- "I've been called a boy genius, and I really don't like that at all, I'm just building robots as well as I can."
- — Ellis Ware
Team Ranglebots, known on television as Team Pulsar, is a roboteering team captained by Ellis Ware. A family team of mother, father and son, the team competed for the first time in Series 8 of Robot Wars, where they reached the Grand Final with their robot Pulsar, which also competed in Series 9. Team Ranglebots then reached their second Grand Final in Series 10 with a new build, Magnetar.
The team name Ranglebots is derived from the name of Ellis Ware's company, Ranglebox, which supplies robotics parts.
The Team
Ellis Ware
Ellis Ware with Kadeena and Joa Cox
Ellis Ware is the captain of Team Ranglebots, and the builder, designer and driver of Pulsar and Magnetar. An experienced roboteer from the live circuit in lower weight classes, and a pioneer of brushless technology, Ellis Ware is the foundation of the team, and was aged only 19 at the time of Series 8, already the owner of online robotics business Ranglebox. Ellis Ware uses Robot Wars as a platform to show that robotics can be self-taught, as his knowledge came from the Internet, having not progressed to higher education. As a result of his expansive build diary on Pulsar for Series 9, Josh Valman decided to employ Ellis Ware at RPD International.
Based on his success with Pulsar in Series 8, Ellis Ware was selected as a mentor in Robot Wars: Battle of the Stars. He joined Paralympian Kadeena Cox and her brother Joa to compete with Kadeena Machina, a vertical spinner. Ellis Ware maintained Kadeena Machina and made small repairs when necessary, and eventually the team won their episode without losing a single battle.
Peter Ware
Team Ranglebots in Series 8
Peter Ware is a music producer by trade, and is Ellis Ware's father, husband to Tara Ware. In Series 8, his team role was described as 'Project Overview, Logistics, Odd Building Jobs & Soldering', and he was seen directly making repairs to Pulsar in Series 9, although he proved to be responsible for one of Pulsar's batteries shorting out during its heat. His role in Series 9, according to the Robot Wars website, was 'team transport and build assistance', and then 'electronics' in Series 10.
Tara Ware
Team Ranglebots in Series 9
Tara Ware is a copywriter by trade, and is Ellis Ware's mother, wife to Peter Ware. Although not directly involved with the maintenance of Pulsar, Tara Ware was responsible for the team's attire, and her role was referred to as 'project overview' in Series 9, and 'logistics' in Series 10.
The umbrella used by Team RPD during Rapid's hero shot in Series 9 was Tara Ware's property, and Team RPD borrowed it from her.
Robots
| Name | Weight Class | Series |
|---|---|---|
| Pulsar | Heavyweight | Series 8-9 |
| Magnetar | Heavyweight | Series 10 |
Wins/Losses
- Wins: 9
- Losses: 5
- Draws: 1
NOTE: This wins/losses ratio excludes the wins achieved by Kadeena Machina
Series Record
| Series | Team Ranglebots Series Record |
|---|---|
| Series 1-7 | Did not enter |
| Series 8 | Grand Final, Round 1 with Pulsar |
| Series 9 | Heat Final with Pulsar Battle of the Stars Champion with Kadeena Machina |
| Series 10 | Grand Final, Round 1 with Magnetar |
Outside Robot Wars
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Neon, the newest featherweight from Team Ranglebots
Ellis Ware competes with a variety of robots in lower weight classes. Newton is a very successful beetleweight, twice placing second in a major championship. A series of featherweights named Tormenta have competed worldwide, with Tormenta 3 most recently placing sixth in the 2015 World Featherweight Championship. Ware also collaborated with Team Legion to compete with Rango and Django, the latter placing second in the 2016 World Featherweight Championship, losing to Explosion in the final.
Leading up to the FRA Featherweight World Championship in 2017, Ellis Ware made use of his spare components, intended for use in heavyweight robots, to build the featherweight Neon in just two days. Featuring a powerful undercutting bar spinner and a top speed of 26mph, Neon finished ninth out of fifty robots at the championship.
Great White Shark at King of Bots
In October 2017, Ellis Ware entered the Chinese TV show King of Bots with Great White, a clusterbot co-developed with Team DeathRoll, the builders of ABC BattleBots Season 2 competitor Death Roll. The clusterbot consisted of a four-wheel drive robot armed with an serrated vertical spinner modelled on a shark's tooth, as well as a modified version of Neon now known as Remora, using a large saw blade interchangeably alongside the bar spinner. Named after the eponymous shark, Great White continues Team Death Roll's theme of basing their robots' designs on dangerous aquatic creatures. In the first round, Great White faced a dangerous first-round draw against Spin Doctor, built by the owner of RoboGames, but Great White pulled off a last-minute knockout to earn a highly credible victory. In the next two rounds, it defeated Hunting Wind by knockout in much quicker fashion, before immobilising Tánshè after causing extensive damage to its opponent's flipper and sides throughout. In the fourth round, Great White faced a tougher battle against Chinese drum spinner Chiyung Jinlun. Despite causing significant amounts of damage to Chiyung Jinlun's drum, wheels and armour, it ultimately lost the Judges' decision after the latter continuously pushed it into the hazards, and following a rules infringement where the team fired their floor flipper on Chiyung Jinlun too early. With this, Great White was eliminated, having finished Season 1 in the top eight. Within the same competition, it competed alongside Spin Doctor in a 2v2 battle against Wild Beast and Rust Boar and won after the battle was aborted early when Rust Boar's batteries caught fire.
Trivia
- Team Ranglebots are the only Grand Finalists across the three revived series so far that have not battled Carbide.
External Links
- Magnetar & Pulsar - Robot Wars Facebook page
- Magnetar & Pulsar - Robot Wars Twitter page
- Ranglebox website
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