Indefatigable

Indefatigable
Participation Information
UK Series	4
Team Information
Team Members	Brian Olliver Richard Pitman Daniel Lloyd
From	St George's, Shropshire
Robot Statistics
Weight	78.5kg
Dimensions	1.5m x 0.75m x 0.5m
Clearance	60-70mm
Top Speed	15mph
Power	2 x 12v Batteries and 2 Wheelchair Motors
Weapons	Forklift
Statistics correct as of its most recent show/competition appearance, or if not applicable, qualification attempt.

"And indestructible they hope! With an aluminium body from an old quarry truck, and plastic panels from recycled foam boxes. Two lifting spikes are powered by electricity and it can reach speeds of 17mph."

— Jonathan Pearce introduces Indefatigable

Indefatigable was a competitor robot that fought exclusively in Series 4 of Robot Wars. It was eliminated early on in its first-round battle after getting flipped onto its side by then-reigning champion Chaos 2, before being flipped out of the arena.

Design

Front view of Indefatigable

Indefatigable was a blue, box-shaped robot with six-wheel drive and armed with a spiked forklift, which featured a lifting capacity of up to 75kg. It was made out of aluminium from an old quarry truck and recycled polycarbonate and plastic from old telephone boxes, while the robot's wheels were sourced from wheelie bins. The robot also featured a rear metal bar attached to the bottom of its chassis, presumably to absorb impacts from wedges, spikes and spinning weapons. While Indefatigable had a high top speed of 17mph, its forklifts would not have been able to lift many opponents in Series 4, and the robot lacked a self-righting mechanism, contributing to its swift demise in its only battle.

Etymology

The robot's name was chosen as its team believed that it would be "unstoppable" and "can't be wrecked", in spite of its early defeat. The word Indefatigable itself means 'to be untiring', and could also be a reference to the ship HMS Indefatigable.

The Team

The Indefatigable team

"The guys looking a little bit crossed between E.R. and Star Trek here."

— Julia Reed on the outfits of the Indefatigable team

The Indefatigable team were based in Shropshire and consisted of Brian Olliver, who drove Indefatigable in its only battle, and young members Richard Pitman and Daniel Lloyd. The team wore matching blue uniforms to the colour of their machine, which were likened to the Thunderbirds uniforms.

Qualification

To enter The Fourth Wars, Indefatigable fought The Mole in the series qualifiers, taking place as part of the Robot Mayhem live event. In the battle itself, it was heavily damaged by its opponent's teeth and sawblade weapons, leading to it losing the fight. Despite this, Indefatigable was still awarded a discretionary place in the series, perhaps due to its innovative design, and repaired for its televised debut. The Mole however, would not qualify for The Fourth Wars despite its victory.

The team would later attempt to qualify for Series 5 with Indefatigable Mangolier, attending the later set of qualifiers on 23 August 2001. The team would lose its battle here, and would subsequently not qualify for Series 5. They are not known to have attempted to qualify or apply for any later series.

Robot History

Series 4

Indefatigable backs into the semi mobile Atomic

Indefatigable is turned over

Competing in Heat A, Indefatigable faced a tough draw in its first round battle, against the then-reigning champion and number one seed Chaos 2 and fellow newcomer Atomic. It avoided most of the early action as Chaos 2 tried to get under Atomic, with all three robots briefly coming together against the arena wall as Atomic pushed Indefatigable close to it. Indefatigable drove away from Chaos 2 as the latter got underneath, before Chaos 2 flipped both Atomic and Indefatigable onto their sides in rapid succession. While Atomic was able to self-right immediately, Indefatigable could not, and was deemed immobilised while Chaos 2 continued flipping Atomic around the arena until it could no longer function.

"Indefatigable? Ha ha ha ha... yeah. Invincible? Yeah... invisible, more like. Inflammable? Hardly."

— Jonathan Pearce as the immobile Indefatigable is attacked by Sergeant Bash

Sgt. Bash torches Indefatigable

Chaos 2 throws Indefatigable out of the arena

Sergeant Bash grabbed Indefatigable by its forklift while shooting flames at it and he pushed it into a CPZ, before Chaos 2 came in and flipped it over the wall and out of the arena, the second time in the show's history where a robot was thrown out of the arena. With this, Indefatigable was eliminated from the Fourth Wars.

"Chaos 2 did it to Firestorm in the final of the last wars, and he's done it again."

— Craig Charles

Results

Wins/Losses

• Wins: 0
• Losses: 1

Series Record

Official image of Indefatigable

Series	Indefatigable Series Record
The First Wars	Did not enter
The Second Wars	Did not enter
The Third Wars	Did not enter
The Fourth Wars	Heat, Round 1
The Fifth Wars	Did not enter
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

Outside Robot Wars

Brian Olliver also competed in the spin-off show Techno Games, along with his two granddaughters, Michelle Lloyd and Rachael Pitman. In the 2001 series, they entered a Shot Putt robot called Armstrong and a solar panel powered racer called Goliath. However, like Indefatigable, these two robots fared very poorly, with Armstrong failing to throw the ball out of the cage, and Goliath failing to move at all during its race against Push It.

The team returned for the 2002 series, entering the Natural Rope Climb competition with Green Wiggly, which failed to climb the rope at all in its heat against RC1. The team also entered a revised version of Armstrong in the Shot Putt for the same series, setting a new world record of 15.6m on its first throw, which was quickly shattered by fellow competitors Blisteringly Better By Far and Total Recoil. However, Armstrong failed to throw the ball out of the cage on its second throw, resulting in it finishing fifth overall despite achieving a greater distance on its first throw than Sir Lobalot.

Indefatigable Mangolier

Since Indefatigable's run in Robot Wars, the team has made another robot armed with a overhead spinning bar called Indefatigable Mangolier.

Indefatigable was later scrapped in the years following the cancellation of Robot Wars with Brian Olliver now living in Bulgaria.

Trivia

• Indefatigable was the only robot that Chaos 2 flipped out of the arena that was not invertible, nor have a Self-righting mechanism.
• Indefatigable's loss can be viewed as controversial, as Atomic was immobilised immediately after self-righting, shortly before Indefatigable was immobilised itself.
• Indefatigable was the only robot flipped out of the arena by Chaos 2 that did not return for another series. The other five robots that Chaos 2 flipped out all made future appearances.
  • It also has the distinction of being the first robot to be flipped out of the arena in its only battle.
• Both of Indefatigable's opponents fought Hypno-Disc at some point and flipped it over, and also won a heat by beating S.M.I.D.S.Y. in the heat final after throwing it out of the arena, before losing in the second round of the semi-finals of that series.
• Indefatigable was the first robot to be introduced in the main competition of the Fourth Wars and the first robot to be eliminated from that series.