Hard Cheese

Hard Cheese
Participation Information
UK Series	2-3, Extreme 1
Team Information
Team	Liverdyne Robotics
Team Members	Nigel Kerr Stephen Pearson (Series 2, Extreme 1) Andrew Norton (Series 3) Alan Stein (Series 2)
From	Liverpool, Merseyside
Robot Statistics
Weight	42kg
Dimensions	1.04m x 0.58m x 0.30m
Power	2 x 36V Wheelchair Motors
Weapons	Front Wedge, rear-mounted spikes and cutting disc
Statistics correct as of its most recent show/competition appearance, or if not applicable, qualification attempt.

"A wedge shaped, cheese robot"

— Jonathan Pearce

Hard Cheese was a middleweight robot from Liverpool which entered the Middleweight Championships held in Series 2 and 3 Robot Wars, along with the first series of Robot Wars Extreme. It won the Series 2 Middleweight Championship with ease, but became immobilised during the Middleweight Melee exhibition match held the following series. Hard Cheese would retain its status as Middleweight Champion, however, as the main class championship for Series 3 was cancelled following a behind-the-scenes accident.

Upon its return for Extreme 1, Hard Cheese lost its Middleweight Championship title, upon being damaged and gradually immobilised by eventual champion Typhoon.

Hard Cheese was built and entered by Liverdyne Robotics, which also competed in the main competition of Series 5 with VIPER 01, having already failed to qualify with an earlier version of the machine named The Big Cheese (unrelated to Roger Plant's heavyweight).

Design

Hard Cheese from Series 2

Hard Cheese was a yellow wedge-shaped robot themed and painted to resemble a slice of Swiss cheese, with a toy rat mascot named 'Verminator' mounted on top of it. Its preferred tactic was to use its wedge to tip other robots onto their backs or sides, however it did not have a self-righting mechanism throughout any of its appearances.

Hard Cheese from Series 3, armed with the hammer

Verminator, the team's mascot

Hard Cheese originally took 2 months to build. In Series 2, Hard Cheese was armed with a pair of rear ramming spikes which could pierce and impale through other robots, which were joined in Series 3 by a spiked hammer/axe mounted at and facing the rear, weighing roughly 31kg. For its appearance in Extreme 1, the hammer/axe was replaced with a four-toothed cutting disc resembling that of Pussycat, which was made out of stainless steel, and its weight increased to 42kg.

The Team

Main article: Liverdyne Robotics

Hard Cheese was the first robot built by Liverdyne Robotics, who would also later compete with VIPER 01 in Series 5. Nigel Kerr captained the team, and brought a variety of teammates for each of Hard Cheese's three appearances; in Series 2 he was joined by his friend Stephen Davies & his brother-in-law Alan Stein, for Series 3 he competed with Andrew Norton, and in Extreme 1 he was joined by Stephen Pearson again.

Qualification

"At the end of the first series of Robot Wars UK, I Nigel Kerr decided that I could make one of those robots. So I phoned the Robot Wars answering machine as soon as the last episode had been screened. I then waited for 3 weeks and heard nothing, so I decided to just go ahead and make one. As I was on my own I decided that I would only make a robot that I could pick up so it had to be less than 40 Kg (a middleweight)."

— Nigel Kerr on the Liverdyne Robotics website

Nigel Kerr applied for Robot Wars after watching Series 1, and built the robot before getting approval from Mentorn. After finishing the robot, three months after his call, he received a letter from Robot Wars asking me what he was going to build and not to do so until they gave the go ahead. He filled the forms, and sent the production team a video of the finished robot.

"I soon got a response saying how pleased they where with the video and where to go from there."

— Nigel Kerr on the Liverdyne Robotics website

Alongside Liverdyne Robotics' heavyweight VIPER 01, Hard Cheese attended the July 24th shows of the Robot Mayhem live event, serving as the qualifiers for The Fourth Wars. When VIPER 01 was forced to withdraw due to technical difficulties, the middleweight machine fought its qualifiers in its place, taking part in as many as three battles.

Hard Cheese was first known to fight and win against an unidentified heavyweight opponent, which subsequently failed to qualify for the show. Following this, it battled against Ming 2 in a long and tentative encounter, but lost after getting flipped over and being left unable to self-right. Ming 2 would go on to qualify for the main series.

Finally, Hard Cheese fought in a third qualifier against Spike the Impaler. Despite taking damage, Hard Cheese was able push Spike the Impaler against the flame jets on the side wall before using its wedge shape to topple it over. Hard Cheese then pitted its opponent, but this and its initial victory were not enough to see it qualify for the series.

As a result, neither Hard Cheese nor VIPER 01 qualified for the main competition.

Robot History

Series 2

"Do I smell a rat?"

— Jonathan Pearce points out Verminator

Hard Cheese shoves Wharthog, away from the immobilised Doodlebug

Hard Cheese, posing as Middleweight Champion

Hard Cheese fought in the Middleweight Championship, which consisted of a four-way melee with Series 1 competitor Wharthog as well as newcomers Scorpion and Doodlebug. Like the Featherweight and Lightweight championships, only a small portion of the fight was broadcast, but Hard Cheese was dominant, constantly ramming into Wharthog and Doodlebug and using its wedge to push them around. Both opponents were immobilised as a result of Hard Cheese's attacks, with Hard Cheese eventually attacking the House Robots and compelling Dead Metal to knock 'Verminator' off its wedge, which was promptly pushed onto the Flame Pit by Shunt. Still, Hard Cheese won the match, and a heavily-bandaged 'Verminator' was reunited with the robot when it was declared the first official Middleweight Champion.

"Yes, we burn just about everything on Robot Wars!"

— Jonathan Pearce, as Verminator is pushed onto the Flame Pit

Series 3

"Hardly mousing"

— Jonathan Pearce, on the team

As defending Middleweight champion, Hard Cheese returned for the Series 3 Middleweight Championship. However, the championship was among multiple side competitions to be cancelled; the trophy for the Middleweight Championship was automatically given to Hard Cheese and the Liverdyne Robotics team for the second year running.

At a later point in Series 3 filming, Hard Cheese participated in the Middleweight Melee, an exhibition match against A-Kill, Grinder, Ripper's Revenge and American entrant (and technically lightweight competitor) Tentoumushi.

Hard Cheese hammers Ripper's Revenge in the opening seconds

Tentoumushi smothers Hard Cheese

Hard Cheese immediately steered towards Ripper's Revenge, attacking it with its hammer, before pushing Tentoumushi back as it tried to get its smothering shell into action. Hard Cheese attacked Ripper's Revenge again before Tentoumushi rode up its wedge, covering it with its shell and appearing to immobilise it as a result of Hard Cheese's receiver battery going flat, although the hammer was still working. 'Verminator' also appeared to have been knocked off while the cameras focused on A-Kill pushing Grinder into Shunt, and remained lying on the arena floor for the remainder of the battle.

"Ah, Welsh rarebit! Let's have a toast, to Hard Cheese, soon to be out of it, I should think."

— Jonathan Pearce, as Hard Cheese lies on the Flame Pit

Sir Killalot hoists Hard Cheese aloft

Hard Cheese is crushed by Sir Killalot

Hard Cheese is roasted on the Flame Pit

Sir Killalot then lifted Hard Cheese aloft and spun it around with his lance, before proceeding to drive up and down its wedge numerous times. It was eventually left on the Flame Pit, and had its armour sliced into by Dead Metal and Matilda as the other House Robots attacked the surviving competitors. The battle ended with joint victory for A-Kill and Tentoumushi, but as a new Middleweight Champion had been officially declared by the Championship, the Middleweight trophy was merely given to the incumbent Champion Hard Cheese.

Hard Cheese had also previously been due to compete in the War of Independence, which was aired as part of the International League Championship, where it would have fought Tentoumushi again. However, it was replaced with A-Kill due to the producers wanting to give the lighter American machine a fairer fight.

Extreme 1

"We've seen Hard Cheese before, Sir Killalot didn't like it."

— Jonathan Pearce

With its new disc, Hard Cheese entered the Middleweight Championship in the first series of Extreme, and was placed up against newcomers Typhoon, Genesis, Mammoth, Zap and Doom.

Hard Cheese in close range of Typhoon

Hard Cheese and Doom on the Floor Flipper

Hard Cheese stayed out of the action at the start of the battle, whilst Typhoon spun around and caused minor damage to most of the other competitors, eventually breaking one of Mammoth's legs clean off. Hard Cheese then attacked Genesis, ramming it across a short distance, before Typhoon came in and spun Genesis away. Typhoon hit Hard Cheese, who initially resisted this attack and attempted to cut into Typhoon's body, but only caused a few scratches with its saw. Eventually, another few attacks from Typhoon sent Hard Cheese spinning away and left large slices in its side, also causing the robot to lose drive on one side. Eventually, after Genesis, Mammoth and Zap were all counted out and flipped by the Floor Flipper, Hard Cheese broke down completely right after Doom became immobilised, with both robots being flung by the Floor Flipper at the same time. Hard Cheese landed on its back, with Typhoon winning the battle and the Middleweight Championship.

Results

Wins/Losses

• Wins: 1
• Losses: 2

Series Record

Main Series	Hard Cheese Series Record
The First Wars	Did not enter
The Second Wars	Middleweight Champion
The Third Wars	Middleweight Melee
The Fourth Wars	Failed to qualify Withdrew from qualifiers with VIPER 01
The Fifth Wars	Entered with VIPER 01
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
Robot Wars Extreme	Appearances
Series 1	Middleweight Championship
Series 2	Did not enter

Gallery

Hard Cheese battles Milly-Ann Bug

The internals of Hard Cheese for Series 3

Hard Cheese on display with VIPER 01 in 2002

Official image of Hard Cheese in Extreme 1

Trivia

Hard Cheese (far left) in Spaced

Hard Cheese (bottom left) makes an appearance in Series 5

• Hard Cheese was the only competitor robot from Merseyside to ever win a battle.
• Hard Cheese had a brief cameo on the sitcom Spaced in the episode "Mettle."
• Hard Cheese made a cameo appearance in Series 5, appearing in the bottom left of the pits in the scene where the awards were being shown.

External Links

• Liverdyne Robotics website (archived)