buster' with its next attack. The red minibot pressured Concussion, which was immobile on one side, stuck on the arena spikes. The red minibot attempted to block the turning of Concussion, as Nuts 2 landed another hit. Although Concussion still had an active wheel, the damage exerted by Nuts 2 on the weakened machine led Dorset Roboteering Team to voluntarily cease the movement of their machine, and Nuts 2 was awarded the win by knockout, sending it through to the Grand Final.

Angela Scanlon: "Nuts, the 'joke robot', the supposed joke robot. And you have the last laugh!"

Rory Mangles: "Yeah, undefeated, in the Grand Final now! With almost no damage! I'm not quite sure what's happening, or why, or how, but I'm not gonna complain!"

— Team Nuts celebrate their heat win

In the Grand Final, Nuts 2 was drawn against two robots which defeated it in Series 8, Behemoth and Carbide. Nuts 2 entered with the red minibot used in Series 9, and the minibot with forked wedges, with Behemoth also sporting its anti-spinner plough.

Nuts 2's minibot triggers the immediate disposal of Behemoth

Nuts 2 severs Carbide's weapon chain

In the battle, Nuts 2 took up its usual tactic of immediately spinning on the spot, while its minibot with forked wedges was immediately disabled. Carbide and Behemoth ignored Nuts 2 at first until the other minibot pressed the pit release button just as Behemoth was over it, causing Behemoth to instantly descend. Carbide then attempted to engage Nuts 2, but the latter's flail precisely nailed Carbide's weapon chain, breaking it and rendering the champion defenseless. Nuts 2 was thrown by the floor flipper as Carbide attempted to reverse into the flails, but this didn't seem to work as the minibot was shoving it away.

"Nuts 2, a very very difficult machine to get close to, to push. You get close to Nuts 2, and you're gonna be destroyed!"

— Jonathan Pearce

Nuts 2's minibot triggers the countdown clock on Carbide

Nuts 2 causes further damage to Carbide

Carbide pressed the Dial of Doom, activating Rogue House Robot. Sir Killalot shoved both competitors around briefly before returning to his CPZ. Nuts 2 then pressed the Dial of Doom, activating the Fog of War. After it dissipated, Carbide became stuck on top of the minibot, and was almost counted out before managing to drive away with only one second left on its countdown timer. Carbide continued to move around the arena with no answer to Nuts 2 while the latter continued attacking, hammering Carbide's body and leaving dents and scratches all over it, eventually shearing part of its wheel. Time ran out and the judges unanimously awarded the win to Nuts 2, over the defending champion.

Rory Mangles reacts to his unexpected victory

"To be honest, I don't think I should be interviewing [Rory Mangles], I should be interviewing whoever drove the tiny robot. The tiny, baby robot."

— Dara Ó Briain praises Alex Shakespeare's performance driving the minibot

Nuts 2's victory in the Group Battle put it straight through to the semi-final, where it faced Carbide again. For this battle, Carbide added a piece of metal scavenged from Rapid known as 'Nut Guards' to protect its weapon chain, and Nuts 2 replaced its broken minibot with a blue wedge.

Angela Scanlon: "It must feel quite nice, having Carbide try and protect themselves against Nuts!"

Rory Mangles: "It's little comfort!"

Alex Shakespeare: "The downside is, you're in a fight against Carbide!"

Angela Scanlon: "I don't like that attitude!"

Rory Mangles: "Well, you know, it is Carbide, and he knows what's coming this time!"

— Angela Scanlon encourages Team Nuts

Nuts 2 is blocked by the Nut Guards

Nuts 2 is disabled by Carbide

As the battle began, Carbide charged straight for the spinning Nuts 2 but was deflected away twice. Unlike Concussion's protective add-on, however, Carbide's worked very well and successfully blocked Nuts 2's flails. Nuts 2 wobbled around and its ring dipped low enough to be partially sheared off by Carbide's bar. With only one flail and half its ring left, Nuts 2 still managed to spin but was hit by Carbide again. The minibot activated the Fog of War, after which Carbide hit Nuts 2 again. Nuts 2 drove erratically into the wall, with only one wheel working and its insides exposed. Nuts 2 continually moved around in uncontrolled spurts, so Carbide held off and performed a victory spin while Nuts 2 was eventually counted out, once the robot fully stopped moving. Unseen on television, Nuts 2 was then picked up by the ring by Sir Killalot, who proceeded to hold it over the Flame Pit before dropping it into the pit; seconds later, the blue minibot was thrown by the Floor Flipper after being placed there by Shunt. With this, it finished Series 10 joint-third overall.

Nuts 2 rests immobile, after going out of control

Angela Scanlon: "You were the joke robot coming into the competition. You beat the reigning champion once - I don't care, most people haven't managed to do it, ever. So, take heart, and come back."

Rory Mangles: "Oh, we will."

— Angela consoles the team after their defeat at the hands of Carbide

Results

Wins/Losses

• Wins: 5
• Losses: 5

Series Record

Series	Nuts Series Record
Series 1-7	Did not enter
Series 8	Heat Round 2, Fourth Place
Series 9	Heat, Round 1 Entered with Jellyfish (Dave Lawrie)
Series 10	Grand Final, Joint Third Place Not selected with Jellyfish and Ice Cream (Dave Lawrie)

Gallery

Nuts in the pits with its team (Series 8)

Nuts is wheeled to the arena (Series 8)

Team Nuts enter the arena (Series 8)

Nuts in the arena (Series 8)

Nuts 2 approaches the arena (Series 9)

Team Nuts enter the arena (Series 9)

Official shot of Nuts 2, alone (Series 10)

Outside Robot Wars

Nuts with Rory Mangles' featherweight Richie and various smaller weight class robots he has created

After Series 8 ended, Nuts was repaired to fighting condition and in October 2016 appeared at a Robots Live! event in Stevenage, fighting in the 2016 FRA UK Heavyweight Championship. It beat Gabriel in round one, before progressing along with Dystopia in round two after the latter flipped out Photon Storm, before losing to TR2 in the quarter-finals. Nuts also lost to Gabriel in the subsequent losers' melee, but its impressive performance meant that it finished fifth overall.

Nuts 2 fought its first live battle at the Burgess Hill event hosted by Robots Live!, where it fought Or Te, Suspension and Weird Alice. However, it had to enter the arena without its flails for safety reasons, and was eventually stranded by Weird Alice. Nuts 2 was also defeated in a melee with Behemoth, Eruption and TR3.

Nuts is stranded by Two-Headed Death Flamingo on BBC Points West

In the lead-up to the Series 10 Grand Final, Rory Mangles and the original Nuts machine appeared on BBC Points West, where a BBC presenter drove Nuts in a battle between it and Two-Headed Death Flamingo, driven by Mangles at his farm. Nuts was ultimately stranded on its side, losing the battle, but the programme wished Nuts 2 luck in the Series 10 Grand Final.

In 2019, the original Nuts returned to compete in that year's FRA UK Championship, once again hosted in Stevenage by Robots Live! Driven by Alex Shakespeare, it reached the second round of the main competition, finishing thirteenth overall, and survived the full three minutes in all four of its battles. The main part of Nuts was also accompanied by its successor's red minibot in at least one whiteboard battle, which in turn fought in the featherweight rumbles as a separate entry.

During 2021, a more comprehensive rebuild was undertaken on the original Nuts (presently referred to by Team Shakey as Nuts 1), which included the addition of a new outer ring, wheels and electronics. The end caps mounting the ring to the chassis were also changed to make the ring a static component rather than the rotating piece seen previously. In this form, Nuts competed once again at the Robots Live! event in Crawley that October. By September 2022, the main robot was updated further to sport inward-facing tyres. In this condition, it was displayed at RoboNerd with its Series 8 orange and Series 9-10 red minibot, and returned to action at Robots Live! Crawley. Despite getting thrown out of the arena by Iron-Awe 6 in the second round of the main 2022 competition, Nuts came close to removing the latter's link, after its flails damaged the link's cover.

Various segments of Nuts would make further public appearances in September 2023. After being represented by the blue minibot at RoboNerd on the 2nd, the rebuilt Series 8 incarnation fought at Robots Live! Crawley on the 9th-10th, taking part in a variety of competition and whiteboard battles. Its biggest achievement of the weekend was a quarter-final finish in the main knockout competition. At that stage, Nuts was quickly tossed out of the arena by Toxic 2, similarly to its fate in the 2022 running.

The members of Team Nuts all have their own teams and fight with their own robots in both live events and antweight class events. Dave Lawrie, Chris Shakespeare and Alex Shakespeare joined Rory Mangles' Team Nuts for Series 8 of Robot Wars. For more information on their excursions, see the Team Nuts page.

Robot Wars Live Events

Nuts during the live events

Nuts made its combat debut prior to the TV series at Robot Wars live events, competing at various Robot Wars Live Tour events, albeit with few victories.

Despite this, Nuts performed reasonably well at the Robot Wars World Championships in 2015. Nuts fought Iron-Awe 7, Meggamouse and Weird mAlice in the first round, where it qualified after Weird mAlice was thrown out of the arena by Iron-Awe, and Meggamouse drove into the pit. In the second round, Nuts was drawn against ThunderChild and Apex. ThunderChild’s flipper was not working, so was rendered immobile after being turned over by the floor flipper, leaving Nuts to fight Apex alone. Nuts won the resulting Judges’ decision due to its aggression and damage caused in the battle. Nuts was eliminated in the quarter-finals, after being immobilised by repeated axe blows from Thor destroying the removable link.

Trivia

• The original Nuts cost around £1,100 to build, making it one of the cheapest robots in Series 8.
• Throughout its Heat in Series 10, Nuts 2 only fought two different robots. In the Grand Final, it also fought only two robots, totalling four opponents in its entire campaign.
  • Even if a third-place playoff had taken place for Series 10, Nuts 2 would have fought Behemoth, one of the two machines Nuts 2 had already fought in the Grand Final.
• Originally, Nuts 2 was intended to appear in Episode 2 of Robot Wars: World Series, but was unable to do so, due to damage inflicted by Carbide, which also withdrew from the same episode.
• If viewed in a sequence, Nuts’ win and loss record is the complete negative in symmetry (1 win followed by four losses, then four wins followed by one loss).
• Nuts 2 was the only robot in Series 10 to finish in the top four without losing a battle up to that point.
• With its joint-third place finish in Series 10, Nuts 2 was the most successful clusterbot of any kind to compete in Robot Wars, and the most successful competitor to utilise minibots.
• Nuts is one of two robots progressing from the Heat Group Battles in Series 8 to not do the same in Series 9, with the other being Foxic.
• Nuts 2 was the only robot with more than one victory in Series 10, including the World Series, to not fight Eruption.
• In 2021, Nuts 2 received an Honorable Mention in The Combat Robot Hall of Fame, as a direct result of its Series 10 run and popularity as an 'underdog' entry.

External Links

• Team Nuts - Robot Wars Facebook page
• Nuts (Series 8) on the Robot Wars website
• Nuts 2 (Series 9) on the Robot Wars website
• Nuts 2 (Series 10) on the Robot Wars website
• Haynes Manuals interview with Alex Shakespeare