Not to be confused with fictional competitor Plague from the Robot Wars video games.
- "We have got to be the most insane people entering in robot wars, series 4 ... our current robot is PLAGUE this little spawn of satans mother-in-law is a heavy weight contender, and its a bit good too"
- — Team R.A.T. introduce PLAGUE on their website
PLAGUE was a heavyweight robot built to apply for Series 4 of Robot Wars. Built by a team of three A-level students, it is unknown whether the team attempted to qualify for series 4 or any other series.
Design[]
PLAGUE's mild steel chassis
PLAGUE was a wedge-shaped robot armed with a front-hinged arm, which could function either as a flipper or an axe, according to the team's website, and a rear-mounted angle grinder that could allegedly hit 5000rpm. The team also boasted that the arm could lift up to two tonnes.[3]
- "we know that it can kill, ( we where thowing {sic} 2Xbreeze-blocks with it half way across my garden"
- — Team R.A.T. talk highly of their main weapon
PLAGUE's front-hinged flipping arm module
When affixed with the 40mm steel axe head, the team claimed the weapon was powerful enough to punch holes through 3mm aluminium and 2.5mm stainless steel, the latter of which made up the robot's armour. The team also mentioned several alternative weapon pods, so PLAGUE may have had even more configurations planned before entering Series 4.
- "There is also the option of different wepon {sic} pods to go on it. which is nice!"
- — The team confirm PLAGUE's modular weaponry
The robot's chassis was constructed from mild steel square bar welded together. PLAGUE was estimated to have cost approximately £2500 in total.
Series Record[]
| Series | PLAGUE Series Record |
|---|---|
| The First Wars | Did not enter |
| The Second Wars | Did not enter |
| The Third Wars | Did not enter |
| The Fourth Wars | Failed to qualify |
| 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[]
In 2021, PLAGUE was put up for sale on eBay, with listings to buy the robot having ended[4].
Trivia[]
- "Creation of the website after looking round loads of other Robot Wars sites. Is our robot the only Plague? No, we are not the only Plague. It turns out that Team R.A.T. got there very much first, so we're changing our name."
- — Andrew Marchant on abandoning the name Plague in favour of Tornado[5]
- It is known that future Robot Wars champion Tornado was originally going to be named "Plague", but abandoned this name to avoid sharing the name with Team R.A.T's "PLAGUE" which had been built first.