- "Weaknesses: we built it"
- — Saw Point's statistics sheet
Saw Point was a heavyweight robot from Team A-Kill that was initially entered into the second series of Robot Wars Extreme. It competed solely in the Minor Meltdown, where it lost in the first round after being flipped and having its wheels ripped off by Growler. The robot also competed in Series 7 of Robot Wars as Sawpoint 2, and again lost in the first round.
Versions of Saw Point[]
Saw Point[]
Saw Point was a gold and crimson robot with four wheels, 36v motors and made out of 2mm plate steel box. It was originally armed with a pair of front pincers designed to resemble bird heads, and a pair of lifters at the back. Its strength was listed as 'Tough as Old Boots' on its statistics board, implying its durability, while its weakness, unusually, was attributed to its lack of side weapons. However, Saw Point had a high ground clearance, fragile wheels and lacked a self-righting mechanism, which cost it in the Minor Meltdown.
Sawpoint 2[]
Sawpoint 2 was extensively rebuilt from the original Saw Point, retaining its wheels and front pincers but featuring a more compact box-shaped chassis and a pair of angled spinning discs at one end which replaced the lifters. The other side of Saw Point was armed with static claws. It cost £200 to build, and was now fully invertible, but its weapons were ineffective, and it had limited pushing power.
The team jokingly described some of Sawpoint 2's features as "Granny after burners" and had "four hypersonic nuclear fusions".
Etymology[]
The name Saw Point is derived from the phrase sore point, a pun which also references the use of saws on the second iteration of the machine. However, Team A-Kill were not the first team to enter a robot named Saw Point into Robot Wars, after a robot with the same name entered the Fourth Wars beforehand.
The Team[]
- Main article: Team A-Kill
Saw Point was built by Team A-Kill, who had gained previous experience on Robot Wars with the middleweight and heavyweight versions of A-Kill. Both versions of Saw Point were built by Chris Delph and Gordon Johncock, who captained the team in the second series of Extreme. Chris Delph's young son Ryan was also part of the team for all of Saw Point's appearances, and drove the robot in the Minor Meltdown. Gordon Johncock had originally joined Team A-Kill after Chris Delph used an advertisement in a local newspaper to recruit a new driver for the team, and as a result, Gordon Johncock drove A-Kill and Sawpoint and Sawpoint 2 in Series 7 where he also captained the team.
Team A-Kill always described Saw Point with a self-deprecating tone throughout its appearances, to the point that they even highlighted Sawpoint 2's cheap build and poor welding in their Series 7 interview.
Qualification[]
Saw Point originally intended to enter Series 6, and attended the qualifiers alongside the team's other entry A-Kill. However, as only one robot could qualify for the series, it was A-Kill that went on to appear in the Sixth Wars, although Saw Point would nevertheless compete in the Minor Meltdown during the second series of Extreme. Although its opponents remain unknown, Sawpoint 2 entered a qualifier battle ahead of the Seventh Wars, and was selected to compete in the series.
Robot History[]
Extreme 2[]
In its first battle in the Minor Meltdown, Saw Point faced Lambsy and former series runner-up Bigger Brother.
It played a very small part in the battle, having one of its wheels clamped by Lambsy and being flipped by Bigger Brother. Unable to self-right, it was promptly attacked by Growler, who ripped two of its wheels off, and counted out by Refbot, Saw Point was placed on the Drop Zone by Sir Killalot, and had a pile of car parts dropped onto it before Sir Killalot picked it up and dumped it out of the arena. By that point, Saw Point only had one of its wheels remaining, and was eliminated despite Bigger Brother pitting Lambsy just after it was counted out.
Series 7[]
- "It's got weak welding, it's cheap, nasty, it cost us all of about £200 to build it, but that's the way we like it. It is not going home."
- — Team A-Kill on Sawpoint 2
In its first round battle, Sawpoint 2 faced reigning UK, International and European champion Tornado, Team Coyote's new robot Ewe 2 and flywheel-wielding newcomer Devastator.
It immediately charged towards Tornado, who in turn pushed Devastator into a CPZ, before Ewe 2 came in to try and flip it, but without succeeding. Ewe 2 managed to flick Sawpoint 2 up at one point as Sawpoint 2 charged into it, before Tornado slammed into Sawpoint 2 twice. Sawpoint 2 resumed its battle with Ewe 2, but ended up being pushed into Matilda's CPZ by Tornado, with Matilda causing minor damage to Sawpoint 2.
It became apparent that Sawpoint 2 had been mostly immobilised after escaping the CPZ, allowing Ewe 2 to push it towards the pit. Saw Point 2 was shoved towards the edge, its wheels spinning again as it tried to move away, then was finally pushed in after a few more shoves. This eliminated Saw Point 2 from the Seventh Wars.
- "Sawpoint 2, hanging on in there, momentarily, great defence! Can it get enough traction just to move away? Sawpoint 2 - ooh, it's agonising, it's...over."
- — Jonathan Pearce as Sawpoint 2 is pitted
Results[]
SAW POINT - RESULTS | ||
Extreme Series 2 | ||
Minor Meltdown Round 1 | ||
Round 1 | vs. Bigger Brother, Lambsy | Eliminated |
SAWPOINT 2 - RESULTS | ||
Series 7 | ||
The Seventh Wars - UK Championship Heat, Round 1 | ||
Heat E, Round 1 | vs. Devastator, Ewe 2, Tornado (1) | Eliminated |
Wins/Losses[]
- Wins: 0
- Losses: 2
Series Record[]
Main Series | Saw Point Series Record |
---|---|
The First Wars | Did not enter |
The Second Wars | Did not enter |
The Third Wars | Middleweight Competition with A-Kill |
The Fourth Wars | Failed to qualify with A-Kill |
The Fifth Wars | Did not enter |
The Sixth Wars | Failed to qualify Entered with A-Kill |
The Seventh Wars | Heat, Round 1 as Sawpoint 2 |
Series 8 | Did not enter |
Series 9 | Did not enter |
Series 10 | Did not enter |
Robot Wars Extreme | Appearances |
Series 1 | Did not enter |
Series 2 | Entered as Saw Point |
Outside Robot Wars[]
After Robot Wars entered its hiatus, Sawpoint 2 was sold on eBay in 2011 for £50[1] to Kent-based roboteers Will Thomas of Team Shock and Alex Sainsbury of Team Blitz, who renamed and rebuilt it as Disc-Struction. Sporting new armour and a revised weapon mount, Disc-Struction was primarily used for spinner demonstrations at live events. Disc-Struction competed in the 2011 UK Championships with its discs removed. It lost to Tilly Evo in the group stages along with Bullfrog and Tilly XP to drop into a losers melee against Envy and Disturbed, where Disc-Struction was flipped out of the arena by Envy and eliminated from the competition.[2] One of the claws of Saw Point was later used for the Series 10 robot Track-tion, whose team were mentored by Will Thomas.[1] Disc-Truction is currently stored in Alex Sainsbury's garage.[1]
Trivia[]
- Both of Saw Point's losses were in first round melees that involved a robot from Team Coyote.
References[]
- ↑ 1.0 1.1 1.2 Correspondence between User:MayflyTheWikiGuy and Will Thomas, 2nd October 2021
- ↑ https://www.fightingrobots.co.uk/content/315-disc-struction
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