- Jayne Middlemiss: "This is Herbinator."
- Jeremy Cuss: "That's right."
- Jayne Middlemiss: "As in the Terminator"
- Jeremy Cuss: "And Herbie, the Volkswagen!"
- Jayne Middlemiss: "Ah, so it's a mix between Arnie and Herbie!"
- — The two inspirations for the robot's name
Herbinator was a robot that singularly competed in Series 7 of Robot Wars. It competed in Heat D of the main competition, but was eliminated fairly swiftly in the first round by Lightning. The team had previously attempted to enter the Sixth Wars, but failed to qualify.
Design[]
- Jayne Middlemiss: "How much could it lift, small child?"
- Gavin Whittaker: "Oh, at least!"
- Jayne Middlemiss: "Small child and a cow at the same time?"
- Gavin Whittaker: "Maybe an elephant!"
- — Tongue-in-cheek discussion of the flipper's power
Herbinator enters the arena
Herbinator was a large, mostly white box-wedge shaped robot, armoured in aluminium. It was armed with a flipper, operated by 16 BANG pneumatic cylinders, while its drive was powered by two 750W electric motors. The side of the robot was outfitted with rollbars made from welded aluminium, which were designed to prevent the robot from falling onto its side or being side-stranded by competitors. This was designed to work in tandem with the robot's side skirts which provided a low ground clearance, but in practice, the rollbars failed to prevent Herbinator from being stranded on its side. The build process of Herbinator took 27 months, at a cost of £2000.
Etymology[]
The name Herbinator was a portmanteau of Herbie and the Terminator, and as suggested by the name, its paint-job was based on the famous car from film and television, Herbie the Love Bug.
The Team[]
The team controlling Herbinator
Herbinator was entered into Robot Wars by a team from West Yorkshire. 55-year old Jeremy Cuss from Golcar was the team captain. Jeremy worked as a chemical engineer at Syngenta in Huddersfield and had began the design and build process of Herbinator after attending a robot building course at Huddersfield Technical College which ran for one year.[1] He had been a fan of Robot Wars for several years before this and had finally decided to have a go himself.[1]
- "It was a pity the course stopped. I liked the fact that on Robot Wars people use their engineering expertise to produce a fun sport. I thought that was something I could do."
- — Jeremy Cuss interviewed in Yorkshire Live
30-year old Ross Bennett was Herbinator's driver. Ross was a work colleague of Jeremy, also working as an engineer at Syngenta.[1] 25-year old Gavin Whittaker completed the roster; Gavin was a quality assurance manager at Score Europe in Leeds.[1] A fourth member was also part of the team, 30-year old Rob Atkinson from Dewsbury.[1] Also a work colleague of Jeremy and Ross, Rob was a software engineer at the same company plant and had driven Herbinator in the Series 7 qualifiers.[1] He was not present for the televised series as he could not attend filming.[1]
Jeremy Cuss was aided in the construction process of Herbinator by Bill Doodson from Egerton, a colleague on the building course at the college.[1] Bill did all the welding work for the robot.[1]
Qualification[]
Herbinator and its team at the Series 6 qualifiers. Note the lack of roll-bars at the sides
Herbinator first attempted to qualify for Series 6, but was unsuccessful in its attempt.
In response to this loss, the team outfitted rollbars to the side of the machine ahead of their Series 7 qualifier, and although the events of their qualifier battle are unknown, Herbinator won the battle and earned a place in The Seventh Wars.[1]
Robot History[]
Series 7[]
Herbinator went up against the 7th seed 13 Black, veteran The Alien and former Tag Team competitor Lightning, who was fighting alone for the first time, in its first-round battle of Heat D.
- "Newcomers to Robot Wars, Herbinator could face the deep sleep."
- — Jonathan Pearce as Herbinator enters the arena
Herbinator, flipped by Lighting, is counted out
In the first few seconds of its eliminator, Herbinator slowly dodged the approaching Lightning as they charged towards 13 Black, but Herbinator was then was flipped onto its side by Lightning up against the arena side wall. Due to it being propped against the arena wall, Herbinator's side roll bars couldn't self-right it and could not use the flipper to jerk it from the sideways position. Refbot then counted out Herbinator, eliminating it from the competition.
Shunt axes Herbinator
- "I think their short life in Robot Wars is about to "cease", an ex-robot! ... A flipper flick will not keep you in Robot Wars, Herbinator, the idea is to move around, fight, rumble."
- — Jonathan Pearce as Refbot comes in to count out Herbinator, and as Herbinator vainly fires its flipper to try and self-right
After being fiercely axed, Herbinator was later self-righted by Shunt, and Herbinator then went to attack the recently immobilised The Alien, but it was far too late.
Results[]
| HERBINATOR - RESULTS | ||
| Series 7 | ||
| The Seventh Wars - UK Championship Heats, Round 1 | ||
| Heat D, Round 1 | vs. 13 Black (7), Lightning, The Alien | Eliminated |
Wins/Losses[]
- Wins: 0
- Losses: 1
Series Record[]
| Series | Herbinator Series Record |
|---|---|
| The First Wars | Did not enter |
| The Second Wars | Did not enter |
| The Third Wars | Did not enter |
| The Fourth Wars | Did not enter |
| The Fifth Wars | Did not enter |
| The Sixth Wars | Failed to qualify |
| The Seventh Wars | Heat, Round 1 |
| Series 8 | Did not enter |
| Series 9 | Did not enter |
| Series 10 | Did not enter |
Gallery[]
Outside Robot Wars[]
Herbinator at the Newark Kit Car show in 2003
Herbinator fighting in a live event in 2003
Herbinator competed at two Roaming Robots events in 2003 before the filming of Series 7. At the Wrexham Robot Rumble, Herbinator fought in three battles, losing its first against 51 in a battle which also included Leveller 2 then losing its second against Terrorhurtz in a battle which also included Dantomkia. However, Herbinator won its third fight against Leveller 2 and G-Man.[2]
Herbinator without its armour at the 2003 Newark Kit Car show
Herbinator then fought at the Newark Kit Car Show, once again in three battles, managing to defeat 8645T 2 and The Stag in its first one.[3] Its second fight was against Kan-Opener and M2, where despite being sluggish and cumbersome, Herbinator did manage to land a few flips on M2, but then stopped moving. The fight was ultimately won by Kan-Opener, which then pitted M2 after Herbinator was deemed immobilised.[4] Finally, Herbinator fought Tornado and Scraptosaur in its third battle where the latter robot was victorious.[3]
Trivia[]
- Herbinator was one of the only machines in Series 7 to take visible damage from the axe of Shunt.
- The Herbinator team were the only team in Heat D of The Seventh Wars not to appear in any other series.