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[[File:Tungsten.jpg|thumb|left|Tungsten at ''This is Fighting Robots'']]
 
[[File:Tungsten.jpg|thumb|left|Tungsten at ''This is Fighting Robots'']]
 
[[File:Tungsten front.jpg|thumb|Front view of Tungsten]]
 
[[File:Tungsten front.jpg|thumb|Front view of Tungsten]]
Team Carbide also competed in the Chinese show ''This is Fighting Robots'', made by the same producers behind ''King of Bots''. The team entered with [http://king-of-bots.wikia.com/wiki/Tungsten '''Tungsten'''], a heavyweight version of Sam Smith's featherweight '''Shard''', with an additional axe weapon to accompany its powerful vertical spinner. In the first episode, [[Team Legion|Gabriel Stroud]] encouraged a celebrity to add Tungsten to her team of robots, justifying this through Carbide's success in ''Robot Wars''. The celebrity was persuaded, and Tungsten joined a team alongside [http://king-of-bots.wikia.com/wiki/Vulcan Vulcan], [http://king-of-bots.wikia.com/wiki/Spectre Spectre], [http://king-of-bots.wikia.com/wiki/Tánshè Tánshè] and later [http://king-of-bots.wikia.com/wiki/Megabyte Megabyte]. Tungsten was chosen to represent its team in a battle against [http://king-of-bots.wikia.com/wiki/Greedy_Snake Greedy Snake], [http://king-of-bots.wikia.com/wiki/Mr_Hippo Mr Hippo] and [http://king-of-bots.wikia.com/wiki/Lieutenant_Bam Lieutenant Bam], which Dave Moulds agreed with, as Tungsten was equipped to defeat the drum spinner of Mr Hippo. Indeed, after Mr Hippo immobilised Greedy Snake, Tungsten then immobilised Mr Hippo. However, Lieutenant Bam delivered further attacks to the beaten Mr Hippo, and then pounded Tungsten, which had lost the use of its weapon. Ultimately, Tungsten lost the rumble to Lieutenant Bam, but it still progressed to the Tag Team round, where it partnered with [http://king-of-bots.wikia.com/wiki/Red_River_Hong Red River Hong]. Although Tungsten was pitted upon its first contact with [http://king-of-bots.wikia.com/wiki/Model_Teenager Model Teenager], it still managed to immobilise Model Teenager with the same blow, and Red River Hong was able to immobilise [http://king-of-bots.wikia.com/wiki/Saturn Saturn], before Tungsten was brought back into play to further damage Model Teenager.
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Team Carbide also competed in the Chinese show ''This is Fighting Robots'', made by the same producers behind ''King of Bots''. The team entered with [http://king-of-bots.wikia.com/wiki/Tungsten '''Tungsten'''], a heavyweight version of Sam Smith's featherweight '''Shard''', with an additional axe weapon to accompany its powerful vertical spinner. In the first episode, [[Team Legion|Gabriel Stroud]] encouraged a celebrity to add Tungsten to her team of robots, justifying this through Carbide's success in ''Robot Wars''. The celebrity was persuaded, and Tungsten joined a team alongside [http://king-of-bots.wikia.com/wiki/Vulcan Vulcan], [http://king-of-bots.wikia.com/wiki/Spectre Spectre], [http://king-of-bots.wikia.com/wiki/Tánshè Tánshè] and later [http://king-of-bots.wikia.com/wiki/Megabyte Megabyte]. Tungsten was chosen to represent its team in a battle against [http://king-of-bots.wikia.com/wiki/Greedy_Snake Greedy Snake], [http://king-of-bots.wikia.com/wiki/Mr_Hippo Mr Hippo] and [http://king-of-bots.wikia.com/wiki/Lieutenant_Bam Lieutenant Bam], which Dave Moulds agreed with, as Tungsten was equipped to defeat the drum spinner of Mr Hippo. Indeed, after Mr Hippo immobilised Greedy Snake, Tungsten then immobilised Mr Hippo. However, Lieutenant Bam delivered further attacks to the beaten Mr Hippo, and then pounded Tungsten, which had lost the use of its weapon. Ultimately, Tungsten lost the rumble to Lieutenant Bam, but it still progressed to the Tag Team round, where it partnered with [http://king-of-bots.wikia.com/wiki/Red_River_Hong Red River Hong]. Although Tungsten was pitted upon its first contact with [http://king-of-bots.wikia.com/wiki/Model_Teenager Model Teenager], it still managed to immobilise Model Teenager with the same blow, and Red River Hong was able to immobilise [http://king-of-bots.wikia.com/wiki/Saturn Saturn], before Tungsten was brought back into play to further damage Model Teenager. In its first head-to-head battle, Tungsten fought the South Korean entry [http://king-of-bots.wikia.com/wiki/ORBY_Blade ORBY Blade], and immobilised it by throwing ORBY Blade high into the air.
   
 
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Revision as of 16:09, 2 June 2018

Team Carbide is a roboteering team, the champions of Series 9, and runners-up in Series 8 and 10. Comprising of Dave Moulds, veteran roboteer Sam Smith and, originally Sheryl Prior, the three competed together as Team Carbide for the first time in Series 8 of Robot Wars, with Moulds and Smith returning for Series 9 and Series 10.

Although Series 8 marked Team Carbide's collective debut, Sam Smith had been competing in Robot Wars since Series 4. Their most famous robot is Series 9 champion Carbide, co-designed and built by Moulds and Smith, which also finished second in Series 8 and Series 10.

The Team

Dave Moulds

Arena Cleaner with team

Dave Moulds with Arena Cleaner

Team Carbide trophy 1

Team Carbide with their trophy and Carbide

Dave Moulds was the captain of Team Carbide in Series 8 and 9, and was also the driver of Carbide. By trade, Moulds is a robotics engineer for Cadbury, and is local to Derby. Dave Moulds entered the televised roboteering scene as a member of Team Hurtz in BattleBots, and originally built his own robot Turbulence, which became the UK champion in the 2006 live circuit. Turbulence would later win the 2016 pilot under ownership of a new team.

Moulds was specifically chosen to be a mentor in Robot Wars: Battle of the Stars. He joined BBC Radio 1 DJ's Scott Mills and Chris Stark to compete with Arena Cleaner, a robot which was similar in design to Carbide. Moulds repaired Arena Cleaner when necessary, and eventually the team won the episode.

"The fights that we win aren't always the best fights, are they? I think you can have an absolutely brilliant fight once you lose, and you actually learn more from it. Obviously, winning's great, but for us, we always want to keep developing the machine, making it as good as we can, and the more we learn going throughout the competition, the more fun it is!"
— Dave Moulds to Haynes Manuals on the mentality of Team Carbide

Sam Smith

Team Carbide trophy

Team Carbide, Series 9 champions

In Team Carbide, Sam Smith operates Carbide's weapon, having co-built and designed the robot, and would later become team captain in Series 10. By trade, he is an aerospace engineer for Rolls Royce, and is also a featherweight roboteer in his own right.

Team Tiberius

Sam Smith (centre) on Tiberius' team

Sam Smith had previously competed on Robot Wars with his robot Tiberius, which debuted in Series 4, before returning to Series 5 as Tiberius 2, and Tiberius 3 competed in Series 6-7 and Extreme 2. Smith's team represented Loughborough University when they won the University Challenge in Extreme 2. Tiberius' other team members include Simon Coulthard, John Coulthard, Stuart Smith, Craig Lawson and Carl Lawson.

Dave Moulds stated on Inside the Bot that Sam Smith would become the team captain in Series 10, in order to raise awareness of the equal workload that both team members contribute to Carbide. This switch took effect throughout the filmed series.

Team carbide

All three members of Team Carbide in Series 8

Sheryl Prior

Sheryl Prior is an accountant by trade. The television show defines Prior's role as the team's tactician, although the Robot Wars website refers to her merely as 'moral support' and 'tea making'[1]. She did not return for Series 9.

Robots

Name Weight Class Series
Carbide Heavyweight Series 8-10
Tiberius Heavyweight Series 4-7, Extreme 2

NOTE: Tiberius was entered only by Sam Smith, and has no connection to Dave Moulds or Sheryl Prior.

Wins/Losses

  • Wins: 29
  • Losses: 9

NOTE: This wins/losses ratio includes the performance of Carbide and Tiberius, and excludes the performances of Arena Cleaner and Turbulence

Series Record

Carbide with team

Team Carbide in Series 9

Carbide gateway

Team Carbide enter the arena in Series 8

Main Series Team Carbide Series Record
The First Wars Did not enter
The Second Wars Did not enter
The Third Wars Did not enter
The Fourth Wars Heat, Round 2 with Tiberius
The Fifth Wars Heat, Round 2 with Tiberius 2
The Sixth Wars Heat, Round 1 with Tiberius 3
The Seventh Wars Heat Final with Tiberius 3
Series 8 Runners-up with Carbide
Series 9 Grand Champions with Carbide
Battle of the Stars champion with Arena Cleaner
Series 10 Runners-up with Carbide
Robot Wars Extreme Appearances
Series 1 Did not enter
Series 2 University Challenge Champion with Tiberius 3

Outside Robot Wars

Cobalt with Team Carbide

Team Carbide with Cobalt

Dave Moulds has also participated in ABC's rebooted series of BattleBots, both as part of Team Carbide and with different teams. In Season 1, he joined Team Robo Challenge when they attempted to enter with Beta, although Beta could not compete due to parts being lost in transit.

At around the same time that Team Carbide developed Carbide for Robot Wars, they also produced a heavyweight for Season 2 of ABC's BattleBots, Cobalt. Cobalt features an almost-identical shape and design to Carbide, but features different armour and internals, and is armed with an axe-like asymmetrical bar spinner instead of the symmetrical weapon Carbide uses. Additionally, it used a white, blue and red colour scheme, in contrast to Carbide's predominantly black and green finish. For BattleBots, Team Carbide featured Dave Moulds, Sam Smith, Sheryl Prior, and James Cooper.

Cobalt

Cobalt

In its first battle, Cobalt was drawn against Season 1 quarter-finalist, Overhaul. Its spinner quickly reached top speed at the start, and a series of attacks on Overhaul's sides caused Cobalt to deflect away constantly. One hit and a loose set screw caused Overhaul to lose drive on one side, putting Cobalt through to the round of 32, further than Photon Storm, Team Storm's rebuilt version of Sam Smith's former heavyweight Tiberius. In the round of 32, Cobalt fought newcomer, wildcard recipient and eventual Season 2 runner-up, Bombshell. It tried to ram into Bombshell's overhead bar spinner rear-first to open up an opportunity to attack, but Bombshell's blade repeatedly cut through Cobalt's tyres, hampering its mobility. While Cobalt managed to tear one of Bombshell's side panels off, it was eventually immobilised and eliminated after Bombshell continued to damage its tyres.

Tungsten

Tungsten at This is Fighting Robots

Tungsten front

Front view of Tungsten

Team Carbide also competed in the Chinese show This is Fighting Robots, made by the same producers behind King of Bots. The team entered with Tungsten, a heavyweight version of Sam Smith's featherweight Shard, with an additional axe weapon to accompany its powerful vertical spinner. In the first episode, Gabriel Stroud encouraged a celebrity to add Tungsten to her team of robots, justifying this through Carbide's success in Robot Wars. The celebrity was persuaded, and Tungsten joined a team alongside Vulcan, Spectre, Tánshè and later Megabyte. Tungsten was chosen to represent its team in a battle against Greedy Snake, Mr Hippo and Lieutenant Bam, which Dave Moulds agreed with, as Tungsten was equipped to defeat the drum spinner of Mr Hippo. Indeed, after Mr Hippo immobilised Greedy Snake, Tungsten then immobilised Mr Hippo. However, Lieutenant Bam delivered further attacks to the beaten Mr Hippo, and then pounded Tungsten, which had lost the use of its weapon. Ultimately, Tungsten lost the rumble to Lieutenant Bam, but it still progressed to the Tag Team round, where it partnered with Red River Hong. Although Tungsten was pitted upon its first contact with Model Teenager, it still managed to immobilise Model Teenager with the same blow, and Red River Hong was able to immobilise Saturn, before Tungsten was brought back into play to further damage Model Teenager. In its first head-to-head battle, Tungsten fought the South Korean entry ORBY Blade, and immobilised it by throwing ORBY Blade high into the air.

On the live event circuit, Dave Moulds has also fought with various featherweight robots since 2002. He has fought with various different versions of Turbine, armed with a flipper, which has since been retired. In full-combat events, Moulds has fought with a few spinner-wielding robots. These include:

  • 360, a featherweight version of Hypno-Disc, with a horizontal flywheel.
  • 540, a six-wheeled box-shaped robot with an interchangeable eggbeater and rammer configuration. The robot has since been bought and renamed Disturbance.
  • 720, an octagonal-shaped robot armed with a spinning drum, now owned and renamed Sabre20 by Team Legion.
  • 722, an improved version of 720 with a similar paint scheme to Carbide, which finished runner-up at the 2017 FRA Featherweight International Championships.[2]

Dave Moulds also won the 2006 FRA Heavyweight UK Championships with heavyweight flipper Turbulence, alongside teammate Ed Wallace. For more information, refer to the Turbulence article.

NST

Sam Smith's featherweight NST

Shard

Shard, inspiration for Tungsten

Team Carbide member and co-builder Sam Smith also fights in live featherweight events with NST, a horizontal bar spinner, and Shard, a vertical flywheel which later inspired the design of the team's heavyweight Tungsten. Both robots have proved considerably successful; NST won the 2012 Featherweight UK Championships and the 2015 UK Featherweight Annihilator, while Shard finished tenth at the 2017 FRA Featherweight International Championships.

Trivia

  • Although Dave Moulds and Sam Smith have always used the Team Carbide name at robotic combat events when partnered, it should be noted that their appearance on BattleBots predates their televised appearance on Robot Wars, where the robot Carbide debuted.
  • Team Carbide's titular competitor, Carbide, was inducted into The Combat Robot Hall of Fame in 2017 following its dominant performances in Series 8 and 9.[3]

Honours


References

External Links