- "The Udale family must have a weird home life, dreaming up two cold steel chisel spikes for the cow's horns, the shell's steel plate. They're going to milk this for all it's worth, let's be honest!"
- — Jonathan Pearce introduces Robocow
Robocow was a competitor robot that competed exclusively in Series 3 of Robot Wars. It lost its only battle against General Carnage in the first round, and did not appear in any other series.
Team Tarantula would later fail to qualify for Series 4 with Son of Robocow, and enter the first series of Robot Wars Extreme with The Spider.
Design
Robocow in the arena
Robocow was a low box-shaped robot themed around a robotic cow, with a 3mm solid steel shell and armed with a pair of steel chisel 'horns' at the front. It also featured a wooden tail with a mop at the end, and was originally fitted with a head made by Carol Udale, the wife of team captain John, the design of which appeared to be a reference to the titular protagonist of Robocop. However, the head had to be removed before Robocow's first fight due to weight constrictions, similar to the circumstances that affected Cerberus in the next series.
Qualification
- "At the auditions I think I was more excited than when I went to the actual event. When we got to the auditions we had to wait for at least one hour outside and made some good friends with other roboteers especially SumpThing. Eventually we were asked to go in and a man took us round the back of the building and through a big door. We had to use a trolley to get robocow inside. First we signed in, then we gave the transmitters to a lady at a desk and then had a break. Later when we did the trial run the robot had problems but we got some advice from the RobotWars people and Robocow was photographed and filmed."
- — Robert Udale describes the auditions on the Robocow website
Robocow attended the Series 3 auditions, and despite some difficulties whilst doing the obstacle course, it was selected to compete.
For Series 4, the team built an improved robot called Son of Robocow, but this version failed to qualify for currently unknown reasons.
Robot History
Series 3
- "...Robocow. Oh, dad. You've lost your head completely."
- — Jonathan Pearce before Activate is called in Robocow's battle against General Carnage
General Carnage lifts Robocow
Robocow is lifted against the angle grinder by General Carnage
Robocow started rather slowly in its battle against General Carnage. It then bounced off its opponent and almost drove down the pit, but managed to steer away.
- "Oh, dairy, dairy me..."
- — Another of Jonathan Pearce's puns, this one on Robocow's poor performance
Sgt. Bash grabs hold of Robocow while Matilda breaks the tail and gets stuck on Bash
The House Robots swarm around the overturned Robocow
General Carnage then came in behind Robocow and got its lifting arm and claw under Robocow and managed to lift Robocow up and drag it across the arena floor. After getting stuck on an arena spike, Robocow was pushed towards Matilda, who used her chainsaw on the top armour, after which Robocow seemed to have stopped moving for some time. It did manage to move across the arena floor, but very sluggishly. Eventually Robocow was pushed near a CPZ and Sir Killalot flipped it over. Shunt then spent the remainder of the battle causing damage to Robocow's exposed machinery before cease was called.
- "Robots do not have the milk of human kindness. Udder destruction."
- — Craig Charles makes a pun after the battle, which was booed by the audience
Results
| ROBOCOW - RESULTS | ||
| Series 3 | ||
| The Third Wars - UK Championship Heat, Round 1 | ||
| Heat B, Round 1 | vs. General Carnage | Lost |
Wins/Losses
- Wins: 0
- Losses: 1
Series Record
| Main Series | Robocow Series Record |
|---|---|
| The First Wars | Did not enter |
| The Second Wars | Did not enter |
| The Third Wars | Heat, Round 1 |
| The Fourth Wars | Failed to qualify with Son of Robocow |
| 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 |
| Robot Wars Extreme | Appearances |
| Series 1 | Entered with The Spider |
| Series 2 | Did not enter |
Trivia
Official Series 3 photo
- Robocow's statistics board in its heat featured two errors; it claimed Robocow was 6.6 meters wide and the Notes section read "Has a wagging wooden tale", when tail would be the correct spelling.