Though not commonly used as such on Robot Wars, a small number of robots employed rubber armour to protect internal components.
Rubber is a naturally bouncy and absorbent material, used to cushion impacts. As such, a key theoretical advantage is that it can be used to deflect and absorb impacts from damaging kinetic weapons such as axes and heavy spinners.
In practice, the energy produced by most weapons in Robot Wars was largely too high for rubber to be wholly absorbent, comparative to certain plastic-based materials such as HDPE. A successful use was for the decorative horns and spikes of House Robot Matilda, where the rubber attachments often proved more durable than metal equivalents.
Beyond this, the first competitor to adopt rubber as armour was Whirling Dervish in Series 2, whose outer shell consisted of an everted road tyre. Perhaps the most notable usage was by Series 4 finalist Stinger, which used cloth-filled rubber tyres as significant protection for the mechanics within the axlebot's large wheels. Most robots to use rubber combined it with other materials, using it as an absorbent layer above stronger materials underneath.
Definition[]
Rubber armour refers to any sheets of natural or synthetic polymers which exhibits significant elastic-like properties. For simplicity, repurposed road tyres used as armour are classed as rubber-only, regardless of the metallic internal structure due to the limitations of determining these details.
Advantages and Disadvantages[]
Advantages
Sir Chromalot's tyre absorbs S3's flywheel impact
- Rubber can act as a shock absorber if it is hit by a heavy weapon, dissipating the impact away from important components.
- Due to its high elastic properties, rubber can reform its original shape following an impact, allowing it to maintain the same impact absorption.
Disadvantages
- Rubber's ultimate strength is much smaller than many other common armour materials, meaning it is easy to damage by weapons.
- Sharp weapons can puncture rubber easily. Rubber's grippy nature means they can stay stuck in the robot, allowing the attacker to keep a hold and drag opponents around.
- Rubber is difficult to attach to a robot without creating points of weakness with screws, or using less-effective adhesives.
- Damaged rubber is difficult to repair or patch in between battles without replacement.
List of robots with Rubber Armour[]
Robots are listed alphabetically.
DESKTOP MODE ONLY: House Robots are listed with a gold background.
| Robot | Series Appearances with Rubber armour | Details | Notes | Image |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Barber-Ous | Extreme 2, Series 7 | Rubber wheelguards |
|
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| Expulsion | Series 10 | Rubber plates | Rubber armour was sacrificial, designed to wear down the power of opponent's weapons while keeping the robot protected. | |
| Matilda | Series 1-2, 4-10, Extreme 1-2, US Season 1-2, German Series, Dutch Series 1-2 | Rubber horns and/or spikes. | House Robot. Augmented a custom-moulded fibreglass shell. | |
| Ms Nightshade | Series 9 | Rubber shock absorbers | ||
| Panic Attack | Series 7 | Rubber shocks | Rubber shock absorbers held under a strong plate, designed to cushion axe impacts | |
| RT81 | Extreme 2 | Tyre | Widened at the base to make it difficult for opponents to get close | |
| Sir Chromalot | Series 6 | Tyre | The robot was originally made from a truck wheel hub; this was the first occasion where a tyre was reattached to the hub itself. | |
| Stinger | Series 3-6, Extreme 1-2, US Series 1 | Custom tyres | Combined with steel domes. | |
| The Swarm | Series 10 | Rubber (Skye only) | Used rubber as an entanglement device on one of the clusterbot segments. | |
| Whirling Dervish | Series 2 | Tyre | First competitor to use rubber armour; tyre was turned inside-out and used as the robot's rotating shell. |
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