- "Will this keep its head while all around are losing theirs? The weaponry; a rock chisel at the front, and that 12 kilo moving drum at the back, covered in 'tiger teeth'."
- — Jonathan Pearce
Shear Khan was a competitor robot which fought exclusively in Series 1 of Robot Wars Extreme. It only appeared in a single Mayhem battle, which it lost to Panic Attack after getting turned over by the Series 2 champion's forks and being left unable to self-right.
Design[]

Shear Khan's drum
Shear Khan was a tracked, box-shaped robot armed with a reciprocating rock chisel at the front and a 12kg spinning drum at the rear. It was painted gold with a face and black stripes resembling those of a tiger, in a further connection to the Jungle Book character which inspired its name. Small pieces of polkadot fur were also featured on the top of Shear Khan's aerial and one side of its drum, as a result of Diotoir's participation in its Mayhem battle. Although Shear Khan's drum featured several teeth and looked effective - to the extent that it worried Kim Davies prior to its only battle - the robot itself had a high ground clearance from the rear and no self-righting mechanism.
Etymology[]
Shear Khan was a pun on Shere Khan, the tiger who serves as the main antagonist of Rudyard Kipling's The Jungle Book and its various adaptations.
Qualification[]

Official image for Shear Khan
At the 30 July 2000 session of Robot Mayhem, Shear Khan attempted to qualify for The Fourth Wars and fought Hammer & Tong and in its qualifier battle. In dominance, Shear Khan was the strongest as it outpushed and poked Hammer & Tong for the majority of the fight, and receiving a lone hit from the opponent's weapon. Shunt provided some assistance for Shear Khan, and the pit opened shortly after. In the final moments Shear Khan tried to win by pushing Hammer & Tong towards the pit, but was denied by the opponent's defensive traction. Instead, Shear Khan claimed victory from an audience vote, however, a discretionary place would be awarded to Hammer & Tong while Shear Khan would be not be selected, failing to qualify for The Fourth Wars as a result in spite of its win.[1] Shear Khan would later be included in a list of a robots that attempted to enter Series 4 on the Tectonic Robot Wars website.[2]
Despite its Mayhem battle being filmed after Series 5, Shear Khan is not known to have made a qualification attempt for The Fifth Wars.
Robot History[]
Extreme 1[]
- "We've fought a weapon like this before and it's really destructive and this one sounds worse."
- — Kim Davies, expressing concerns over Shear Khan's weapon
Newcomer Shear Khan fought against two very experienced competitors - Diotoir and Panic Attack - in a Mayhem battle shown in Episode 9. The battle was held to determine one of six places for the second Annihilator held later on in Extreme 1. Panic Attack captain Kim Davies had admitted before the battle that he was wary about Shear Khan's drum, having recently fought against Barber-Ous and suffered severe damage as a result of it. Despite this, the Shear Khan team remained cautiously optimistic when Julia Reed asked them about their chances of success.

Shear Khan attempts to damage Panic Attack's side

Shear Khan is upended by Panic Attack
Shear Khan started well, bumping into the side of the approaching Panic Attack and pushing it back into the wall. In doing so, it repeatedly hit the side of Panic Attack with its chisel, although without causing any significant damage before the Series 2 champion drove away. Shear Khan followed Panic Attack across the arena and bumped into each of its opponents, before spinning its drum up and reversing into Panic Attack's forks. However, this allowed Panic Attack to get underneath, lift, push and turn Shear Khan over, eliminating Shear Khan instantly as it was left unable to self-right. As Panic Attack concentrated on turning Diotoir over, Shear Khan was counted out by Refbot and was eventually thrown across the arena by the Floor Flipper, landing upright and on the top of Panic Attack.
- "Tiger, Tiger, burning bright, for you I'm afraid it's a disappointing "Good Night"!"
- — Jonathan Pearce puts his own spin on the classic poem

Shear Khan (top-right) is left by the edge of the Pit as Panic Attack takes on Shunt
After 'cease' had been called, Shunt proceeded to push the defeated Shear Khan towards the Pit, then the edge of it, with Diotoir preventing Shear Khan from going down. Panic Attack then hooked and tried to turn Shunt over - forcing Refbot to interfere - with Shear Khan being left beside the Pit as was being raised to let Diotoir out. With this, Shear Khan lost the Mayhem battle along with Diotoir, while Panic Attack qualified for the second Annihilator as a result of its dominant victory.
- "Shear Khan - all the bite of a cartoon tiger!"
- — Craig Charles
Results[]
SHEAR KHAN - RESULTS | ||
Extreme Series 1 | ||
Mayhem Qualifier | ||
Mayhem Qualifier | vs. Diotoir, Panic Attack | Lost |
Wins/Losses[]
- Wins: 0
- Losses: 1
Series Record[]

The Shear Khan team
Main Series | Shear Khan 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 |
Robot Wars Extreme | Appearances |
Series 1 | Entered |
Series 2 | Did not enter |
Outside Robot Wars[]

Shear Khan (top-left) at the Robots@War event in 2001
Shear Khan fought at the Robots@War 2001 event in between the filming of Extreme. It is known to have fought in a melee against Tornado, Dantomkia, Bigger Brother, M2, Overkill and Big Pants, where it lost after getting flipped over.[3]
Trivia[]
- Of the 36 teams to fight in the Mayhem qualifiers, the Shear Khan team were the only ones not to make any other appearances.
References[]
- ↑ Audience account from Shuntarunt, 4 June 2023
- ↑ Tectonic Robot Wars - A list of various robots that intended to enter Series 4
- ↑ Robots@War Arena 2001 - Team Tornado
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