Lightning

Lightning
Lightning in Series 7
Participation Information
UK Series	7, Extreme 2
Team Information
Team	Team Lightning
Team Members	Laurie Calvert Richard De Smedt Albert Schuller (Series 7)
Robot Statistics
Weight	96kg
Dimensions	0.47m x 1.33m x 1.20m
Power	2 x 750W electric motors
Weapons	Side Flipper
Statistics correct as of its most recent show/competition appearance, or if not applicable, qualification attempt.

"This is Lightning, just wait for the thunder!"

— Lawrie Calvert in Series 7

Lightning was a competitor robot that fought in Series 7 of Robot Wars as well as the Tag Team Terror in the second series of Robot Wars Extreme. It reached the Heat Final in Series 7, losing to Gravity, and the second round of the Extreme 2 Tag Team Terror alongside The Steel Avenger, losing to eventual champions Bulldog Breed and Robochicken.

Lightning had previously entered Series 5 and 6, but failed to qualify each time.

Design

Lightning was the brainchild of Laurie Calvert, who came up with the idea for the robot after seeing Cassius self-right in Series 2. It took the team several years to gather the sufficient funds to assemble Lightning, with the project costing £4000 and the robot receiving to £2500 worth of parts.

The Extreme 2 version of Lightning that also failed to qualify for Series 6

"The robot's design philosophy is to combine ramming motion with flipping action for maximum devastation."

— Team Lightning on their robot

Lightning with rear spikes in the arena

Lightning was a blue and silver wedge-shaped robot with two large rear spikes and a novel side-mounted pneumatic flipping weapon. In Extreme 2, this consisted of two small side flippers which opened outward from both sides of the robot in a similar manner to a front-hinged flipper, although only one of the flippers allowed Lightning to self-right. In Series 7 the flippers were replaced with one large side flipper, which could act as the robot's srimech and featured interchangeable panels and flipper configurations which could be changed to suit its opponents. However, this was not permitted under the Series 7 rules, so Team Lightning chose to use the single panel flipper for all of its battles as it was considered twice as powerful as the smaller ones.

The Series 7 Lightning self-righting

Lightning's weapon set-up was unique among flippers, which usually opened straight up or fired outwards. The robot's key tactic was to drive under other robots and use the flipper(s) to throw them onto their sides, against the wall or into the pit. However, the team lacked experience in the arena, and the robot had a high ground clearance that was easily exploited by robots such as Bulldog Breed and Gravity.

Alien Drivers

Lappal and another alien

When Lightning was built, Nigel Booth from the Alien films, and a friend of Calvert's, commissioned four small foam aliens to be added to Lightning in the hope that they would fall off during the fight for extra interest. The idea stemmed from a backstory that Lightning was constructed from the remnants of a crashed alien spaceship.

One particular alien, named Lappal, derived from the names of Laurie, Phil and Albert (Phil Denyer was the first engineer, replaced by Richard De Smedt) was given the task of "driving" the robot. Lappal sat in a special triangular section on top, next to the flipper.

"The real idea of this section was to act as a 'hook' to trap any robots on top of us so they could not drive off, and we could take them places, such as the pit or House Robots (see Nasty Humphrey in our first Tag Team fight). It worked well!"

— Laurie Calvert

Qualification

Lightning before battling Razer at the Series 5 qualifiers

Lightning first entered Series 5. At the Series 5 qualifiers, it fought three battles. The first battle was against Razer. Despite five punctures, Lightning kept going to the end, but still lost the battle. It then fought Golden Eye, which it defeated by flipping it until it broke down. The third battle was a melee with six robots in total including Razer and Shunt. These performances were not enough to earn a place in the series, as Lightning failed to qualify

"We didn't qualify for this year. In one way I'm pleased because this gives us time to develop and get competitive rather than be cannon fodder for another robot. Roll on next year....or other shows!"

— Lightning website

At the Series 6 qualifiers, Lightning was drawn against Barbaric Response, Twister and TX-108, but TX-108 was forced to withdraw before the battle. Lightning charged across the arena into Twister, knocking them away then ramming them. Barbaric Response came in, and the three robots rammed each other, until Lightning flipped Twister onto its back weapon, where it became stuck. Barbaric Response tried to get under Lightning and flip it, but struggled to get under the sides. However, when the two met head on, Barbaric Response got under Lightning and flipped it on its back, and Lightning could not self-right. Immobile, Lightning lost the battle and consequently failed to qualify.

"Albert was bitterly disappointed, Richard was relieved because if that had have happened on the show (and it would have eventually) we would have been sitting ducks for the House Robots. I was somewhere in the middle. The only damage to Lightning was a few scratches and lost aerials (when the House bot pushed us upside down across the arena to the pit area). We could have fought again. 1. We need a front scoop that isn't too thick so we go under them. 2. We need double the gas pressure so we can self-right. The good news is that Lightning got many admiring comments on how well made it was."

— Lightning website

At the Series 7 qualifiers, Lightning was drawn against Alchemy, Barber-Ous 2'n a Bit and Colossus. Alchemy broke down at the start of the battle. Barber-Ous 2'n a Bit started well, damaging Lightning's front scoop and breaking one of its rear spikes. However, Lightning was able to knock one of Barber-Ous' wheels off, and it soon broke down after being attacked by the other robots. Lightning flipped Colossus, but Colossus self-righted, so Lightning flipped them again. This time, Colossus failed to self-right, leaving Lightning as the winner of the battle, giving it an automatic place in Series 7.

Team Lightning expressed interest in applying for Series 8 of Robot Wars with an upgraded version of Lightning. However, the team did not have enough time to acquire sponsors or make the necessary upgrades, forcing Lightning to pull out.^Citation?

Robot History

Extreme 2

"Will it strike twice? They have double flippers!"

— Jonathan Pearce

Lightning's first appearance was in a Tag Team partnership with The Steel Avenger.

"We teamed up with the Lightning boys...their first appearance on Robot Wars and we were pleased to be partnering such a well-built machine."

— John Willoughby

Lightning and Humphrey exposed to Psycho

Its first round was in a battle against returning robots Nasty Humphrey and Stinger. Lightning went out first, against Nasty Humphrey. The two robots met in the centre, but Lightning could no get its wedge fully underneath its opponent. Nasty Humphrey's axe struck Lightning twice, but failed to do any significant damage, despite piercing the armour. Lightning pushed Nasty Humphrey again and managed to get further underneath, pushing Nasty Humphrey into Mr. Psycho's CPZ. Psycho's hammer came down, and although the hammer missed, Psycho's wrist still crashed down onto Nasty Humphrey.

"It wasn't a forked attack, it was straight in there, and it wasn't a bolt out of the blue, you could see it coming, Lightning's attack!"

— Jonathan Pearce

Lightning tossed aside by the Disc of Doom

Lightning drove away, allowing Nasty Humphrey to escape Mr Psycho as well. Nasty Humphrey activated the Disc of Doom before Lightning got under it again, wedged beneath Nasty Humphrey, but when driving over the Disc, it skidded in reverse, freeing Nasty Humphrey and allowing it to attack Lightning. Nasty Humphrey missed with its axe, and Lightning got under again and pushed it. The two robots clashed on the Disc of Doom, and once again Lightning was thrown away, whereas the heavier Nasty Humphrey drove over it. After more dodging around the Disc of Doom, Nasty Humphrey tagged Stinger, who charged out and attacked Lightning with the mace. As Stinger began to spin, Lightning retreated and tagged The Steel Avenger. Stinger and The Steel Avenger fought for a while, but when The Steel Avenger pushed Stinger into the pit, it fell in itself.

"Stinger on the brink! And down! Oh, and Steel Avenger follows through and goes down into the pit as well! So they're out of it, leaving Nasty Humphrey and Lightning to fight again, and the bout will end as it started, and it started in fine style, I thought!"

— Jonathan Pearce

Lightning and Nasty Humphrey came out to fight again, and Nasty Humphrey hit one of Lightning's flippers with its axes, jamming it closed. Lightning succeeded in getting its wedge beneath Nasty Humphrey and shunted it into an empty CPZ. Mr. Psycho came in, and both robots fled, but Lightning temporarily became caught beneath Mr. Psycho's track. Mr. Psycho pursued Lightning for while, but Lightning stayed away, and this was edited out of the battle. Lightning escaped and caught up with Nasty Humphrey. who's axe was stuck in the down position, so Lightning pushed it onto the flame pit.

"The new boys Lightning, new to Robot Wars, doing well thus far ... This is a worthy contest, and the two more favoured robots, the more experienced robots let them down!"

— Jonathan Pearce

Nasty Humphrey drove away, only for Lightning to get underneath it again and ram them into Mr. Psycho, before pushing it to the arena wall, and flipping it so it was left stranded on its side. During the last ten seconds, Lightning's flippers finally activated and it managed to side-strand Nasty Humphrey. However, time ran out before Nasty Humphrey could be attacked by the looming Mr Psycho. The judges unanimously voted Lightning and The Steel Avenger through to the next round.

In the second round, Lightning and The Steel Avenger were drawn against Bulldog Breed and Robochicken.

"I think he'll get us over quite easily, so we've got to make sure our self-righters are working well."

— An apprehensive Laurie Calvert, who drew the short straw and had to face Bulldog Breed first

Bulldog Breed flips Lightning against the arena wall

Lightning went out first, against Bulldog Breed.

"Very impressive, Lightning, on the right hand side, very good in the first round victory, I felt, up against Bulldog Breed, which is the single most impressive robot we've seen in the Tag Team Terror"

— Jonathan Pearce at the start of the battle

Bulldog Breed and Lightning dodged each other to begin with. Before long, Bulldog Breed got under Lightning and tossed it against the arena wall. Lightning attempted to self-right, but only succeeded in moving slightly away from the wall, still on its back. Bulldog Breed flipped it again, beaching it on the wall right way up, and moved to position it in attempt to to throw it out of the arena.

"Lightning, teetering on the arena side wall! Lightning, you need to get out of there, otherwise Lightning will suffer a thunderclap of an attack from Bulldog Breed!"

— Jonathan Pearce

The two beaten machines

However, The Steel Avenger came in, and Bulldog Breed retreated as The Steel Avenger knocked Lightning free of the angle grinder. However, this move trapped The Steel Avenger between the wall and Sergeant Bash.

"I said to John, "Get Steel Avenger out and pull us off, you know - cheat!" Because you're meant to tag, but there was no way I could tag him"

— Lawrie Calvert on YouTube

Lightning attacked Bulldog Breed, but seemed to only be able to spin in circles until Growler came out and slammed it into Bulldog Breed, who tossed it back onto the arena wall. The Steel Avenger escaped from Sergeant Bash, as Bulldog Breed flipped Lightning.

"Lightning had its receiver battery fall out so control was lost. Bulldog tried and tried to flip us out but Lightning is a big flat old shape and it wouldn't go. We ended upside-down with our wheels spinning and no control."

— Lightning website

Bulldog Breed was then distracted by attacking Growler. After flipping Growler, Bulldog Breed attacked The Steel Avenger, flipping it into the CPZ where the Robochicken was waiting. Robochicken opened its flipper to pin The Steel Avenger on its side, but The Steel Avenger escaped. It ran back into Bulldog Breed, but its lifter was unable to get under its ground clearance, and it merely drove up and over Bulldog Breed's wedge. Meanwhile, Lightning was unable to self-right and Refbot had begun counting it out. Bulldog Breed flipped the eliminated Lightning as Growler attacked it, then resumed its attacks on The Steel Avenger, tossing it over against the side wall. The Steel Avenger self-righted, and the two darted around as Growler positioned Lightning against an arena wall. Bulldog Breed tossed The Steel Avenger over and kept its open flipper pressed against its baseplate in an attempt to prevent self-righting, but it was forced to retreat in accordance with the "no pinning" rule. Robochicken slid beneath The Steel Avenger and flipped it onto its back. The Steel Avenger self-righted and launched a few axe blows, but Robochicken flipped it up against the immobile Lightning, where it finally broke down and cease was called.

"And I don't think it's going to do too much avenging for its fallen teammate Lightning! Up on its side, it cannot self-right from there."

— Jonathan Pearce as The Steel Avenger is knocked out

Series 7

"...fought previously in a Tag Team, now enters the arena alone..."

— Jonathan Pearce

Lightning strands 13 Black

Lightning shot off from the start and quickly pinned newcomers Herbinator against the side wall. Lightning took damage from veterans The Alien, but when the spinning hammer robot broke down, Lightning was assured a place in the next round. However, 13 Black continued to attack, as John Denny wished to score more aggression points, so Lightning pinned the seeded robot against the side wall, but in the end they both went through. Lightning went on to fight Thor who came third in the Extreme 2 New Blood Championship.

"This was very close with Lightning managing to avoid many of the hammer blows, but Thor being very fast and aggressive"

— Laurie Calvert

Lightning is stuck on Thor's wedge

Lightning pits Thor

Lightning avoided Thor's hammer repeatedly, able to predict the weapon use of its opponent. Lightning opening the pit, and trapped Thor in the CPZ. However, Lightning then reversed onto Thor's wedge, which had come to a standstill, but that didn't stop Lightning taking a few hits from Thor's hammer. Both robots were immobile, so the House Robots and Refbot pushed both robots free. With battle recommenced, Lightning slid beneath Thor and flipped it sideways into the open pit.

"I think Lightning's finished. They're not moving are they, Refbot? Go and check. OH, they are! Well, well, well. That was the old rope-a-drope, Muhammad Ali trick, and now Lighting can push Thor down the pit! And completely turns the battle on its head! Kidology from the Lightning team, and Thor has gone!"

— Jonathan Pearce

Lightning slips under Gravity

Gravity catapults Lightning

This put Lightning against the formidable Dutch machine Gravity in the Heat Final. Already at a disadvantage in terms of flipper power, Lightning was further damaged by a flat tyre. Gravity threw Lightning into the air, with Lightning swiftly self-righting and sliding beneath Gravity, but failing to bring its own flipper into effect. The two robots then rammed into each other in a pushing match, before Gravity flipped Lightning into the air once more, causing something to break inside Lightning, and the valiant machine fell so Refbot counted it out. Its motionless form was joined by Shunt and Dead Metal, who Gravity quickly dispatched as well.

Results

Wins/Losses

• Wins: 3
• Losses: 2

Series Record

• The original Lightning, this model had no weapon but it could travel at 20mph
• Lightning R2, the version of Lightning that failed to qualify for Series 5
• The pre-Extreme 2 version of Lightning that was never finished
• Lightning fighting Iron-Awe at Yeovil in 2002
• Lightning as Thunder in Techno Games
• The Lightning team in Series 7
• Red Dwarf and Space Ranger, Team Lightning's Middleweights
• Lightning on display with Thunder at the 2011 Championships
• The team with Lightstorm Vampire at Techno Games

1/9

Main Series	Lightning 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	Failed to qualify
The Sixth Wars	Failed to qualify
The Seventh Wars	Heat Final
Series 8	Withdrew from application
Series 9	Did not enter
Series 10	Did not enter
Robot Wars Extreme	Appearances
Series 1	Entered
Series 2	Did not enter

Outside Robot Wars

Like many Robot Wars teams, the Lightning team entered Robot Wars' sister show Techno Games with a modified version of Lightning called Thunder. It entered the football tournament and teamed up with its Tag-Team Terror partner The Steel Avenger (called Tin Tackler in Techno Games). Together, the two robots were called Team Flash.

The team also entered Lightstorm, which was the silver medalist in the Rocket Car competitor in 2001, Lightstorm 2, which was the Rocket Car Champion in 2002, Brickbat, which was a Odd Rocket competitor in 2002 and Daft Ada, a Funny Cars competitor in 2003 (which won the NESTA Sportsmanship Award) in Techno Games.

Lightning R2 appeared on the Discovery Channel programme, Robots Revenge, which the first version of Killer Carrot 2 also appeared on.

Lightning also competed on the live circuit for a while, fighting several famous robots such as Series 3-4 champion Chaos 2 and Series 6 champion Tornado. In August 2002, Lightning took on Iron-Awe at an event in Yeovil . Notably, it defeated Tornado in one battle at the Lakeside Robot Zone charity event, organised by the late Steve Merrill, in 2004.

Team Lightning also competed on the Middleweight circuit with Red Dwarf and Space Ranger.

Despite being fully operational, Lightning has since been retired, and now occasionally appears as a static exhibit at live events.

Trivia

• Lawrie Calvert stated that he felt it possible to defeat a robot by flipping it out of the arena, which at that time had not been done.

"I mentioned this to Mat Irvine during filming of the first Techno Games and he said 'keep watching'. The next year was series 3 and the first OOTA by Chaos 2 against Firestorm."

— Laurie Calvert

• Lightning is one of six UK Championship competitors to debut in Robot Wars Extreme: Series 2, and along with Typhoon 2, one of only two to debut outside the New Blood Competition.

External links

• Lightning website (archived)
• Lawrie Calvert's YouTube channel