Hard was a Belgian robot that competed in Series 7 of Robot Wars. Hard reached the second round of Series 7 and represented Belgium in The Third World Championship.
Hard was built by Team Compactory, with help from Team Mad Science and Team KODOX roboteer Mario "Maddox" de Jongh, who lived near two of the team members in Belgium.
- "The big problem is to stay in the arena."
- — Frank Van Rest
The team had planned to enter the second series of Dutch Robot Wars, but shortly before the filming, Hard broke down. So that the team could still participate, they were given a loanerbot from Mentorn, which was called Hard as well. This version had an axe weapon, and standard wheels that were more exposed than the wheels set up it had when it entered Series 7.
Design
Hard in the arena
Side view of Hard
It was a small wedge-shaped robot with a full pressure flipping arm which could run either way up. It ran on a custom-built locomotive system, featuring wide wheels. Hard had four of these wheels in total, with two being on top of the robot, and two on the bottom, allowing the robot to be invertible. The robot had decent speed and manoeuvrability and was low to the ground, but the flipper was not very powerful and often struggled to flip over other robots, and the wheels were exposed. The main feature of Hard was its near impenetrable armour - it was 4mm RVS stainless steel.
Robot History
UK Series 7
Hard flips Velocirippa
Hard shunts Velocirippa
Hard backs T-Wrecks into the pit
Hard starred in its Heat K melee, getting under Velocirippa several times, but unable to get the dinosaur machine over due to the relatively low power of its flipper. It flipped Velocirippa against the arena wall twice, but was unable to flip it out. After a few minutes of relatively unsuccessful robot combat, Hard leaped at the opportunity when Velocirippa activated the pit. It managed to use its thick armour to stop the spinning attacks of T-Wrecks, and when the thwackbot became beached on Kat 3's wedge, Hard reversed into it and pitted T-Wrecks. Not long after this victory, Velocirippa broke down, and Hard seized its adversary and dumped it down the pit.
However, Round 2 was incredibly lackluster after this strong melee.
Bulldog Breed's attempt to get Hard out of the arena
- "One of the batteries in Hard died while we drove in the arena...It was already dead before Bulldog Breed even touched us."
- — Frank Van Rest
Hard started strongly, but the second flip from Bulldog Breed coincided with Hard's little power running dry, and the Belgian machine broke down straight away. Bulldog Breed tried vainly to finish Hard off by throwing it from the arena, but after it proved futile, Hard's fate was on the floor flipper, before being crushed on the drop zone. To its credit, Hard did live up to its name, though, as even when hit by Mr. Psycho, it took no external damage at all.
Hard and Riptilion are trapped by Cassius Chrome
Hard also represented Belgium in the Third World Championship. It faced New Zealand's representative, Riptilion.
- "Well he's so large that we think it might be quite difficult to flip him over...we're not even sure if he fits in the pit"
- — Jan Huygh on Riptilion
Hard was much stronger than its foe, flipping it up several times and keeping its wedge beneath the baseplate of Riptilion. It shunted it into the CPZ later, and after escaping Cassius Chrome, watched its New Zealand foe counted out and hurled by the floor flipper.
Hard is counted out by Refbot
However, just like in the UK Championship, Hard ran into a powerful weapon in Supernova. Its flipper was unable to gain purchase on either the Sri Lankan machine or the American Spartacus, and several powerful blows from Supernova's disc was enough to knock Hard out, before it suffered the familiar fate of the Drop Zone.
Results
| HARD - RESULTS | ||
| Series 7 | ||
| The Seventh Wars - UK Championship Heats, Round 2 | ||
| Heat K, Round 1 | vs. Velocirippa, T-Wrecks, Kat 3 | Qualified |
| Heat K, Round 2 | vs. Bulldog Breed (12) | Lost |
| The Third World Championship Representing Belgium, Eliminated in Heats | ||
| Qualifier | vs. Riptilion (NZL) | Won |
| Heat | vs. Spartacus (USA), Supernova (SRI) | Eliminated |
Wins/Losses
- Wins: 2
- Losses: 2
Series Record
UK Series
- Series 1-6: Did not enter
- Series 7: Heat, Round 2
- 2016 Series: Did not enter
Dutch Series
- Series 1: Did not enter
- Series 2: Entered with Hard (Loanerbot)
Outside Robot Wars
Hard continued to fight in the live event circuit all over Europe hosted by organizations like Roaming Robots & Dutch Robot Games. Its last appearance it made was the Fighting Robots UK Championships 2006 where it fell in the group stages against Terrorhurtz after having its gas pipe severed and also fell in the first round of the International Championship hosted at the same event where its flipper broke off after being flipped repeatedly by Kronic. The team did however finish runner-up in the 2006 Featherweight UK Championships with their featherweight FeatherHard.
Since then, Hard has been sold to Team Compactory's friends, Team Alien Destructor.
Trivia
- Hard is the only Belgian robot to compete in the main competition of the UK Series of Robot Wars.
- Hard was the last robot to be hit with an item from the Drop Zone