Rear-hinged flippers

Rear-hinged flippers
Eruption's powerful flipper throws Big Nipper over
Weapon Category	Flipping weapons
Robots
Pioneer(s)	Chaos (Flipping arm) Chaos 2, Facet (Conventional flipper)
Notable Robots	Apollo, Bigger Brother, Dantomkia, Eruption, Gravity, Rapid, Thermidor 2, TR2, Wheely Big Cheese
House Robots	Matilda

"Flippers are great because while you're able to throw the other robot around, it means you can control the fight. With the Apollo team it's not all about sending your opponent home in a bin bag. We're there to have fun too and we always feel a flipper brings some of the most exciting parts of Robot Wars."

— Dave and Alan Young on their decision to design, build and enter Apollo

Rear-hinged flippers are the more common of the two types of flipping weapons seen in Robot Wars. Prior to Series 3, most rear-hinged weapons seen in Robot Wars were lifters.

The weapon debuted in the form of Series 2 competitor Chaos, as the rear-hinged flipping arm. Whilst the arm continued to be used throughout the original series in designs such as Gemini, Hydra and Ewe 2, the more famous design arrived in Series 3 with the arrival of Chaos 2 and Facet. With a wider flipping plate and powerful CO₂ reserves, Chaos 2 won two consecutive UK Championships and spawned dozens of imitators.

Aside from Chaos 2, a number of famous robots have achieved success with this weapon, including the Series 8 champion and third-place finisher, Apollo and TR2, and Series 10 champion Eruption. Other competition-winning robots with this weapon include Bulldog Breed and Bigger Brother, whilst robots such as Dantomkia, Wheely Big Cheese, Atomic, Thermidor 2 and Gravity have all become famous due to their powerful flippers.

Definition

One half of Gemini throws Tornado over

• Flippers aim to propel another robot upwards and allow gravity and torque to flip the robot over. This contrasts with lifting weapons, which aim to lift, push and tip a robot onto its back or side.
  • A conventional flipper is defined as a flipper designed to get the entire mechanism underneath its opponent. The surface area of the flipper is much bigger than that of a flipping arm.
  • A flipping arm is typically narrow in width, but extends the same length as a conventional flipper. It usually features a prong or small wedge on the end to help get under opponents and an extender to provide additional leverage.
• The weapon is considered rear-hinged because the hinges are at the top of the robot (usually at the top of a wedge or the end of a box-section). When the robot fires its flipper, it gives the impression that a robot is opening its "mouth."

Advantages and Disadvantages

Advantages

"Ever since helping Rex to build Recyclopse, I wanted to harness the power of Recyclopse's tongue in a more effective way. By hinging the flipper at the back (instead of the front), you only have to poke a small part of the front blade under your opponent to be able to chuck them"

— George Francis, explaining to Tectonic Robot Wars the weaponry of Chaos and Chaos 2

Chaos 2 flips Trident

Apollo launches PP3D, whose removable link was knocked out as a result of this flip

The invertible St. Agro

Tsunami effortlessly throws Constrictor over the wall

Bigger Brother clamps Tornado

For Series 10, Eruption featured no fewer than four interchangeable flipper arms, including one with additional armour plating to withstand Carbide's blows

• Earlier in the show's run, battles could be ended very quickly by flipping robots over. The largest advantage of rear-hinged flippers is that only a small part of the weapon needs to gain purchase in order to make the crucial attack. Chaos 2 was able to instantly defeat opponents such as Trident and Indefatigable with such attacks.
• Unlike all other flipping and lifting weapons, rear-hinged flippers rely on gravity to cause damage to the robots. This makes them more dangerous than front-hinged flippers and lifters, which rely on external factors for damage. During later series, this became the most viable way for robots with this weapon to achieve victory, as self-righting mechanisms or invertible designs were almost always present. Apollo was able to immobilise both Kan-Opener and PP3D by launching them with such force that their landings knocked out both robots' removable links, as well as damaging Rusty and Apocalypse through flipping them in Series 9 and 10 respectively.
• Both variants of rear-hinged flipper can easily double as a self-righting mechanism depending on their design and power. Chaos 2 was the first to do so successfully, in its Series 3 Heat Final against The Big Cheese, and nearly all robots with these weapons were capable of self-righting without the need for a second weapon or srimech.
• They are possible to fit into an invertible design, as shown by Wheely Big Cheese and St. Agro.
• As the most powerful of flipping weapons, the rear-hinged flipper is ideally suited to throwing other robots out of the arena. Of the seventeen robots to achieve this feat more than once, only four were not armed with this particular weapon.
  • Gemini was the only robot to demonstrate this capability using a rear-hinged flipping arm.
• It is possible for these types of flippers to double as a clamp, increasing the weapon's versatility by allowing it to grab hold of opponents positioned in the space between the flipper and the robot's body. This was the reasoning behind the weapon designs for Reactor and Constrictor, and has been successfully demonstrated by Bigger Brother, The Grim Reaper, Apollo and Rapid in combat.
• Rear-hinged flippers, like lifters, could offer a useful weapons synergy with overhead axes or hammers. Comengetorix and Hydra were a handful of robots to pair flipping arms alongside their overhead weapons, while Axe-Awe and Iron-Awe 2 combined their axes with a larger front flipper.
• Sustained attacks using rear-hinged flippers can prove beneficial in the event of Judges' decisions, usually by exemplifying greater control and/or aggression over opponents. Chaos 2 vs Stinger (Series 4) and the Series 10 final between Eruption and Carbide are two notable instances where flipper-wielding robots prevailed based on those respective criteria.
• Depending on the design, newer rear-hinged flippers can also be adapted to include interchangeable configurations. Examples include duplicates of the original arm - ensuring a stock of spare components to replace any damaged originals - as well as optional weapon and/or armour attachments. Eruption's arsenal not only included flipper arms with extra armour plates as defence against spinners, but also small grabber and drum spinner modules, which could be attached to the top of the flipper for controlling or damaging opponents.

Disadvantages

Ceros is unable to self-right after its gas supply depletes

Bigger Brother's flipper severs in its attempt to flip Hypno-Disc

Storm 2 exhibits dominance over The Grim Reaper in Series 7

Tornado spears through the space beneath Anarchy's flipper in Series 6

St. Agro's wedge is destroyed

TR2 lies on its back, its flipper disabled after running out of CO₂ and being pulled back open during its Head-to-Head against Apollo

• As with all other pneumatic weapons, CO₂-powered flippers only have a limited supply and amount of flips before running out of gas. Having unsuccessfully flipped Tough as Nails around the arena in its Series 7 Heat Final, Robochicken's flipper lacked the power to throw it out of the arena when it was finally in a position to do so.
• The limited gas supply of flippers prevents them from self-righting when the supply runs out. Robots such as Chaos 2, Thermidor 2, Tsunami and TR2 all notably succumbed to defeat once they became low on CO₂, and were unable to use their flippers to self-right after a certain amount of flips.
  • Flipping arms can be even less capable as self-righting mechanisms, depending on the robot's design. Due to various issues with the design of the robot or their arms, Chaos and the Series 6/Extreme 2 version of Hydra were all unable to self-right after being flipped over.
• Flipping plates are often fragile and vulnerable to being damaged by axes, hammers, crushers, or heavy rotating weapons. Chaos 2's flipper sustained damage from robots like Razer, Dominator 2 and 13 Black throughout its career.
  • Heavy rotating weapons are especially capable of twisting the flipper arm or plate to the point that the weapon no longer sits in place, rendering it almost useless for breaching ground clearances. Both Apollo and Eruption required extensive repairs in Series 9 after taking heavy hits from the bar spinners Carbide and Ironside3 respectively.
  • In some cases, the whole weapon can be broken off its hinges entirely, as seen in Bigger Brother's attempt to flip Hypno-Disc in the Series 5 Grand Final.
  • Rear-hinged flipping arms are especially susceptible to breaking off after a few flips or being damaged by spinning or crushing weapons. Both Comengetorix and Oblark suffered from this issue in at least one of their battles.
• Flippers without sufficient knock-out power became less damaging when self-righting mechanisms and invertible robots became more popular.
• If an opponent gets underneath a flipper's ground clearance, the flipper-wielding robot is instantly set at a disadvantage as the lower end of the flipper is no longer able to reach the ground to achieve any flips. Tornado and Storm 2 had particularly low ground clearances that allowed them to defeat opponents such as Chaos 2, The Grim Reaper, Gravity and Eruption in this way.
• Being narrower, rear-hinged flipping arms are harder to get underneath an opponent than full-sized flippers, often missing their targets and requiring skillful driving to flip them over. George Francis particularly cited these weaknesses as being detrimental to Chaos' performance in Series 2.
• When the flipper is opened, the robot's internals could be left vulnerable to front-on attacks from spike, spear, crushing or spinning weapons, unless the space beneath is well-armoured. Anarchy exhibited this weakness in its Series 6 Heat Final against Tornado, where the latter frequently drove its spike into the space beneath its flipper, albeit without any significant effect.
• If the robot's wedge or the lower lip of its flipper is damaged, the robot's ability to negotiate an opponent's ground clearance is instantly diminished, rendering the wedge and/or flipper completely ineffective. St. Agro's and Bulldog Breed's losses to X-Terminator were due in no small part to their flippers getting buckled by the latter's flywheel.
• If a robot is stranded on its rear, gravity can keep a flipper open and prevent it from self-righting. This has been demonstrated by Ripper in Series 7, and TR2 in Series 8.

List of Robots with Rear-Hinged Flippers

Robots are listed alphabetically.

DESKTOP MODE ONLY: Robots which are not heavyweight entries are listed with a green background. House Robots are listed with a gold background.

Robot	Series Appearances with Rear-Hinged Flippers	Notes	Image
Apollo	Series 8-10	Can operate at a lower power level when the robot needs to self-right. Only robot to flip the Revival Series versions of Dead Metal, Matilda and Shunt. Series 8 Champion.
Anarchy	Series 6	Most successful walker in Robot Wars; Heat Finalist and winner of Best Engineered Award in Series 6.
Ansgar	Extreme 1	Interchangeable with a spear. Lacked the power to flip other robots, but won one fight while aggressively firing its flipper in its opponents' direction.
Anto	Extreme 1	Antweight; first televised competitor from Team Danby.
Atomic	Series 4-5, 7, Extreme 1	Achieved four consecutive out of the arena flips, and current record holder for most consecutive out of the arena flips. Series 7 Semi-Finalist.
Axe-Awe	Series 5, Extreme 1	Front flipper combined with an axe.
Bamm Bamm	Dutch Series 1	Narrow pneumatic flipping arm with a spatula-like lip; one of the robot's interchangeable turret-mounted weapons for this series only. Dutch Series 1 Grand Finalist in this incarnation.
Barbaric Response	Series 6-7, Extreme 2	Pneumatically-operated weapon was described as a 'body flipper' and could act as a srimech.
Beast	Series 5, 7-8	Known as 8645T in Series 5 and 8645T 2 in Series 7, where the flipper was combined with a long rear axe. Used only a full pressure flipper in Series 8 as Beast.
Bigger Brother	Series 4-7, Extreme 1-2, Nickelodeon	Designed to simply flick itself back on to its wheels, lowering the amount of CO2 used when self-righting. Weapon also doubles as a clamp. Series 5 runners-up and Extreme 2 Minor Meltdown Champion.
Bolt from the Blue	Series 4	Powered by compressed air. Only had a maximum of five or six flips per battle.
Bulldog Breed	Series 4-7, Extreme 1-2	Extreme 2 Tag Team Champion (with Robochicken) and Series 7 Semi-Finalist. Also only robot to flip Pussycat out of the arena.
Cataclysmic Variabot	Extreme 1-2	Arm was interchangeable with a pneumatic axe or spike. 200psi flipping arm not used in battle.
Centurion	Series 4	Replaced a lifter from Series 3.
Ceros	Series 7	Weapon system incorporated large hydraulic rams converted to run on CO2. Features design similarities to a variety of earlier Inertia Labs machines.
Chaos	Series 2	First UK series robot to attempt to self-right. First robot with a rear-hinged flipping arm, made out of parts from a Phantom II fighter jet.
Chaos 2	Series 3-6, Extreme 1-2	First and most notable robot with a rear-hinged conventional flipper, first to throw another robot out of the arena. First competitor to flip Shunt. Series 3 and 4 Champion.
Chroma	Extreme 2	Antweight competitor.
Colossus	Series 6-7	Combined with rear spinning weapon
Constrictor	Series 7	Arm doubled as a clamp. Functioned more as a lifter, but described as a pneumatic flipper.
Cutlet	Series 7	Featherweight. Flipper was interchangeable with a cutting disc.
Cygnus X3	Series 7	Featherweight; referred to onscreen as simply Cygnus. Successor to AM CVn and unrelated to Cygnus X-1 from the same series.
Cygnus X-1	Series 7	Did not function as a self-righting mechanism.
Dantomkia	Series 6-8, Extreme 2	Achieved nine out of the arena flips, more than any other competitor to date. Series 6 and 7 Semi-Finalist.
Diotoir	Series 3-5, Extreme 1	Armed with a spring-loaded flipping arm in Series 3 and 4, and upgraded to use a flipping scoop in Series 5. Later used a lifter in Extreme 2 and a vertical flywheel in Series 10.
DTK	Series 7	Essentially a scaled-down version of Dantomkia. Series 7 Featherweight Champion.
Eruption	Series 8-10	Could apply interchangeable attachments to the full-pressure flipper, including a claw to grab hold of and carry robots around the arena, and a set of small vertical discs. Series 10 introduced a set of interchangeable flipper arms, including those with extra armour plating. First competitor to flip another out in Series 8. Series 9 runner-up and Series 10 champion.
Ewe 2	Series 7	Flipping arm running at 12 bar.
Facet	Series 3	Managed to throw Adam Clark's featherweight Armadillo eight feet into the air in the pits.
Flippa	Series 7	Flipping weapon was the robot's namesake, but also armed with a drum spinner.
GBH 2	Series 6	Rear flipper only, predominantly a front-hinged flipper.
Gemini	Series 4-5, Extreme 1	Clusterbot. Series 4 Heat Finalist and Pinball Warrior Tournament winner. Most notable robot with rear-hinged flipping arms and only one to throw another out of the arena.
General Carnage 2	Series 5	The only robot to flip another out of the arena using a flipper and not reach a heat final.
Gladiator	Series 7, Extreme 2	Competed in Series 7 as G2.
Gravity	Series 7, Dutch Series 2	Equipped with a flipping arm in Dutch Series 2, and a conventional flipper in Series 7. First robot to flip Dead Metal, Cassius Chrome and Growler. Series 7 Semi-Finalist and Dutch Series 2 Heat Finalist.
Hades	Extreme 2	Antweight competitor.
Hammerhead 2	Series 7, Dutch Series 2	Flipper was mounted at the rear, forming the robot's 'flipping tail'.
Hard	Series 7	Also withdrew from Dutch Series 2; the team instead competed with an axe-wielding loanerbot of the same name.
Henry 2	Series 4	Predecessor Henry in Series 3 did not have an active weapon.
Herbinator	Series 7	Operated by 16 BANG pneumatic cylinders.
Hodaf The Bad	Series 7	Armed with a front flipper and rear disc.
Hydra	Series 5-7, Extreme 2	Used in tandem with a hammer from Series 6 onwards. Series 6 Heat Finalist and Extreme 2 Tag Team Terror runner-up, paired with Barbaric Response.
Iron-Awe	Series 6-7, 10, Extreme 2	Iron-Awe 2 and Iron-Awe 2.1 had a front flipper combined with an axe, while Iron-Awe 6 had only a flipper. The flipper of Iron-Awe 6 failed to work in any of its televised fights.
Judge Shred	Series 4, 6-7, Extreme 1	Did not use a flipper in its original Series 3 version, but then competed with various flippers as Judge Shred 2, Judge Shred 2½ and Judge Shred 3.
Juggernot 2	Series 5	Sacrificed its self-righting mechanism to meet the weight limit.
Ka-Pow!	Series 8 (pilot)	Competed in pilot episode only.
Kronic the Wedgehog	Series 4-7	Only the front weapon was a rear hinged flipper. A second, side-hinged flipper was added between Series 5 and 7.
Killer Carrot 2	Series 6-7, Extreme 2	Struggled with overbalancing in Series 6 and Extreme 2, so the flipper was centralised and upgraded for Series 7.
Legion	Extreme 1	Antweight clusterbot, both armed with flippers.
Leveller 2	Series 7
M2	Series 7	Threw two robots out of the arena in its first battle. Series 7 Semi-Finalist.
Mad Dog	Extreme 2
Mastiff	Extreme 1	Second World Championship only.
Matilda	Series 8-10	Throughout the Classic run, Matilda used a pair of separate pneumatic tusks lifting from within the bodyshell. The Revival Series build combined her tusks and head into a front assembly, forming a conventional flipper with significantly increased power.
Maverick	Series 4	Predecessor to Rick.
Mechaniac	Series 7	Only Austrian representative in Robot Wars.
Mega Morg	Series 7, Extreme 1-2	An advancement of the traditional lifter used by The Morgue in Series 4. Both Mini Morg in Extreme 2 and Mega Morg in Extreme 1 and Series 7 used a variety of forked and scoop-like flippers.
Meggamouse	Series 9	Capable of flipping 300kg.
Merlin	Series 8 (pilot)	Competed in the unaired pilot episode only.
Night Raider	Extreme 2
Oblark	Extreme 1	Flipping arm paired with an axe.
ODT-Zero	Dutch Series 2
Or Te!	Series 8	Successor to Bigger Brother.
Overkill GTI	Series 4	Two pneumatic lifting/flipping arms on the front wedge.
Philipper	Extreme 2, Dutch Series 2	Armed with a front flipper and rear crusher. Previously used two lifters in Extreme and Dutch Series 1.
Prince of Awe	Series 7	Series 7 Featherweight Finalist.
Prizephita	Series 3-5	Competed in Series 4 as Prizephita Mk2, and in Series 5 as Prizephita Mach 2. Withdrew from Series 8 as Prizephita Mk 3.
Project One	Dutch Series 1	Paired with an axe. Functioned more as a lifter.
Project Two: Hex'em	Dutch Series 2	One-wheel drive.
Raging Knightmare	Series 7	Series 7 Semi-Finalist.
Raging Reality	Series 6, Extreme 2	Achieved two of the six out-of-the-arena flips by competitors in Series 6.
Rapid	Series 9-10	Exerts seven tonnes of force, the most powerful flipper in Robot Wars. Reportedly threw a van one metre into the air. Series 10 Grand Finalist.
Reactor	Series 4-5	Flipper also doubled as a clamp, leading the team to coin the phrase "Flamp".
Reaper	Series 8 (pilot)	Replica of The Grim Reaper. Competed only in the untelevised pilot.
Reptirron The Second	Series 6-7	Described as a "high pressure lifter".
Revenge of Trouble & Strife	Series 6-7, Extreme 2	Combined with a full-body spinner.
Rhino	Series 7	Successor to Reactor, combined with a rear spinning blade.
Rick	Series 5, 7, Extreme 2, Nickelodeon	Nickelodeon International Tag Team co-champion.
Rip	Series 7	A scaled-down version of Ripper. Series 7 Featherweight Finalist.
Ripper	Series 7	Used a large, low-pressure flipper on Robot Wars before competing as a full-pressure flipper on the live circuit.
Robochicken	Series 4-7, Extreme 2	Extreme 2 Tag Team Champion with Bulldog Breed. The flipper doubled as an axe in Series 7.
Robo Savage	Series 9	Battle of the Stars only. Flipper design similar to BattleBots competitor Bronco.
Roobarb	Series 6-7, Extreme 2	Operated on low pressure with relative success.
Rusty	Series 9	Low-pressure flipper with a hardened steel scoop blade. Previously competed on the live circuit as the second version of Ceros.
Sater	Dutch Series 1	Dutch Series 1 Grand Finalist, but never managed to use its flipper on an opponent.
Scraptosaur	Series 7, Dutch Series 1-2	Dutch Series 2 Grand Finalist.
Sir Chromalot	Series 5-6, Extreme 1-2	Featured a rear axe-like spike in Series 5, which was removed in Series 6 to allow the robot to self-right.
Sniper	Dutch Series 1	Heat Finalist in Dutch Series 1.
Son of Armageddon	German Series	Finished third in the German series.
Spawn Again	Series 5-7, Extreme 1-2, US Season 1	Series 5 and 6 Semi-Finalist.
St. Agro	Series 6-7	A double-sided double flipper, powered by a single pneumatic ram. Series 7 Semi-Finalist.
Steg 2	Series 4	UK Semi-Finalist; successor to Series 3 Grand Finalist Steg-O-Saw-Us.
The Black Beast	Dutch Series 2	Similar in design to fellow Dutch competitor Sater.
The Grim Reaper	Series 7	Heat winner in Series 7. Did not use a flipper in its Series 3 appearance.
The Hassocks Hog	Series 6-7	Described as more of a lifter in Series 6, upgraded for Series 7.
Thermidor 2	Series 4-8, Extreme 1-2	Designed to resemble a lobster. First competitor to throw two other robots out of the arena in one battle. Series 4 and Series 7 Semi-Finalist.
The Swarm	Series 10	Flipper belongs to Rubber Duck, one part of the four-part clusterbot. Capable of flipping a motorbike.
TR2	Series 8-9	Combined with a static axe at the rear in Series 8. Series 8 Grand Finalist. Appeared only in Battle of the Stars during Series 9.
Tricerabot 3.0	US Season 2	Capable of flipping even when inverted, complimenting the robot's primarily ramming attacks. Runner-up in US Season 2. Did not use a flipper in US Season 1.
Trouble 'n' Strife	Series 5	Combined with a rear horizontal spinner.
Tsunami	Series 7, German Series	German Series runner-up and UK Heat Finalist.
Turbulence	Series 8 (pilot)	Competed in pilot episode and Whiteboard battles only.
Twister (UK)	Series 5
Weber	Series 10	Represented Russia in Robot Wars: World Series.
Weld-Dor 3	Series 6, Extreme 2	Displayed powerful self-righting, but did not manage to flip an opponent.
Wheely Big Cheese	Series 4-5, Extreme 1	Holder of the biggest flip in the original run of Robot Wars, against Axe-Awe. Series 4 and 5 Semi-Finalist.
Whipper	Series 7	Featherweight Championship finalist.
Zap	Extreme 1	Middleweight.
Zeus	Extreme 2
√3²	Dutch Series 2	Elevation, one third of the three-way clusterbot built by WJ Dijkstra, was armed with a pneumatic flipping arm.