Team MAD

Team MAD
Participation Information
UK Series	7-10, Extreme 2
Robot Wars Live Circuit	2013
Team Information
Team Members	Dave Young Alan Young (Series 7, 10, Extreme 1-2) Marc Dermott (Series 8-9) Ben Bacon (Series 8)
Other Names	Team BlazerBotics Team Robots Live! Team Apollo
Home Town	Conwy, North Wales (Dave Young) Chester (Alan Young)

Team MAD (known during Series 7 as Team BlazerBotics, and also referred to as Team Robots Live! or Team Apollo), are a roboteering team best known for competing in the three reboot series of Robot Wars with Apollo, winning the championship outright in Series 8, also competing in the lower weight class divisions during the show's original run. In Team MAD's debut appearance, and their final appearance, the team consisted of brothers Dave and Alan Young.

The Team

Dave Young

Dave Young in Series 10

In televised appearances, Dave Young was consistently the captain of Team MAD, competing as a one-man team in lower weight classes during the second series of Extreme and Series 7, before captaining a full team throughout the Robot Wars reboot, including Series 8-10. Dave Young was generally not the team captain of the team outside of Robot Wars, but took on this role for the show, where he was an energetic and enthusiastic speaker. Dave Young was prepared to hype up a battle he was involved in, either by posing or dancing before a battle, and regularly encouraged his team vocally. At the time of Extreme 2 and Series 7, Dave Young was still a schoolboy, but grew up to be a Bluecoat performer, and was employed as a theatre technician at the time of Series 8, before becoming a full-time events manager from Series 9 onwards.

Dave Young (left) at the controls of Hades in Extreme 2

Dave Young at the controls of G2 in Series 7

Dave Young first competed in the second series of Extreme, in both the antweight and featherweight divisions. Dave Young competed at the young age of 16 alongside an unidentified female teammate, while brother Alan Young competed with other antweights and featherweights. He competed in the Antweight Championship with Hades, although it lost its opening qualifier. His featherweight entry was Gladiator, which qualified through its opening battle, which also included Alan Young driving another robot. Gladiator reached the Featherweight Final, where Alan Young rejoined the team, although Dave Young still drove the robot. Dave Young returned to the Featherweight Championship in Series 7 with G2, an upgraded version of Gladiator, although he failed to reach the final on this occasion after G2 was immobilised by Kitty.

Dave Young (centre) with his team in Series 8

Dave Young raises the trophy after winning Series 8

Dave Young's claim-to-fame in Robot Wars came in Series 8, where he captained Team MAD alongside teammates Marc Dermott and Ben Bacon. He was the driver and main mechanic of Apollo, which ultimately went on to win the series. This version of Team MAD was described as the 'boyband of Robot Wars', because of the trio's joint poses and enthusiastic attitudes. Dave Young also drove Apollo in Series 9, and reached the first round of the Grand Final, although Young was required to carry out more extensive repairs throughout due to repeated encounters with Carbide. Dave Young was the primary driver of Apollo in Series 10, although he offered driving opportunities to his brother for the 10 Robot Rumble. Dave Young was aged 29 in Series 10, and was native to North Wales, stated as a resident of Abergele in Series 9, and Conwy in Series 10.

"It's fantastic to be team captain of your older brother. Growing up throughout the years, he's always been the boss, telling me what to do, and I've always been given the hand-me-downs throughout the years, so now he's got to listen to me, he's got to stand there and watch me drive the robot, and he better get used to it!"

— Dave Young on his captaincy

Dave Young as the captain of Team UK

Dave Young stares down Peter Redmond

Dave Young held an important role in the first international special of Series 10, during Robot Wars: World Series. Dave Young was enlisted as the captain of Team UK, which included his own robot Apollo alongside fellow British machines Gabriel 2, Sabretooth and Terrorhurtz. Dave Young encouraged all of his British teammates to perform well, and offered tactical advice, recommending that Terrorhurtz opened its Tag Team battle against Diotoir, and that Toby Colliass should ignore his father's pacifism when battling Rabid M8. Apollo defeated Diotoir in the final battle of the episode, the necessary win to ensure that Team UK had defeated Team Rest-of-the-World, and Dave Young raised his second Robot Wars trophy at the end of the episode.

"We bring the experience of winning Robot Wars to the team. There's not many teams out there that have done it, and it's experience that is invaluable."

— Dave Young as the captain of Team UK

Alan Young

"I've decided to bring my brother along for the ride. He's a professional robot builder, so bringing in his expertise should make Team Apollo a competitive team once again."

— Dave Young on his brother in Series 10

Alan Young in Series 10

Although Alan Young never gained the opportunity to captain Team MAD on Robot Wars outside of his one-man team in the lower weight classes of the classic series, Alan Young was consistently the captain of the team on the live circuit, and other television shows such as Techno Games, where both brothers competed. In shows including BattleBots and King of Bots, Alan Young would captain the team without brother Dave Young present as a competitor. Alan Young proved to be an influential figure on the live circuit, starting the Robots Live! touring event at a young age, making him the organiser for many heavyweight robotic combat events, his full-time profession.

Alan Young (left) at the controls of Chroma

Alan Young (right) at the controls of Alpha

At the age of 18, Alan Young competed in the antweight and featherweight classes of Extreme 2 and Series 7, much like his younger brother, although with less success. In both of Alan Young's battles during Extreme 2, where he drove the antweight Chroma and the featherweight Flybot, Dave Young would also drive another robot in the same battle, and Alan Young's robots were consistently defeated first. However, this allowed Alan Young to unite with his brother in the final of Extreme 2's Featherweight Championship under the Gladiator team, after initially being the sole member of Flybot's team. Alan Young drove Alpha in the Featherweight Championship of Series 7, but lost the Judges' decision of its opening round, with Dave Young's G2 also falling in the same battle.

"So, Carbide went in the corner and has hit the barrier. He's managed to rip the steel barrier, it's a 6mm steel plate, and he's ripped it from the wall. So we've had to stop the fight while we sort it out, then we're going to re-fix the barrier, and get back on with the fight."

— Alan Young's spoken line in Series 8 as part of the technical crew

Alan Young on the technical crew in Series 8

In Series 8 and 9, Alan Young was recruited as a member of the technical team for the rebooted series, meaning that he could not compete as a member of the team, despite being the lead designer and builder of Apollo. Alan Young did compete in the pilot episode filmed prior to Series 8, as the driver of Merlin, which reached the second round. Alan Young's robot MONTE was also entered into the same pilot by Paul Streeter. Alan Young's only televised appearance Series 8-9 was during the Series 8 Grand Final, where he (as a member of the technical team) discussed the safety measures regarding the arena wall that had been broken by Carbide.

Angela Scanlon: "You've been wheeled in, jazz hands aside, to get Apollo back on form."

Alan Young: "Yeah, this is the difficult third album! You know, we've got to come back and prove ourselves!"

— Team MAD's new approach

Alan Young (left) with his brother in Series 10

Alan Young (right) with Apollo in Robot Wars: World Series

Alan Young was to reprise this role in Series 10, but after Marc Dermott withdrew from the team shortly before filming, 31-year old Alan Young forfeited his place on the technical crew to join his brother as a member of Apollo's televised team. This allowed Team MAD to take a new approach as a team, transitioning from the energetic "boyband of Robot Wars" team seen in Series 8-9 into one with high expertise, which Dave Young credited to his brother's vast experience in robotics. Alan Young was fully involved with the design and maintenance of Apollo's upgrades, although both his brother and the production crew took jabs at Alan Young's expense, calling him 'awkward', jokingly criticising his dance before Apollo's battle against The Swarm and Apocalypse, and Dave Young admitted that he enjoyed giving orders to his older brother. During the 10 Robot Rumble, Alan Young drove Apollo, which was the final robot to fall during the battle. As a resident of Chester, formerly Birmingham, Alan Young allowed Apollo to be a joint Welsh-English team, and wore a cape sporting the Union Flag in his appearance during Robot Wars: World Series while offering advice to driver Dave Young.

Cameraman: "Are you quite awkward, Alan?"

Alan Young: "Am I awkward? ...I don't really know how to reply to that!"

— An example of Alan Young being mocked after Dave Young called him 'awkward'

Marc Dermott

"Bluecoats Dave and Marc have been friends for ten years, but have only been competing as a robotics team for one year."

— The Robot Wars website on Marc Dermott and Dave Young

Marc Dermott poses with the Robot Wars trophy

Marc Dermott, aged 32, participated as part of Team MAD in Series 8 and 9, and was present for both of Apollo's appearances in the Grand Final. An entertainment manager professionally at the time of Series 9, Marc Dermott brought his sense of humour to the show, regularly telling jokes, sometimes at the expense of teammate Dave Young, with other examples including Marc Dermott referring to Carbide as "can't abide". He initiated many of the team's dances and poses, including a performance of 'the robot' before Apollo's heat semi-final against Carbide, and both team members bounded around their booth before the Heat Final rematch. Marc Dermott was listed as a mechanic of Apollo on the Robot Wars website, and occasionally offered advice to Dave Young while he drove Apollo in battle.

Marc Dermott: "I'm happy days, aren't we?"

Dave Young: "I'm happy, it's really cold as well, so that means the flipper's probably only working at half..."

Marc Dermott: "That's only because he wore two layers that he thinks it's cold. Four layers, four layers, like that."

Dave Young: "...But Apollo works a lot better in the warm, so that was probably about half power."

Marc Dermott: "Same as you!"

Dave Young: "...Will you shut up? We were launching them a fair height!"

— Marc Dermott constantly interrupts Dave Young with a barrage of jokes

Marc Dermott looks into space

Marc Dermott's pantomime performance with Apollo

Marc Dermott had intended to return to Team MAD for Series 10, but hardly one week before filming was about to begin, Dermott was offered an acting position overseas, and was unable to attend filming as a result, leading to Alan Young taking his place. Marc Dermott met Dave Young and Ben Bacon as a bluecoat performer at Pontins, and had previously appeared on television as a presenter of live Darts on Sky. Because of this, Apollo's VT in Series 9 was filmed at Pontins, where Marc Dermott performed various pantomime techniques, with Apollo hiding behind him.

Marc Dermott: "Whoa whoa whoa there, old Dara!"

Audience: "It's behind you!"

Marc Dermott: "Oh no it isn't!"

Audience: "Oh yes it is!"

Marc Dermott: "Aaaaaah!!"

— Marc Dermott's pantomime performance, with a horse named Dara

Ben Bacon

Ben Bacon (left) makes repairs to Apollo in Series 8

Ben Bacon was a member of Team MAD for Series 8, exclusively. Ben Bacon showed similar enthusiasm to his teammates Dave Young and Marc Dermott on-screen, and joined in with the team's poses and dances, celebrating Apollo's victories passionately. However, Ben Bacon's interest in robotics was lower than his televised appearance suggested, would later decide not to rejoin the team in subsequent series. Aged 28 at the time of Series 8, Ben Bacon was still an entertainer by trade, having first met the rest of the team as a Bluecoat entertainer at Pontins.

"The team met as they were members of the famous Pontins ‘Bluecoats Entertainers,’ and formed a friendship from there. Captain, Dave, has converted his farmyard barn into a ‘Robot Workshop.’ The barn is now ‘a museum’ to all of his old fighting robots from previous series, which includes Kronic the Wedgehog, other old competitors’ robots, and purchased old house robots."

— The Robot Wars website on Team MAD in Series 8

Robots

Name	Weight Class	Series
Chroma	Antweight	Extreme 2
Hades	Antweight	Extreme 2
Flybot	Featherweight	Extreme 2
Gladiator	Featherweight	Extreme 2, Series 7
Alpha	Featherweight	Series 7
Apollo	Heavyweight	Series 8-10
Merlin	Heavyweight	Series 8 (Pilot only)

NOTE: Alan Young also built MONTE, which was entered into the 2016 pilot by Paul Streeter.

Chroma (Extreme 2)

Hades (Extreme 2)

Gladiator (Extreme 2)

Flybot (Extreme 2)

G2 (Series 7)

Alpha (Series 7)

Apollo (Series 8)

Apollo (Series 9)

Apollo (Series 10)

Merlin (Series 8 pilot)

MONTE (Series 8 pilot)

Wins/Losses

• Wins: 14
• Losses: 12

NOTE: The performance of Merlin in the pilot episode is excluded

Series Record

Gladiator's team in the Extreme 2 Featherweight Final (centre), with Dave Young at the controls

Main Series	Team MAD Series Record
The First Wars	Did not enter
The Second Wars	Did not enter
The Third Wars	Did not enter
The Fourth Wars	Did not enter
The Fifth Wars	Did not enter
The Sixth Wars	Did not enter
The Seventh Wars	Featherweight Championship, Round 1 with Alpha Featherweight Championship, Round 1 with G2 Withdrew before qualifiers with Merlin
Series 8	Grand Champion with Apollo Pilot Round 2, Third Place with Merlin
Series 9	Grand Final, Round 1 with Apollo
Series 10	Heat Final with Apollo
Robot Wars Extreme	Appearances
Series 1	Did not enter
Series 2	Featherweight Championship, Final with Gladiator Featherweight Championship, Round 1 with Flybot Antweight Championship, Round 1 with Chroma Antweight Championship, Round 1 with Hades

NOTE: MONTE, a robot built by Alan Young, entered the 2016 pilot under Paul Streeter where it lost in Round 1.

Outside Robot Wars

Techno Games

Team BlazerBotics with Blazer and Hades

Blazer suffers defeat in the Techno Games Assault Course

In addition to Robot Wars. Team BlazerBotics entered Techno Games 2003 with a wedge-shaped robot named Blazer, the team's first middleweight and from which they received their original name. Blazer entered the Assault Course, but lost to Bugs Buggy after missing a ramp and landing on its side. Following its appearance, it would be equipped with a pneumatic flipper for combat events. However, Blazer would not attempt to qualify for Robot Wars.

Live events as competitors

Following the completion of Merlin, Team BlazerBotics changed their name to the present Team MAD in 2002. The same year also saw Dave Young's Hades win Antweight World Series 9 outright over War Ant, in tandem with their onscreen appearance in Extreme 2.

In 2005, the year after Robot Wars entered its hiatus, Team MAD acquired UFO and Raging Knightmare for continued use on the live circuit. Both robots continued to be upgraded and rebuilt in subsequent years, the latter eventually being renamed Knightmare under their ownership. The ex-Series 7 Knightmare fought with Team MAD until 2013, when it was sold on to Adrian Sandercock and later to Ceri R Jenkins, the latter of whom renamed it Raging MORG.

The team with Blazer, Merlin, Alpha and an early version of G3

Blazer, Team BlazerBotics' first middleweight robot after Techno Games

Merlin at the time of Series 7

Raging Knightmare under Team MAD's ownership

UFO under Team MAD's ownership

Team MAD with Merlin and UFO at the 2006 UK Championships.

Gladiator 3 (G3)

Alpha MX

The team's two Robot Wars antweights: AWS 9 champion Hades (left) and Chroma (right)

Of Team MAD's self-made competitor robots, Merlin underwent several rebuilds following its aborted entry into Series 7, enjoying a long and considerably successful live events career. Its most notable achievements came in 2006, emerging as a finalist in the FRA UK Championships; FRA Tag Team co-champion alongside Velocirippa; and third-place finisher in the 2006 Roaming Robots Winter Tour. Merlin also won the 2007 Robots of Destruction event, plus Robots Live! Huddersfield in 2008. Two of the team's featherweights - Alpha and Gladiator - would also undergo major redesigns and improvements as Alpha MX and G3 respectively. Alpha MX is noted for its pioneering use of HARDOX armour to defend against full-combat featherweight spinners, while G3's flipper featured a pneumatics system powerful enough to toss opponents up to 5ft into the air.

In 2008, the team acquired The Executioner from Team Tornado, at one point carrying out tests for its bar spinner mechanism. The chassis was subsequently scrapped and the weapon motor reused for a power tool drag racer project. As of October 2022, only The Executioner's spinner and wheels remained with the team. Team MAD also bought the shell of Wedgehog, which they used only for display purposes.

Kronic under Team MAD's ownership

Alpha in 2014 after spending 4 years sitting on a shelf

Ratchet, one of Team MAD's featherweights

The shell of Wedgehog, under the ownership of Team MAD

In May 2010, Team MAD acquired Kronic from its original builders. Kronic immediately brought about Team MAD's biggest successes on the heavyweight circuit, earning the 2010 and 2011 FRA Annihilators; the 2012 Robots Live! Team Championships as part of Team Saints & Sinners; 2013 Robot Wars Colchester and FRA Tag Team championships with Maelstrom and Big Nipper respectively; and outright show victory at Robots Live! Burgess Hill in 2013. Kronic also finished fourth overall in the 2012 FRA UK Championships, and achieved multiple finalist and podium finishers before its retirement in 2015. It has since been superseded by the 2015 Chronic, and latterly by Apollo.

The team also participated in Scrapheap Challenge, competing in the Giant Archery competition at the Scrapheap Challenge Roadshow at the 2007 Bodelwyddan Medieval Festival. There, they competed as The Robot Warriors, and narrowly missed out on a place in the final.

Robots Live!

In 2001, Dave and Alan Young set up their first charity event for Comic Relief at their local school, won by Bigger Brother. A follow-up event in 2003 took place at the former Snibson Discovery Museum, featuring an antweight combat tournament and static displays of UK heavyweights including Chaos 2, Pussycat, Dantomkia and Big Nipper.

In 2006, Team MAD ran their first large-scale event under their newly-formed company Robots Live! Taking place on 28-29 January at the Whitwick Hermitage Leisure Centre in Leicestershire, the event hosted 'over 45 robots' and two separate championships for heavyweights and featherweights. Three shows took place across the whole weekend, drawing crowds of over 1,400 spectators each. The inaugural Robots Live! championships were won by Kan-Opener in the heavyweight class and Pillow Torque in the featherweight class.

The following year, Robots Live! began their first tour using a custom-built fighting arena. Suitable for sportsman-class robots, the arena features a modular steel, wood and polycarbonate construction, and can be configured in various sizes and layouts to suit different touring venues. Alongside regular UK events, Robots Live! hosted their European Championships in Norwich on 7-8 September 2013, won by Toxic 2. Between 2013 and 2019, they also hosted the FRA UK Championships as part of their Deeside and Stevenage events; competition fights were mostly supplemented by whiteboards for both weight categories.

While generally focused on tours and events in the United Kingdom, Robots Live! have also occasionally hosted events at international locations. In October 2014, they were invited to host twelve combat shows at the Robot X Challenge in Singapore, featuring their travelling arena and UK competitors including Kronic, Terrorhurtz, Big Nipper, Tiberius and Turbulence.

In addition to running their own competitor robots, Team MAD also created a fleet of their own "House Robots" for use at Robots Live! shows:

• BattleAxe: Introduced at the Burgess Hill event in 2008, a 120kg machine for featherweight events. Armed with horizontal grabbing claws and a steel hammer, both pneumatically-powered. Similar exo-skeletal appearance and weapon synergy to earlier builds of Dead Metal. Retired at the end of Robots Live! Stevenage in September 2019; succeeded by Gnasher.
• Goliath: A 1,000kg tracked robot debuting at Whitwick in 2013, designed for heavyweight class battles. Equipped with two separate weapon systems on each arm; a large lifting/crushing claw on the right arm, and a 2ft diameter cutting disc on the left arm. The claw is capable of carrying competitors around and out of the arena.
• Gnasher: Replacing BattleAxe from 2021 onwards, a four-wheel drive 115kg robot designed to resemble a red dragon. Central to Gnasher's design is a set of hydraulic lifting/clamping jaws, capable of carrying and inflicting severe damage to featherweights. An onboard CO₂ system inside the upper jaw also allows Gnasher to vent a 'freezing breath' for theatrical effect.

Goliath in the Robots Live! arena, 2024 (MechMania - In the Pits)

Goliath is showcased in the Robots Live! touring arena (MechMania - In the Pits)

Gnasher 'breathes' CO₂ while being introduced for a featherweight battle, 2024 (MechMania)

As of May 2025, Robots Live! continues to run sportsman heavyweight and featherweight class events across the UK. They are one of two UK live event organisers currently running heavyweights, along with Extreme Robots, with more recent events also hosting filmed MechMania competitions in partnership with Mech+ (see below).

BattleBots

Chronic at BattleBots with its team

Under the name of Team Chronic, Team MAD applied to participate in the 2015 reboot of BattleBots with Chronic, a blue wedge-shaped robot with a flipper and a similar body shape to Apollo. Although Chronic was not chosen to compete in the main series, it was the first robot to fight in the new BattleBox, battling Swamp Thing, built by Team Hardcore Robotics of Tombstone fame. This battle was staged as a test for the camera equipment, where Chronic threw Swamp Thing around, causing external damage to it by causing the robot's thwacking tail to fall off, but Chronic eventually broke down and lost the battle. Chronic remained a reserve for the series, but was not required to take part. Chronic was also due to compete in a nine-robot rumble at the end of the series, but due to time restraints in filming, it never took place.

Alan Young with Ed Hoppitt and Andrew Marchant, entering Photon Storm into BattleBots 2016

Although Chronic was not accepted to take part in the 2016 series of BattleBots, Alan Young was still able to participate by joining Team Storm and Andrew Marchant in entering Photon Storm, a reworked version of Tiberius. It lost to the Brazilian robot Minotaur in round one, surviving for a good amount of time before a heavy drum blow to the side caused a weld to break and took both of its drive motors, damaged the battery while also damaging the hydraulic line that powered the weapon. Photon Storm was not selected as a wildcard, and thus, was eliminated.

King of Bots/This is Fighting Robots

Vulcan at King of Bots

Alan Young represented Team Robots Live! in the Chinese TV show King of Bots, competing alongside Ed Wallace, and Kevin Cleasby with a heavyweight robot named Vulcan. The robot was black, and was armed with a large bladed axe, and a front scoop like that of older Terrorhurtz incarnations. In the first round, it fought the Chinese flipper, Saber. However, after being flipped in the early stages, Vulcan struggled to land axe blows. Vulcan was turned over by the floor flipper, and later lost the use of a wheel. Towards the end of the second minute, Sabre flipped Vulcan over, and after struggling to self-right, its axe became stuck in a flame jet, leaving it stuck. Thus, Vulcan lost in the first round. Regardless, it still fought alongside Tánshè in a Tag Team battle against Saber and Greedy Snake, winning the battle on a Judges' decision due to Tánshè immobilising Saber.

Vulcan at This is Fighting Robots

Alan Young returned to China to compete in the 2018 series This is Fighting Robots, a spin-off of King of Bots, using an upgraded version of Vulcan. He was joined by Sam Cooper of Team Chronic, as Ed Wallace was unable to return, while Kevin Cleasby built his own robot, Switch. Vulcan now uses CO₂ instead of compressed air, and a new four-wheel drive system. Vulcan was one of the first robots to be selected onscreen by Zheng Shuang, securing its place in the main competition as part of the Green team. A dominant Freestyle melee against Firefox and Zen Oh followed, where Vulcan repeatedly pounded and immobilised the Portuguese machine after the latter eliminated Firefox by accident. In the Tag Team round, Vulcan was partnered with Xiake, the successor to the King of Bots runner-up Chiyung Jinlun, in order to battle 008 and Greedy Snake. However, after Xiake was pitted, Vulcan was held in the air by Greedy Snake, and lost the resulting Judges' decision. Vulcan was initially eliminated at this stage, but as Zhang Yishan's team had a shortage of competitors, Vulcan was reinstated as part of his Blue roster. Vulcan was immediately forced to defend this title against Colombian challenger South American Eagle God, but Vulcan's axe easily penetrated the armour of its opponent, eventually punching a lithium polymer battery to set its opponent alight, winning by knockout. As one of only two active members on the Blue team, Vulcan fought the American shell spinner Megabyte, and lost the use of its axe almost immediately, but Vulcan managed to disable Megabyte's spinner through repeated rams, and eventually won the fight when Megabyte was overturned by a floor ejector. Vulcan next fought in a four-way melee against Tungsten, Ninja and Polar Opposite, surviving but losing a Judges' decision to Tungsten. Vulcan advanced to the Top 8, but there it was finally eliminated after losing mobility in battle with Shrederator Tiger Claw.

Vulcan at Robots Live! Stevenage, September 2018

Vulcan also appeared at the King of Bots UK featherweight championship in August 2018, to demonstrate the power of heavyweight robots. After destroying wooden pallets for the audience, Vulcan was able to retire Spank the Monkey by destroying the featherweight machine. It later appeared in the 2019 Opening Battle, promoting the upcoming second season, where it fought a single head-to-head battle against eggbeater spinner Hold Me Back. Despite initially getting flipped and damaged by its opponent's weapon, Vulcan would win the battle via a Judges' decision after axing Hold Me Back numerous times.

Outside King of Bots, Vulcan has attended several events in the UK alongside Apollo and other robots created by Team MAD. In September 2018, it attended Robots Live! Stevenage as an active competitor, winning a whiteboard battle via knockout against Meggamouse and Puck, and RoboNerd as a static exhibition. Since then, it has continued to take part in both events with other machines owned by Robots Live! In subsequent Robots Live! events, it has fought exclusively in head-to-head battles against Apollo, each taking place outside of the main competitions.

Vulcan as it appeared in King of Bots II

For King of Bots II, Alan Young created a new version of Vulcan equipped with a full-pressure flipper heavily inspired by Apollo, while incorporating key aesthetic details of Vulcan, including its signature four-wheel drive system. It defeated the experienced Xiake to join Huang Jian Xiang's team, and then teamed up with Xiake to defeat Doraemon and Agate in a two-on-two fight. To the delight of Alan Young, Vulcan was able to avenge its Season 1 loss to Saber in its next battle, and continued its undefeated run by flipping Boxing Champion over, and tossed Cracked Sword out of the arena in its fifth win before the final tournament. There, Vulcan defeated former champion Spectre, and finally Drift to win the competition outright on behalf of its team. Although Vulcan shares first place with four other robots, it is often regarded as the overall series champion due to its undefeated status, and its victory in the final fight of the series.

Rocket, a featherweight version of Apollo originally built for the 2018 King of Bots UK International Championships

In August 2018, Team MAD built a featherweight version of Apollo named Rocket, which entered and finished third at that month's King of Bots UK International Championships. For more information, see here.

2020-2022

In February 2020, Team Apollo were confirmed to be entering that year's season of BattleBots with Orion, a brand-new robot armed with a flipper (officially described as a 'launcher'). Orion combines the paint scheme of Apollo with the general shape and four-wheel drive system of Vulcan, along with a new set of decorative exhaust nozzles on either side of the flipper. With the COVID-19 pandemic postponing filming of the 2020 season to October, the team would later withdraw due to travel restrictions and safety concerns at the time. Team Apollo were again accepted for the 2021 season of BattleBots, but were forced to withdraw due to work commitments.

In November 2021, Team MAD competed in a Robots Live! event held in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia with Apollo, Orion and the King of Bots Season 1 iteration of Vulcan, alongside Alan Young's MONTE. Apollo and Orion both finished as knockout bracket semi-finalists, and finished the round robin battles with thirteen and twelve wins respectively. Vulcan amassed four wins across the event before falling in the first round of the bracket to Tánshè, while MONTE earned three wins, then fell in the first round to Apollo.

Shortly after hosting Robots Live! Crawley in late September 2022, Team MAD announced on Twitter that they and Orion would not be taking part in the then-forthcoming BattleBots World Championship VII. It was later revealed by the team themselves that Orion had not been selected due to a shortage of available spaces for international entries, with added concerns surrounding the age and potential need to rebuild it for future BattleBots events. In 2023, the team confirmed their intention to enter Orion again into World Championship VIII, subject to further details concerning the proposed season.

Dave Young would later go on to help with recording the third series of Antweight Anarchy, where fittingly, an antweight replica of Apollo came out on top, having won the final after the vertical spinner of Entropy ended up in the pit despite cracking the shell on Apollo.

MechMania

In March 2024, Robots Live! and streaming service Mech+ announced their collaboration on MechMania, a brand-new robot combat competition filmed in the UK. Taking place as part of the 2024 Robots Live! 2024 tour, it incorporated three previously-announced "Heat" events - at Grantham, Crawley and Stoke-on-Trent respectively - plus a "Grand Final" event at the Venue Cymru Arena, Llandudno, taking place on 23-24 November. The inaugural MechMania series included competitions for heavyweight and featherweight class robots, along with cash prizes, no entry fees and no limits on sponsorship for competing robots.

MechMania premiered on Mech+ on 13 January 2025, presented by Robots Live! co-hosts Rob Taylor and Dave Young, with narration by Emma McGann, and commentary by Taylor. Robots Live! and Alan Young were also credited onscreen for their involvement in the show's live production, which utilised their touring arena and house robots. The first episode of the main series included clips of Alan sweeping up the arena; he was also shown assisting with arena setup and issuing a roboteer's briefing in the In the Pits special.

On 29-30 March 2025, Robots Live! hosted filming of the MechMania special Duel of the Crates as part of their Maidenhead event. Duel of the Crates, featuring an experimental new game format, was released by Mech+ in May 2025. Following the conclusion of their Crawley event on 7 September, they publicly confirmed their involvement in filming 'another brand-new show' in late 2025, once again in collaboration with Mech+.

Trivia

Alan Young (left) observes his brother Dave (centre) at the controls of Gladiator

• In all three of Team MAD's first-round battles in the lower weight classes (Extreme 2 Antweight Championship, Extreme 2 Featherweight Championship and Series 7 Featherweight Championship), both Dave and Alan Young competed separately within the same battle.
• In all of their appearances on the rebooted show, Team MAD wore Apollo-branded waterproof jackets. During Robot Wars: World Series, Gabriel Stroud and John Reid also wore an Apollo jacket as part of Team UK.
• On 19 June 2018, Dave and Alan Young recorded a promotional video on behalf of HEXBUG, promoting the HEXBUG Robot Wars Arena in front of Apollo, where Alan Young won a practice battle with the toys by driving Impulse, defeating Royal Pain which was driven by Dave Young. The merchandise was then sold at the Robots Live! event held in Grantham, the following weekend.

External Links

• Team MAD website
• Team BlazerBotics website (archived)
• Robots Live! website
• Apollo Robot Facebook page
• Apollo Twitter
• David vs Goliath(s): how Apollo flipped the House Robots BBC article and Q&A with Dave Young
• BBC interview with Dave Young on his championship victory
• Haynes Manual interview with Dave Young
• Vulcan Robot Facebook page