- Philippa Forrester: "So you're responsible for making this flip flop thing? What's it called?"
- Conrad Snook: "Flip Flop Fly"
- Philippa Forrester: "Because it can flip, flop and it can fly."
- — Brief pit report
Flip Flop Fly was a robot which competed in Series 3 of Robot Wars. Entered by the Snook family, who would later go on to build the Tetanus series of robots, it reached the second round before losing to Evil Weevil.
Design[]
The chain reduction of Flip Flop Fly
- "An Anglo-French project! Building started in France with a moped, was finished in England with truck parts. The weapons; spikes and a rolling axe. He's not shy, Flip Flop Fly!"
- — Jonathan Pearce introduces Flip Flop Fly
The robot was made up of a lot of parts from a French moped, and had the wheels from a Citroen 2CV car. It was an axlebot with a multi-coloured barrel shaped body and an axe on a fixed arm that swung overhead when stopped, a lot like Stinger. It was somewhat ponderous around the arena, running on four winscreen wiper motors, but was relatively well armoured for its time.
The Team[]
The team with Flip Flop Fly
Flip Flop Fly was built by a Hereford-based team, captained by father Paul Snook. His young son Conrad Snook was also a member of the team, and the similarly aged Luke Angell completed the team. Flip Flop Fly's team would later compete in Series 5, 6 and 7 with the Tetanus series of machines.
Robot History[]
Series 3[]
In its only victory, Flip Flop Fly fought Wild Willy as part of Heat L in Series 3.
Wild Willy rams Flip Flop Fly
Flip Flop Fly with its flat tyre
Wild Willy started much faster and used its axe many times. It attacked Sergeant Bash while Flip Flop Fly wobbled around the arena. Wild Willy then pushed Flip Flop Fly into the arena wall. One of Flip Flop Fly's tyres had been punctured, leaving it with very limited mobility. However, Wild Willy then mistakenly drove on the edge of the Pit, and Matilda nudged it in. Flip Flop Fly was still just about mobile, the Judges gave it the victory.
In the Heat Semi-Final, it faced Evil Weevil.
Evil Weevil lifts Flip Flop Fly
- "It's a bit of a strange contraption, we don't really know what to do with it! We're going to push it around a bit and see what happens."
- — Kevin Pritchard of Evil Weevil on his opponent
Evil Weevil escaped Flip Flop Fly's weapon and drove into it repeatedly, although Evil Weevil then drove into Shunt's CPZ and was attacked. Flip Flop Fly fought back against Shunt, but turned its attention back to Evil Weevil. Evil Weevil then pushed it back into Shunt's CPZ before the House Robots ganged up on it. Despite no major damage bar another punctured tyre, Flip Flop Fly was deemed immobile and was eliminated from the competition.
Results[]
| FLIP FLOP FLY - RESULTS | ||
| Series 3 | ||
| The Third Wars - UK Championship Heat, Round 2 | ||
| Heat L, Round 1 | vs. Wild Willy | Won |
| Heat L, Round 2 | vs. Evil Weevil | Lost |
Wins/Losses[]
- Wins: 1
- Losses: 1
Series Record[]
| Main Series | Flip Flop Fly Series Record |
|---|---|
| The First Wars | Did not enter |
| The Second Wars | Did not enter |
| The Third Wars | Heat, Round 2 |
| The Fourth Wars | Withdrew from qualifiers with Tetanus |
| The Fifth Wars | Entered with Tetanus |
| The Sixth Wars | Entered with Tetanus 2 |
| The Seventh Wars | Entered with Tetanus Booster |
| Series 8 | Did not enter |
| Series 9 | Did not enter |
| Series 10 | Did not enter |
| Robot Wars Extreme | Appearances |
| Series 1 | Did not enter |
| Series 2 | Entered with Tetanus 2 |
Gallery[]
Trivia[]
- After Flip Flop Fly and Wild Willy fought each other in Series 3, both teams would later face off again in Series 6 with separate machines, with Tetanus 2 and Cyrax qualifying through the same first-round melee together.