Shockwave

For the Police representative in the Forces Special of Robot Wars Extreme, see Shockwave (Extreme 1).

"Shockwave can flip itself continuously using its weapon, which can spin 360 degrees around the robot - meaning it can flip itself out of danger, or even land itself onto opponents. It also has the ability to lift up 200kg in weight, and pull a car with both team members sitting in it."

— The Robot Wars website

Shockwave (also formatted as ShockWave) was a heavyweight robot built by Team Shock, the first of their two entries in the Robot Wars Revival Series.

Competing exclusively in Series 8, it enjoyed a highly competitive performance in its Heat, winning four battles - including its Heat Final against Thor - to reach the overall Grand Final. However, despite maintaining this form in its subsequent Group Battle against Apollo and Carbide, Shockwave took severe damage from the latter's bar spinner, which forced it to withdraw when the melee was stopped partway through. Following this joint fifth place run, Shockwave was superseded by vertical spinner-wielding Aftershock in Team Shock's future Robot Wars appearances.

Design[]

"...it's a bit of a powerhouse of a robot! It's a big, four-wheel drive machine, really heavily armoured, it's got a tank-grade steel, and the idea behind that one is we use brute force to smash the robots around the arena, into the House Robots, and try and use the arena to cause our damage for us."

— Will Thomas, interviewed on BBC Radio Berkshire^[2]

Shockwave was a four-wheel driven invertible heavyweight robot, armed with interchangeable lifting scoops. The robot was covered in 4mm of armour plating steel, with 15mm of high density polyethylene plastic. Shockwave's scoop could lift 200kg, and could rotate 360° around the robot, allowing the robot to still use its scoop and turn itself over to self-right (even though this wasn't necessary as it was invertible), which was used as the robot's victory move at the end of its battles, and was previously employed by the US competitor Probophobia. The robot used a lot of parts from the team's previous robots, and had a Weldox chassis, along with many other Weldox part, specially lasercut by a company^[3]. The scoop was specially built from 4mm Weldox, and was designed to withstand blows from spinners^[4]. The robot's design was inspired by the pushing power of Tornado, and the lifter of BattleBots competitor Breaker Box.

"Breaker Box did give us some inspiration but we went for a different approach. Shockwave is mainly about the drive power (12kW from the two motors) and with the power to lift another machine clean off the ground. Our lifter is much slower than that of Breaker Box but can lift 200kgs (we tested it by lifting the team)."

— Will Thomas on Reddit^[5]

Shockwave with its metal scoop in the Arena

Shockwave's interchangeable scoops included a solid HARDOX wedged scoop - optimised to get underneath opponents and lift them - and a shovel-like HDPE scoop, built from a gas mains pipe, intended to absorb impacts and protect the robot from overhead axe blows. In its first battle against Thor, the parts of the HDPE scoop were broken off, that they managed to withstand the fighting in its second battle.

"The bolts we used against Thor were cheap low grade ones as they were all we had to hand when we finished it the day before filming. For fighting MRSS we changed them to better quality ones and kept the Weldox wedge fresh for the heat final."

— Will Thomas on Reddit^[6]

The robot was powered by six Lithium Ion Batteries batteries, driving two 4kW fairground ride motors, and the robot had four go kart wheels with chain reduction. This gave the robot a high top speed of 20mph. The weapon was powered by a stairlift motor, controlled by a Sidewinder ESC and had a gearbox. Like the drive motors, the weapon powered by Lithium Ion batteries, with a final chain reduction and clutch to prevent damage to the gearbox^[7]. At 110kg, Shockwave was only 5 grams off breaching the weight limit.

"I think with the current arena floor we had a little too much power as we were spinning the wheels. When we tested it on concrete it was much better. We did discuss the option of tyre warmers but for next time we are looking at options for grippier wheels and gearing for more speed."

— Will Thomas on Reddit^[8]

Shockwave was slightly hampered by its drive chains, which came loose in three battles.

"We had to bodge the connecting links as the new ones did not arrive in time for filming. The axle for the weapon arm actually tensions the drive chains."

— Will Thomas on Reddit^[9]

The Team[]

Main article: Team Shock

Shockwave was the first robot entered into Robot Wars by Team Shock, consisting of father-and-son team Will Thomas and Ian Thomas. Team captain Will designed and drove the robot, whilst his father Ian was the main builder, and did the mechanics.

"The team have ten years of fighting experience at live events, but they’ve never competed in Robot Wars."

— BBC website on Team Shock^[10]

Qualification[]

"We applied with Manta, Maelstrom and Shockwave but they weren't interested in the flippers."

— Will Thomas on Reddit

Shockwave at the time of applying for Robot Wars in 2016

Team Shock applied for Series 8 with Shockwave by sending an online application to Mentorn. When they first applied, the robot hadn't been built yet, but after sending a design to Mentorn, they were given approval to built the robot.

"Well we decided we wanted to bring something unique to the table, so I sat down with my dad Ian and my fiancé Emma, we just trashed out a design on the dining table, we laid what bits we had, and then we sent in an email, an application, saying "This is what we want to bring to the table, can we do it?", and luckily we were fortunate enough to be given the chance to."

— Will Thomas, interviewed on BBC Radio Berkshire^[11]

The team also applied to enter the series with Manta and Maelstrom, with Shockwave being the choice of the producers, much to the team's surprise. Manta still made a cameo appearance in Shockwave's VT, played before Shockwave's Head-to-Head battles.

"We were quite surprised that we got as far as we did considering we only had 5 weeks to build it and about 5 minutes driving practice before the first fight."

— Will Thomas on Reddit, speaking of their success in Series 8^[12]

Robot History[]

Series 8[]

"During testing, Shockwave, they apparently drove it through a neighbour's fence! This team claim their scoop arm will allow them to climb out of the Pit - yeah, we'll have to see about that!"

— Jonathan Pearce introduces Shockwave

Marking Team Shock's debut in Robot Wars, Shockwave competed in Heat B of Series 8, where it faced three veterans in its Group Battle - Series 7 returnee DisConstructor, New Blood third-place finisher Thor, and Series 7 Semi-Finalist Tough as Nails.

Dara Ó Briain: "You looking forwards to this?"

Will Thomas: "Yeah, it's going to be fantastic! We've sharpened up, ready to go I think."

Dara Ó Briain: "What have you sharpened, what's your big weapon?"

Will Thomas: "We've got this great big scoop here, goes all the way over the robot, but it's made from armour plating materials, so it's really tough, so we're gonna hit everything head on and try and shock 'em!"

Dara Ó Briain: "Ok, fab. Are you gonna fip them, are you gonna throw them?"

Will Thomas: "It's a lifter, so we're gonna lift them up, and then use the huge amount of drive power to sort of push them into the pit or into the House Robots."

— Pre-battle interview

Shockwave pushes DisConstructor into the Pit

When the battle begun, Shockwave started by charging at DisConstructor, which reversed close to the arena wall. Shockwave drove at DisConstructor's side, but as it tried to get under the side, Tough as Nails charged head-on at DisConstructor, causing sparks as it hit the flywheel, so Shockwave turned and drove away. Shockwave drove up to the arena tyre, turned around and reversed into it. The Pit opened, and Shockwave turned to face DisConstructor, but before it could attack, Tough as Nails charged at DisConstructor head on again, hitting the flywheel and knocking DisConstructor back, so Shockwave got under the side of Tough as Nails instead. Shockwave turned around to try and push Tough as Nails into Shunt's CPZ, but as it turned, Tough as Nail used its one wheel that was on top of Shockwave to turn and slid off the top. Shockwave turned around, then as Tough as Nails reversed, Shockwave got under the side of one of its grabbing arms and started pushing, but Thor drove at the front of Tough as Nails, so Shockwave reversed. Meanwhile, DisConstructor was thrown by the arena flipper after driving onto it, so Shockwave changed targets, getting under its side and ramming it into the arena wall. As it did so, the flywheel hit the side wall, the impact throwing DisConstructor over the top of Shockwave. As it landed, Shockwave turned and got at DisConstructor's side, and before it could get away, Shockwave pushed it into the Pit.

"They were having some real grip issues in the arena which wasn't helping them at all. It allowed me to avoid the disc pretty easily and eventually pit it. The disc is actually pretty powerful and has a LEM to power it so definitely had the potential to do damage."

— Will Thomas on Reddit, speaking of DisConstructor^[13]

Meanwhile, Tough as Nails had grabbed onto Thor, and Thor rammed it against the side wall, so Shockwave drove around Thor and rammed into its back. It tried to lift, but then reversed, stopping before it could drive onto the arena spikes. It drove back at Thor, but before it could get underneath, Thor pushed Tough as Nails into the corner. Shockwave drove after it, getting its front scoop under the back of Thor, but quickly reversed as Thor pulled its axe back. As Thor axed Tough as Nails again, Shockwave drove under the back of Thor again, and this time Thor rode up onto the top of Shockwave. Tough as Nails pushed its two opponents back, and Shockwave tried to raise its lifter, but it could not lift the combined weight Thor and Tough as Nails, so overbalance forwards, and quickly lowered its lifter. Tough as Nails slammed Shockwave into the arena wall by the trench, causing Thor to slip off the top, and Tough as Nails had its grabbing arms around the front scoop of Shockwave, but this allowed Shockwave to push it back into the corner. Shockwave reversed, and Tough as Nails let go, and Shockwave allowed it to escape the CPZ. Tough as Nails gripped the front of Thor, and Shockwave tried to get under the back of Tough as Nails, but the scoop rode up over the wheels. Shockwave reversed away as Thor pushed back at Tough as Nails, and Thor pushed against the wall in the opposite CPZ. Shockwave charged under the back of Thor as Tough as Nails pushed Thor back, and Shockwave pushed its two opponents together, pushing Tough as Nails up against the wall.

"Underneath goes the bucket, the armour-plated bucket of Shockwave."

— Jonathan Pearce as Shockwave pushes Thor and Tough as Nails up against the wall

Shockwave pushes Tough as Nails while in its grip, after Thor falls off

Shockwave turned, and as Tough as Nails rolled back down off the side wall, Shockwave tried to get under the side and lift it, but Tough as Nails turned a little as it pushed Thor, causing Shockwave to miss. Shockwave reversed against the arena wall, and Thor rammed Tough as Nails to a CPZ at the opposite side of the arena, pinning it in the corner and pushing it up against the wall. Shockwave drove in under the back of Thor, getting underneath it, but as it reversed, Thor slid off. Tough as Nails kept hold of Thor, and Thor pushed it back to the corner. Shockwave got under the side of Tough as Nails with its scoop, and Thor repeatedly axed Tough as Nails, which let go of Thor.

"Pushing him into the corner, and now damage sustained by Tough as Nails, and real damage! And Shockwave teaming up here with Thor!"

— Jonathan Pearce as Shockwave and Thor pin Tough as Nails in the CPZ

Shockwave wedging under Tough as Nails allowed Thor to attack

Shockwave turned, which took a few attempts as it was in against the side wall, and tried to push Tough as Nails, but Thor was in the way, still axing it. Shockwave reversed, but Thor pushed Tough as Nails against it, pinning Shockwave in the corner. Shockwave managed to get enough traction to push Tough as Nails, and Thor reversed and turned away, allowing Shockwave to push Tough as Nails out of the CPZ. Thor's repeated axe blows had immobilised Tough as Nails, and as Shockwave pushed it out of the CPZ, it rolled away lifelessly into the opposite CPZ. Shockwave drove away to a CPZ at the other side of the arena, and Thor drove into the CPZ with Tough as Nails to push it away from the corner. Thor pushed it away from the corner, and Shockwave rushed over to the CPZ, pushing Tough as Nails against the arena wall. Thor got behind Tough as Nails and pushed it towards the Pit, but turned at the wrong moment, so Tough as Nails rolled to the edge of the Pit but did not fall in. Thor tried to push Tough as Nails down, but Shockwave drove at Thor's side, so it stopped and reversed, leaving Tough as Nails hanging over the edge. Shockwave drove around the Pit to try and push Tough as Nails in, but Thor was quicker, turning around to it and pushing it in first. With their progression to the Head-to-Heads confirmed, Thor celebrated by spinning on the spot, and Shockwave celebrated by lifting its front up with its scoop.

[Dara Ó Briain: "Shockwave! Can I applaud you on the aggresiveness, 'cause you could have stepped away from a few of those bouts."

Will Thomas: "No, we wanted to get in the mix, and get 'em down the Pit, and we knew these guys {DiscConstructor} were going to bet the toughest, most damaging robot out there, so we had to him 'em first."

[Dara Ó Briain: "Really?"

Ian Thomas: "It was the disc we were really worried about, because we're so exposed with our four-wheel drive, we just said, we've got to go for the disc!"

[Dara Ó Briain: "You were looking very, very good out there, well done you! Very good!"

— Post-battle interview

It was later revealed that Shockwave lost drive to one of its wheels during the melee, as the power in Shockwave's drive motor broke the drive chain, but this damage was repaired in time for the next round.

"This wheel, we've just can't get quite right, so we were only on three wheels by the end of the fight. A little bit of work to do on that, some power in the batteries and we'll be good to fight next."

— Ian Thomas on the repairs to Shockwave

In Shockwave's first battle of the Head-to-Head stage, Foxic was to be its first opponent.

"This sharp edge was incredibly effective, wasn't it? We've first got to get under 'em and displace them and lift 'em up, that's the secret, isn't it?"

— Ian Thomas before the fight with Foxic

Shockwave charged at Foxic, but Foxic turned to avoid it. Shockwave turned to face Foxic, and drove into it, but failed to get underneath it with the scoop, riding up the front wedge and up onto Foxic's top. Foxic pushed Shockwave down the arena, and Shockwave span on the top of Foxic, using the wheels that were touching the floor, hanging over Foxic's side. Foxic turned, and Shockwave got two of its wheels down on the floor, and reversed off the top of Foxic. Foxic reversed against Shockwave's side, and Shockwave turned around to Foxic's side and drove away up to the top of the arena. Shockwave hit the arena tyre, stylishly turning into the tyre as it charged at it. Meanwhile, Foxic was down by the pit, but was struggling to move. Shockwave charged down the arena and tried to get at Foxic's side, but Foxic turned away. Shockwave kept following, getting at its other side as it turned, and pushed, but Foxic drove away. It drove to the edge of Matilda's CPZ, and it turned to avoid Matilda, but Shockwave got his scoop under Foxic's side. Shockwave pushed Foxic into the centre of the arena, and Foxic slid off the scoop. It tried to turn away, but Shockwave got under the side again, and pushed it over the Flame Pit and into Dead Metal's CPZ.

"Ooh, they're in the CPZ, ill-advised! Dead Metal is in there, can catch them with the pincers, Shockwave trying to edge them onto Dead Metal."

— Jonathan Pearce as Shockwave and Foxic go into the CPZ

Shockwave wedges under Foxic with Dead Metal nearby

Foxic turned off of Shockwave's scoop, and Shockwave drove into the wall, and as it turned and drove out of the CPZ, Foxic reversed into Dead Metal. As it turned and tried to drive away from the House Robot, Shockwave blocked it, driving straight into it. Foxic got its front scoop under Shockwave's, so Shockwave reversed. Dead Metal got at Foxic's side, and as Foxic reversed, Dead Metal drove in front of it, driving on the front wedge. Shockwave reversed away, and Foxic managed to push Dead Metal back, out of the CPZ. As Foxic couldn't push Dead Metal further, Shockwave gave Dead Metal a little push, and Foxic was able to push Dead Metal across the arena. Shockwave chased after Foxic, getting under the back and getting Foxic up on its scoop. Shockwave pushed Foxic and Dead Metal together until Dead Metal hit the arena wall, and Dead Metal grabbed Shockwave and pushed the competitors back across, also cutting into the top of Foxic with his saw.

"And now, having pushed into Dead Metal, they couldn't get away, they will sustain damage from the Dead Metal, and it's time for Shockwave to get a push in!"

— Jonathan Pearce as Foxic is caught between Dead Metal and Shockwave

Dead Metal let go and turned away, and Shockwave pushed Foxic, but the side of its lifter got caught on one of Dead Metal's grabbing arms, stopping its charge, and allowing Foxic to slide off its scoop. Shockwave reversed, and Matilda gave it a push to help separate it from Dead Metal. Meanwhile, Foxic was not able to drive away, merely turning back and forth on the spot, so once it was free, Shockwave charged straight at it, getting under the side with its scoop, and rammed it into the arena wall, propping it up against the wall. As Shockwave reversed, Foxic was left hanging on the wall. Shockwave drove away to the centre of the arena, and Foxic managed to use its lifter to get down off the wall. Foxic drove along the wall, and Shockwave charged at it. Foxic turned away from the wall, and Shockwave crashed into the arena wall, getting in front of Foxic, and as Foxic drove at it, Shockwave got under it with its scoop and pushed it straight into the Pit.

"Steering away initially from Shockwave, but no more! Down go Foxic, into the fox's lair that is the Pit, and out!"

— Jonathan Pearce as Shockwave pits Foxic

With its first win assured, Shockwave celebrated by turning itself over repeatedly.

Shockwave next battle was against Thor, its ally from the first round. In preparation, Shockwave applied a new front scoop, intended to deflect Thor's axe.

Dara Ó Briain: "Fresh off their initial victory, Shockwave has had a makeover! This looks a very different Shockwave!"

Will Thomas: "Yeah, it's had a complete overhaul since the last fight; we've got a brand-new front end, so it's a high-impact one, we can deflect the axe of Thor."

Dara Ó Briain: "So you're not expecting to do damage yourself with this thing, but you're expecting to deflect with it, is that the idea?"

Will Thomas: "That's it, yeah! We're going to do the same thing we always do, push him around the arena, and try and get him into the pit!"

Dara Ó Briain: "And where did this come from?"

Will Thomas: "This is actually a gas main pipe, so we got this outside of our house, cut it up, and it's really, really tough stuff! So we're gonna raise it up like that, Thor can smack this all day long!"

— Pre-battle interview

Shockwave raised its scoop at the beginning of the fight, in order to deflect Thor's axe, and charged at Thor, but Thor drove around Shockwave as it charged forwards. The two competitors turned to face each other, and Thor charged at Shockwave, which stood still, with its scoop raised. Thor slammed into the front corner of Shockwave, and pushed past it. Shockwave tried to drive around to the side of Thor, but Thor turned to face it, and pushed Shockwave into Dead Metal's CPZ. Shockwave managed to drive away from the House Robot as it tried to grab it, and drove around Thor as it charged at it again. Both competitors turned to face each other, and as Thor drove at Shockwave, and Shockwave raised its scoop in preparation for Thor's axe, but this allowed Thor to get under its front and push Shockwave up the arena. Shockwave turned away from Thor, and reversed, but it backed into Dead Metal's CPZ. Dead Metal got its grabbing arms around Shockwave, but Shockwave drove out of the CPZ before he could grab it, and Shockwave hit the arena tyre. Shockwave drive at Thor with its scoop raised, but rode up the front wedge. Thor pushed Shockwave into Dead Metal's CPZ. As Thor pushed Shockwave, Dead Metal grabbed Shockwave with his grabbing arms and cut into its side with his cutting disc. Thor hit Shockwave with its axe, pushing it off its front wedge, and left it in the arms of Dead Metal. Shockwave used its lifter to push itself out of Dead Metal's grip, but Dead Metal turned and kept Shockwave in the CPZ. Dead Metal brought his saw down on one of Shockwave's rear wheels, and pushed it out of the CPZ. Shockwave drove forwards to the opposite CPZ, but struggled to turn. Thor drove to the bottom of the arena ready for Shockwave as it drove out of the CPZ. Shockwave drove at Thor, but again, failed to get the scoop under the front, instead driving up the front wedge. Thor fired the axe, hitting Shockwave's scoop, breaking off one third of the scoop.

"Look at that! Part of the bucket literally flew away! Now they're suspect on the front-left wheel too..."

— Jonathan Pearce as Thor breaks part of Shockwave's scoop

The intended purpose of Shockwave's scoop

Shockwave reversed away into the CPZ, but Thor drove after it, getting at Shockwave's side. Shockwave reversed before Thor could fire the axe, backing against the wall, and as Thor turned, Shockwave drove at it, trying to push with the scoop, but Thor turned, getting at Shockwave's side and pinning it in the corner. Thor narrowly missed with the axe as it turned, and as it tried to line up the axe, Shockwave managed to struggle around Thor. Shockwave tried to turn, but this allowed Thor to get at its side. Shockwave turned away, and drove out of the CPZ, but was driving erratically, lifting its front up with his scoop, then driving along the edge of the Pit. Shockwave drove around the pit and drove into the arena centre, and Thor charged at it, getting under its front with its wedge, then pushed it towards the CPZ. Shockwave turned off of Thor's front, but before it could get away, Thor drove under its front again. Shockwave reversed, but this caused it to back into the CPZ, and Thor pinned it against Matilda as she reversed at Shockwave. Thor slammed its axe down on Shockwave, hitting the top, and Shockwave drove to the arena centre, and turned to face Thor as it charged at it. Thor got under the front and pushed Shockwave over the Flame Pit and into Dead Metal. Shockwave reversed past Dead Metal, then quickly drove around him to escape the CPZ, but as it charged at Thor, the scoop rode up the front wedge again and Thor pushed it down the arena, pinning it against the arena wall, by the trench. Thor slammed Shockwave with its axe, but Shockwave pushed Thor back to the arena centre. However, Thor managed to get traction, and pushed Shockwave against the arena wall in the CPZ. As it did so, Thor hit Shockwave's scoop, breaking off another third.

"Whatever they put it on with - sticky back plaster, it looks like to me - it wasn't good enough! And Thor here, well on top!"

— Jonathan Pearce as Thor breaks off another part of Shockwave's scoop

Thor reversed a little, and as Shockwave tried to push it, the two pushed against each other, with Thor trying to push Shockwave into Matilda, but Shockwave managed to turn around Thor as it pushed it close to the House Robot. The two competitors reversed away from each other, and Shockwave drove into the centre of the arena, and both competitors charged at each other. Shockwave tried to get at Thor's side, but Thor turned to get at its front, and managed to push Shockwave back. Shockwave reversed before Thor could push it into a CPZ, then charged back at Thor, but rode up the front wedge again, so quickly reversed off. Shockwave backed to the side of the arena, and Thor charged at it. Shockwave tried to push Thor against the side wall, but Thor turned around to Shockwave's side and pinned it against the arena wall, then hit its top with the axe. Shockwave reversed towards the arena centre, then turned to avoid Thor as it charged after it. Thor drove around to Shockwave's side, but Shockwave drove past it, driving across the arena, and as Thor charged after it, Shockwave turned, getting at its side and pushing it into a CPZ. Thor struggled against Shockwave, and though Shockwave tried to keep hold of it in the CPZ, Thor eventually managed to get free of Shockwave and push past it, turning around as Shockwave chased it. Shockwave turned and drove into the arena centre, with Thor driving at it. As Thor turned, Shockwave charged at it, and Thor hit its top with the axe. Shockwave raised its lifter to take the blows, but Thor pushed Shockwave back, pushing it to Matilda. Shockwave reversed away from Matilda, speeding to the corner of the opposite CPZ, then drove back at Thor, which had driven into the arena centre. Shockwave drove up and over Thor's front wedge, but Thor quickly got at Shockwave's side and axed it, the axe landing just behind one of the rear wheels. Shockwave drove up the arena, but drove into the arena tyre, and Thor rammed into it. Shockwave reversed against it, then drove away down the arena. Thor charged at Shockwave as it turned around against the arena wall, but Shockwave pushed back. The impact knocked off the last part of Shockwave's scoop, but Shockwave managed to push Thor into Matilda's flywheel, breaking off part of one of Thor's wheel guards.

"For me Thor, the most impressive robot so far but pushed on there to Matilda! All these points will be tallied by the Judges, should they survive."

— Jonathan Pearce as Shockwave pushed Thor into Matilda's flywheel

Shockwave pushes Thor into Matilda's flywheel

Thor reversed to the arena centre, but Shockwave kept chasing it, staying close by. Thor got at Shockwave's front and pushed it over the Flame Pit and into the CPZ, but Shockwave reversed out of the CPZ before Dead Metal could attack. Shockwave drove over the Flame Pit, pushing past Thor to get behind it, but Thor turned to avoid it. Shockwave kept in close pursuit, but Thor turned and drove across the arena. Shockwave again kept in close pursuit, but Thor turned, so Shockwave drove around it. 'Cease' was called, and Shockwave again used its lifter to turn itself over repeatedly. The battle went to the Judges', who ruled in favour of Thor based on Damage and Aggression.

"For our first fight with Thor our tactics were wrong. The main reason behind swapping to the plastic scoop was to allow for a second layer of top armour to deflect the axe- That bit actually worked as it stopped a direct hit over our batteries. The scoop itself was far too rushed."

— Will Thomas on Reddit^[14]

After the battle with Thor, Will Thomas dropped Shockwave onto his hand whilst picking it up and cut his fingers, so required medical attention in a local A&E, leaving Ian Thomas to repair the robot alone.

Angela Scanlon: "Mighty Thor powers through, but Team Shockwave are heavily damage, and have suffered both robot and human casulaties!"

Ian Thomas: "I was just getting it out of the arena, we lifted it out and a really sharp bit's caught William's fingers, so he's in First Aid now! So, we've got a puncture, scoop's gone, the hub has been completely... smashed to smithereens! Thor was just so strong! So yeah, I've got to plough on now, repair our plough, and get ready for the next fight!"

— After the battle with Thor

Will returned to the studio two hours later, ready for their last battle in the second round, against M.R. Speed Squared. With Shockwave on 3 points and M.R. Speed Squared on 2, whichever robot won would go through to the Heat Final against Thor.

Dara Ó Briain: "The maths are very simple here lads - it's a win or nothing!"

Will Thomas: "We can do it! We've put the anti-spinner scoop on, we're gonna hit him hard, and straight down the pit we hope!"

Dara Ó Briain: "Fantastic! And also, can we see the human cost of Robot Wars? (Shows Will Thomas's bandaged fingers) When did this happen?"

Will Thomas: "Loading the robot out of the arena after the last fight, I dropped the robot on my hand!"

Dara Ó Briain: "You dropped the robot on your hand?! Can you drive with two fingers immobilised?"

Will Thomas: "Yeah, luckily the thumbs are OK, that's the main bit!"

— The importance of Will's injury

Shockwave lifts M.R. Speed Squared onto the arena wall

Shockwave started by charging at M.R. Speed Squared, which stayed still, trying to get its spinner up to speed, and as Shockwave closed in, M.R. Speed Squared also span on the spot to try and do more damage, but Shockwave withstood the impact as it drove into its opponent with its scoop, deflecting it backwards. M.R. Speed Squared drove back at Shockwave, but Shockwave pushed it into Sir Killalot's CPZ, where the House Robot pushed it against the wall. Whilst Sir Killalot had M.R. Speed Squared trapped, Shockwave drove away and opened the pit. Sir Killalot let M.R. Speed Squared go, and it drove out of the CPZ, but Shockwave drove into with its scoop. Sir Killalot pushed M.R. Speed Squared away from the CPZ, and it turned to face Shockwave, but couldn't get its spinner up to speed, and Shockwave pushed it across the arena, forcing it onto the Arena Spikes.

"The plough, scoop, bucket, call it what you will on Shockwave, destroyed previously by Thor, is at the moment being used to great effect!"

— Jonathan Pearce as Shockwave

Shockwave holds M.R. Speed Squared aloft

Shockwave turned away, and reversed a little to line up another attack, and M.R. Speed Squared drove off the spikes before they rose. M.R. Speed Squared started getting its spinner up to speed, but Shockwave drove into it, withstanding the spinner and stopping it. Shockwave turned and got at M.R. Speed Squared's side, then pushed it into Dead Metal's CPZ. Dead Metal pinned M.R. Speed Squared against the wall, and Shockwave held back as the House Robot brought his saw down onto M.R. Speed Squared's top. As Dead Metal pulled his saw back and let go, Shockwave drove at M.R. Speed Squared's side to prevent it from escaping the CPZ, and Dead Metal pushed it against the arena wall, before forcing it out of the CPZ. Dead Metal reversed, and M.R. Speed Squared drove along the edge of the CPZ, but Shockwave charged into it, ramming it back into the arms of Dead Metal. However, Dead Metal pushed M.R. Speed Squared out of the CPZ without attacking. Shockwave charged at M.R. Speed Squared as it tried to start its spinner up, and it withstood the blade, but the impact caused one of the drive chains to fall out from Shockwave.

"Off comes a chain again! Now they lost a chain on one wheel early on, that will decrease the manoeuvrability of Shockwave!"

— Jonathan Pearce as Shockwave loses a drive chain

M.R. Speed Squared tried to push Shockwave, but couldn't get any traction, so the two competitors reversed apart, and M.R. Speed Squared drove around Shockwave as it drove back at it. Shockwave turned to chase after M.R. Speed Squared, which got its spinner back up to speed and tried to drive away. Shockwave drove into M.R. Speed Squared's spinning ring, the scoop withstanding the blow, but M.R. Speed Squared merely drove away. M.R. Speed Squared turned to face Shockwave as it drove after it and clipped the side of Shockwave's scoop as it drove past. M.R. Speed Squared drove away towards the Pit, but Shockwave turned and drove after it, and soon caught up with it, hitting the spinner, slowing it but not stopping it. M.R. Speed Squared turned and hit Shockwave's scoop with the spinner, but this caused it to stop. M.R. Speed Squared turned away, but nearly drove into the arena wall, and Shockwave took advantage, pinning it against the wall and lifting it up against the scoop with its lifter. Shockwave reversed, and M.R. Speed Squared started falling down from the wall, but Shockwave drove back at it, propping it up against the wall.

"The blade cannot cause any damage, it would seem, to the Shockwave front bucket, which can lift up to 200 kilos in weight; and slammed it in a body press against the arena side gate there."

— Jonathan Pearce as Shockwave stacks M.R. Speed Squared on its side

With its opponent stuck, Shockwave drove to the arena centre. M.R. Speed Squared's wheels were just about touching the wall, so it drove back and forth to try and shake itself down, but smoke began to rise from it. M.R. Speed Squared was unable to shake itself down, but Shockwave drove into it with the scoop, and it slid down from the wall. M.R. Speed Squared drove around Shockwave, driving through the CPZ and over the Flame Pit, but Shockwave followed it and its scoop under the spinning ring, and lifted it up as its pushed M.R. Speed Squared towards the arena tyre. M.R. Speed Squared slipped off, so Shockwave pushed it into Sir Killalot's CPZ, quickly driving out of the CPZ as Sir Killalot pinned M.R. Speed Squared against the wall with his claw. As Sir Killalot pushed it towards the flame pit, Shockwave blocked M.R. Speed Squared from getting away, but as Sir Killalot turned, M.R. Speed Squared got away and drove away from the House Robot, driving over the flame pit anyway. Shockwave charged at it, getting the scoop under the spinner and lifting it up, and tried to push it over to the pit, but M.R. Speed Squared slipped off. Shockwave reversed as M.R. Speed Squared tried to attack its side, but as it got away from its opponent, it backed onto the Flame Pit. It quickly drove off, and it turned into M.R. Speed Squared, stopping the spinner with its scoop, and pushed it over the Arena Spikes.

"Not hugely brutal and powerful this contest, but good control by Shockwave. M.R. Speed Squared now vulnerable!"

— Jonathan Pearce as Shockwave pushes M.R. Speed Squared

One of the Arena Spikes raised under Shockwave as it pushed M.R. Speed Squared, but Shockwave kept driving and pushed M.R. Speed Squared into Dead Metal and flipping it over and into Dead Metal's arms. As Dead Metal pushed M.R. Speed Squared out of the CPZ, Shockwave drove into the arena centre, then charged at M.R. Speed Squared. However, as it rammed into its opponent, it drove over the edge of Dead Metal's CPZ, who brought his saw on Shockwave's side, though it did no real damage. Shockwave pushed M.R. Speed Squared against the wall, then turned, and rammed M.R. Speed Squared into the CPZ, slamming it against the wall. M.R. Speed Squared rode up the wall, then fell back down. M.R. Speed Squared started driving out of the CPZ, getting its spinner back up to speed, and as Shockwave drove at it, M.R. Speed Squared hit its scoop with the spinner, knocking Shockwave aside. M.R. Speed Squared escaped the CPZ, with Shockwave chasing close behind it, and M.R. Speed Squared drove over the Arena Spikes, driving over one of them which flipped it up. Shockwave turned around, got its scoop under M.R. Speed Squared's spinner and lifted it up, and pushed it into the arms of Dead Metal, who grabbed it and pulled it back into the CPZ, but then let it go. M.R. Speed Squared drove out of the CPZ, but Shockwave rushed over to block its path, so it turned, then drove back at Shockwave, who lifted it up with its scoop, and pushed it over towards the Pit, but drove at the wrong angle, pushing M.R. Speed Squared to the side of the Pit and nearly driving in itself, managing to stop itself just in time.

"That was as close as I would ever like to be to going in the Pit! Although if we went in, we could have proven our point about getting out of the Pit!"

— Will Thomas on Reddit^[15]

However, M.R. Speed Squared failed to get away, seeming to have lost forward drive, and only being able to turn around by the Pit, so Shockwave drove around it, lined itself up, then pushed M.R. Speed Squared into the Pit. With another victory secured, Shockwave celebrated by driving into the arena centre and turning itself overusing the lifter again. With 6 points, Shockwave had secured its place in the Heat Final.

"Shockwave nearly drove themselves into the Pit, before finally finishing off M.R. Speed Squared into the square-shaped trap!"

— Jonathan Pearce as Shockwave pits M.R Speed Squared

In the Heat Final, Shockwave had earned its third encounter with Thor. For this battle, Shockwave returned to its HARDOX lifting wedge, in place of the HDPE bucket used in the previous two fights.

Will Thomas: "We've done way better than we ever thought we were going to. We thought "If we go through Round 1, we've done brilliantly!", and now we've got this far, we realise our robot's way more competitive than we ever thought!"

Dara Ó Briain: "Against Foxic, Shockwave showed it had the pushing power required, but against Thor, Shockwave took a beating, falling victim to Thor's experience and deadly axe. In the Final, they must face them again!"

Ian Thomas: "This is it for us, isn't it? This is potentially our last fight, so we've got to out in a blaze of glory!"

— In the recap before the Heat Final

The two competitors charged straight at each other, and as they came together, Shockwave got under the front of Thor, and the impact caused Thor to bounce away, going up on its side, before falling back to its wheels. Shockwave turned, and as Thor tried to drive, Shockwave got at its side. Thor turned, but Shockwave got at the side of its front wedge and pushed. As Shockwave turned to face Thor, Thor reversed, and when Shockwave drove at it, it was unable to get under the front wedges. Thor turned, but this allowed Shockwave to get at its side and ram it against the arena wall, where it lifted it up using the scoop.

"Shockwave's aim to pit Thor, using the scoop, wedge, bucket. And immediately, it's a good start by Shockwave. 110 kilos of weight, can get up to 20 miles per hour, second quickest in this Heat, the only quicker robot is Thor, very manoeuvrable!"

— Jonathan Pearce as Shockwave rams Thor into the wall

Thor slipped off the lifter, but was now immobile, as the slam against the wall had broken Thor's speed controller^[16]. Shockwave pushed Thor against the arena wall, and it went up over the scoop and onto Shockwave's top. Shockwave turned, with Thor slipping off the top, and Shockwave reversed into the arena tyre, opening the Pit. Shockwave drove to Thor's side, lining itself up for a big pushed, and Thor fired the axe at thin air, unable to do anything else.

"We were as surprised as everyone else! We spent ages trying to work out a plan for Thor in the heat final and just decided to hit it as hard as we could. I think even if Thor hadn't died we would have put up a better fight than before."

— Will Thomas on Reddit^[17]

Shockwave secures its place in the Grand Final

Shockwave pushed Thor over towards the Pit, but stopped, turning around to get at Thor's side, and push it in. Shockwave got at the side of Thor's front wedge and pushed, and reversed to try again, but it had managed to push Thor to the edge of the Pit. Thor fired its axe to try and hit Shockwave, but it missed, and it was left balancing on the edge of the Pit. Thor fired the axe again, but this did not cause it to topple forwards and fall in, so Shockwave drove behind it and gave it one final nudge, earning vengeance for the earlier loss.

"What an upset, Shockwave have won! I cannot believe it!"

— Jonathan Pearce as Shockwave pits Thor

This gave Shockwave a surprise place in the Grand Final.

Angela Scanlon: "Well done guys! Last time you went up against Thor in the Head to Heads, it went to a Judges' decision, it didn't go your way, you've clearly changed tactics!"

Will Thomas: "Yeah, last time he completely bettered us really. We lost the entire front end of the robot. So we changed tactic, we wanted to go all out on the offensive, and somehow it worked!"

— Post-battle interview

In the Grand Final group stages, Shockwave was placed against Apollo and Carbide. Shockwave's plan was to either drive into Carbide's blade to stop it from spinning, or to sacrificially push Apollo into the spinning bar.

Will Thomas: "We're gonna hit Carbide head-on with the scoop, and if we can get them before they get up to full speed, we might be able to get them!"

Angela Scanlon: "So literally charge?"

Will Thomas: "Or failing that, we're gonna feed Apollo into them, and sort of sacrifice Apollo!"

Angela Scanlon: "So much fighting talk, I love it! This is going to be a real scrap!"

Will Thomas: "Definitely! We could be going home in a bin bag!"

— Pre-battle interview

At the start of the battle, Shockwave drove towards Carbide, but as Carbide turned to face it with the blade spinning, Shockwave turned to avoid it, driving onto the Flame Pit. Shockwave tried to turn to use its scoop, but Carbide clipped the side with its spinning bar. Shockwave turned off the flames as Carbide drove onto the Flame Pit to attack again, driving into Sir Killalot's CPZ. Carbide turned to drive after Apollo, and Shockwave turned around, driving out of the CPZ as Sir Killalot came over. Shockwave charged at the side of Carbide, getting underneath with the scoop and ramming it across the arena. The edge of Carbide's rear wedge clipped the Floor Flipper as Shockwave pushed it across, but Shockwave kept pushing, forcing it against the arena wall by the trench.

"Strong looking robots, but they've all had reliability issues thus far in Robot Wars! Here we are in the Grand Final, and Carbide being shoved across the arena floor by Shockwave!"

— Jonathan Pearce in the early moments of the battle, then as Shockwave gets under Carbide and pushes it

Shockwave quickly turned, keeping Carbide on its scoop and pushed it into Shunt's CPZ. Carbide managed to turn to face Shockwave, clipping the top of the scoop with its blade, which threw it off the top of Shockwave, and Carbide collided with the wall, blade first, knocking a whole panel out of the wall. Shockwave turned and drove out of the CPZ, as did Carbide from the other side of the CPZ, and Carbide hit Shockwave's side, immobilising it on one side. Carbide hit the side of Shockwave again, ripping off part of the side and knocking it towards the arena centre. Shockwave reversed away from Apollo as it drove towards it, and Apollo charged at Carbide, getting underneath and flipping it. Shockwave tried driving at Apollo, but it could only turn back and forth due to the damage to its side. Carbide made one last charge at Shockwave, hitting the scoop as 'cease' was called for safety reasons due to the loss of an arena panel.

"They say that that blade has 10 times the power of anything we've seen on anything in Robot Wars, and causing more danger to Shockwave, but can this carry on? We have safety issues out there now, because the arena wall... I cannot believe they're {sic} allowed this to continue - they won't!"

— Jonathan Pearce as the battle is stopped

The battle was set to be restarted when the arena was repaired, but upon closer inspection it was revealed that Carbide's attack had damaged Shockwave significantly, ripping through its armour and dislodging the rear drive wheel, which caused the drive train to fall off. The damage was so severe that Shockwave would not have been able to have been repaired in the allotted time so the team were forced to retire, eliminating Shockwave and leaving Apollo and Carbide to progress to the Head-to-Heads.

Will Thomas: "It's always disappointing to lose, but we always knew that Carbide was going to be a fantastic robot to fight, and I reckon they'll go far."

Angela Scanlon: "So Shockwave admit defeat, but do so with their heads held high, after an incredible tournament from the father-and-son team."

— After Shockwave is forced to retire

Shockwave was repaired to fighting condition before the end of filming, so Team Shock and Team Eruption decided to have a friendly battle in the arena between Shockwave and Eruption to entertain the audience, in a whiteboard battle.

"The producers gave us the chance to organise the fights amongst ourselves, and having been very close friends for many years, ourselves and Team Shock both said we wanted to fight each other in the new TV arena! They had done a fantastic job repairing Shockwave after their fight with Carbide (despite a few pieces of metal missing here and there!), and Eruption and Shockwave were the first robots loaded into the arena."

— Eruption - Robot Wars Facebook page on Shockwave's whiteboard battle^[18]

Shockwave's ground clearance proved to be inferior to Eruption's, and it was tossed around the arena. Shockwave managed to retaliate by slipping underneath Eruption to charge it into the arena wall. However, Shockwave's wheels were still weak after the encounter with Carbide, and after it was flipped a few more times by Eruption, a drive chain was lost, leaving Shockwave with only three working wheels. Team Shock encouraged Team Eruption to keep attacking, so Shockwave was thrown out of the arena, and lost the battle, retiring after this fight.

"Despite being immobilised, Will and Ian told us to continue attacking and we drove underneath Shockwave and flipped it out of the arena, giving Eruption the highest number of OOTAs in the new Robot Wars arena! Shockwave was unfortunately irreparable after this and did not fight again, but getting it back in the arena after the Carbide fight was a feat in itself!"

— Eruption - Robot Wars Facebook page on Shockwave's whiteboard battle^[19]

Results[]

SHOCKWAVE - RESULTS
Series 8
Series 8 - UK Championship Grand Final, Round 1
Heat B, Group Battle	vs. DisConstructor, Thor, Tough as Nails	Qualified
Heat B, Head-to-Heads	vs. Foxic	Won via KO (3 points)
Heat B, Head-to-Heads	vs. Thor	Lost (0 points)
Heat B, Head-to-Heads	vs. M.R. Speed Squared	Won via KO (3 points)
Heat B, Heat Final	vs. Thor	Won
Grand Final, Group Battle	vs. Apollo, Carbide	Eliminated
Whiteboard Matches
Head-to-Head	vs. Eruption	Lost

Wins/Losses[]

Wins: 4
Losses: 2

NOTE: Whiteboard matches are not included

Series Record[]

Series	Shockwave Series Record
Series 1-7	Did not enter
Series 8	Grand Final, Round 1 Not selected with Manta and Maelstrom
Series 9	Entered with Aftershock
Series 10	Entered with Aftershock

NOTE 1: Will Thomas also competed in Battle of the Stars as mentor for Episode 2 third-place finisher Soldier Ant.
NOTE 2: Will Thomas' students entered Series 10 with Track-tion as part of the Collingwood Carnage team.

Gallery[]

Outside Robot Wars[]

Techno Games[]

Shockwave originally competed in Techno Games 2003 as Joker but lost to Storm Chaser in round one due to its sumo blade not being ready, leaving only the football scoop available.

Live events[]

The robot was sold to Team Shock in 2015, with its history between Techno Games and 2015 being unknown. The Series 8 version of Shockwave is almost a completely separate machine to the original robot, with only the drive and weapon motors remaining.

Robot Wars Live Events[]

Shockwave at a Robot Wars live event — Shockwave at a *Robot Wars* live event

Shockwave only had a limited number of appearances at live events prior to the TV series being filmed, as Team Shock have mostly competed with their more successful robots at the events, Manta and Maelstrom. One of these was against The Steel Avenger during an Autumn 2015 event. It started well by lifting Steel Avenger in the air, but Steel Avenger landed an axe blow in, which immobilised Shockwave on one side.

Upon the announcement of Series 8, Shockwave, having been retired from live events, underwent a rebuild specifically in order to participate in the new series.

After the filming of Series 8, the new Shockwave made an appearance at the Greenwich University event in Autumn 2016, where it fought three battles and won all three, defeating Stinger, Halo and The Steel Avenger.

"In September 2016 we ressurected {sic} Shockwave for whiteboard battles and took it to the event at Greenwich Uni. It had several great fights over the weekend and entertainted {sic} the crowd with its handstands and victory dance."

— Shockbots website on Shockwave's appearance at the Greenwich University event^[20]

Trivia[]

"The funniest part of testing Shockwave was before we even got to the arena. While testing at home I took a lump out of the side of our house while testing the drive. Shockwave survived without a scratch!"

— Will Thomas on Reddit^[21]

Both Shockwave and its non-qualifying counterpart Manta share their names with a robot from earlier episodes of Robot Wars, as a robot named Shockwave competed in the Forces Special of Robot Wars Extreme. Coincidentally, the two robots that Team Shock's robots share names with both featured in the first series of Extreme.
Shockwave was sponsored by Emsea Ltd^[22]
Aside from the participants in the 10 Robot Rumble, Shockwave is one of only six robots to fight at least two past or future domestic champions (Apollo and Carbide) in a single battle. The others to do this are Yeborobo, Tornado, Philipper, Panzer Mk2 - which all fought in the same Second World Championship Heat - and 13 Black, which fought Chaos 2 and Razer.
Shockwave was intended to have a spike attachment as one of its interchangeable weapons, intended for use for robots with little armour such as Beast, but the team ran out of time to build it^[23].

References[]

External Links[]

Navigation[]

[1] ttp://www.shockbots.co.uk/shockwave/4593747407

[2] BBC Radio Berkshire - Phil Kennedy, From a Masters in cybernetics to Robot Wars

[3] The Reading Chronicle - Will and Ian Thomas behind robot Shockwave to appear on tomorrow night's show

[4] Reddit: Team Shock- Shockwave AMA!

[5] Reddit: Team Shock- Shockwave AMA!

[6] Reddit: Team Shock- Shockwave AMA!

[7] Shockbots website - Shockwave (Archived)

[8] Reddit: Team Shock- Shockwave AMA!

[9] Reddit: Team Shock- Shockwave AMA!

[10] BBC Two - Robot Wars, Series 8 - Shockwave

[11] BBC Radio Berkshire - Phil Kennedy, From a Masters in cybernetics to Robot Wars

[12] Reddit: Team Shock- Shockwave AMA!

[13] Reddit: Team Shock- Shockwave AMA!

[14] Reddit: Team Shock- Shockwave AMA!

[15] Reddit: Team Shock- Shockwave AMA!

[16] Team Shock on X, July 31 2016

[17] Reddit: Team Shock- Shockwave AMA!

[18] Eruption - Robot Wars Facebook page, 8th September 2016

[19] Eruption - Robot Wars Facebook page, 8th September 2016

[20] Shockbots website - Shockwave (Archived)

[21] Reddit: Team Shock- Shockwave AMA!

[22] Emsea Ltd on X, August 17th 2016

[23] Reddit: Team Shock- Shockwave AMA!

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