Team Mousetrap, or TeamMouseTrap according to their website, was a father and son team from Bristol that fought in Series 3, 4, 5 and 7 of Robot Wars. The team also entered the first series of Robot Wars Extreme, and failed to qualify for Series 6.
The Team
Throughout their time in Robot Wars, the team consisted of Stan Launchbury, and his son Jason.
Team Mousetrap's first entry was Triterobot, a triangular shaped robot with spikes that competed in Series 3. In Series 4, 5 and Extreme Series 1, the team entered their most famous and succesful robot: Mousetrap, the robot the team takes their name from, a wedge shaped robot designed to resemble a conventional mousetrap and armed with a trapping device. In Series 5 and Extreme 1, the trapping weapon was upgraded with a blade on its guillotine, and went by the name of Mousetrap 2, though this name was not present in Extreme.
For Series 6, Mousetrap 2 was modified to become Mutant Mousetrap, which was armed with a spinning drum weapon as opposed to Mousetrap's signature guillotine. However, it failed to qualify.
The team also entered the clusterbot Black and Blue in Series 7, which consisted of two twins, both armed with spinning drums.
Stan Launchbury was also on the team of Fire Service representative, Oblark, a competitor in the Forces Special. Stan was to enter his own Mousetrap 2 machine into the special due to his connections to the fire service, but it was too badly damaged by S3 during the filming of Series 5 to compete. This fact leads to the assumption that Oblark was built primarily, if not entirely, by Team Mousetrap.
Team Mousetrap's most successful attempt at the Robot Wars title was in Series 4, where they reached the Semi-Finals, defeating the seeded Evil Weevil along the way, falling to the seeded Stinger in the first round of the Semi-finals. Mousetrap was also nominated for the Best Newcomer Award, despite the fact the team competed in Series 3 with Triterobot, but the award went to Tornado.
The team's other attempts at the Robot Wars title ended quickly; Triterobot and Black & Blue fell in the first round of their respective series, while Mousetrap 2 fell to eventual series Semi-Finalist S3 in the second round.
From Series 4 onwards, the team always dressed as Vermin Killers, in traditional red jackets with the team members' names on the left side of the outfit, to match the theme of their robot Mousetrap.
Robots
| Name | Weight Class | Series |
|---|---|---|
| Triterobot | Heavyweight | Series 3 |
| Mousetrap | Heavyweight | Series 4-5, Extreme 1 |
| Black and Blue | Heavyweight | Series 7 |
Wins/Losses
- Wins: 4
- Losses: 5
Series Record
| Main Series | Team Mousetrap Series Record |
|---|---|
| The First Wars | Did not enter |
| The Second Wars | Did not enter |
| The Third Wars | Heat, Round 1 with Triterobot |
| The Fourth Wars | Semi Final, Round 1 with Mousetrap |
| The Fifth Wars | Heat, Round 2 with Mousetrap |
| The Sixth Wars | Failed to qualify with Mutant Mousetrap |
| The Seventh Wars | Heat, Round 1 with Black and Blue |
| Series 8 | Did not enter |
| Series 9 | Did not enter |
| Series 10 | Did not enter |
| Robot Wars Extreme | Appearances |
| Series 1 | Entered with Mousetrap |
| Series 2 | Did not enter |
Outside Robot Wars
Alpha Zero One Tango, the Shot Put entry
Hose-A, the Rope Climbing entry
Stan Launchbury worked with Nicole Fletcher and Tom Butler (all three were fire cadets) to build Alpha One Zero Tango for the Techno Games 2001 Shot Putt competition. Alpha One Zero Tango scored 9.4 metres, and later 9.46 metres, setting a new world record on both occasions, coming second to Super Slinger. Alpha One Zero Tango was based on a fire engine, using the "ladder" on top to fire the shot.
In the 2002 Series, Stan worked with Phillip Leach and Mahmoud El-Sharkway, another two fire cadets, to enter Hose-A, a rope climbing robot. Hose-A lost in the first round to Ascender 2, failing to complete its climb. Hose-A was shaped like a human, and dressed in a Fireman's uniform.
Trivia
- Team Mousetrap was one of only two former Semi-Finalist teams that fought in the Seventh Wars but were not seeded, the other being the King B Powerworks team.
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