Team Ranglebots

"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

Team Kadeena Machina — 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, and his proficiency at creating computer-aided designs allowed Pulsar and Magnetar to qualify for their respective series before even being constructed.

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

Pulsar with team — 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

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

Pulsar (Series 8)
Pulsar (Series 9)
Magnetar (Series 10)
Kadeena Machina (Battle of the Stars)

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 Not selected with Pulsar

Outside Robot Wars

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. It also competed at the King of Bots UK featherweight championship in August 2018, sporting a new pink blade, but lost its opening melee after sustaining severe damage from Straddle2, before winning a three-way melee against Red Hot Tilly Pecker and The Claw. In its third battle, Neon knocked out Mini ACE, but then recoiled out of the arena completely after colliding with the wedge shape, losing the battle to Binky as a result. Neon was relegated to the eight-way qualifier for the Top 20, and once again recoiled out of the arena, eliminating it from the competition. Neon redeemed this by winning the Annihilator of the event, throwing BANE out of the arena before winning the final against Naughty Snake.

Great White KOB — Ellis Ware (left) with Great White 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.

Sandstorm, *This is Fighting Robots* competitor

For the follow-up show This is Fighting Robots, Ellis Ware formed his own team alongside Giles Ruscoe, now "Team Relentless", to compete with Sandstorm, a heavyweight inspired by Ware's featherweight Tormenta, armed with a combined lifting wedge and front-hinged lifting arms. Sandstorm's brushless drive offers it a top speed of 24mph, and the robot is protected by thick HARDOX armour. Initially, Sandstorm was not selected by the celebrity team captains, requiring it to fight in a four-way melee against fellow UK entry Bonfire, American ring spinner Chronos and Mexican competitor Blue Demon. In the battle, its initial charge on Chronos was enough to impress Zheng Shuang, resulting in her selecting it to become part of her team in the main tournament. Under this captaincy, Sandstorm fought Chronos once again in a head-to-head battle, and charged it around the arena until Sandstorm won the Judges' decision. In the Tag Team round, Sandstorm won a Judges' decision single-handedly, as its teammate White Tiger Guardian was unable to leave its circumference after a blow from Zen Oh, but Sandstorm pushed the Portuguese machine and Golden Hoops around the arena until time expired. Sandstorm then fought Red River Hong in a head-to-head battle, but was immobilised by the first attack of the drum spinner, as Sandstorm became stuck on its own chain, but nevertheless Sandstorm advanced to the Top 8 of the competition. There, Sandstorm faced Xiake, but Sandstorm became pinned on its front wedge after being thrown up by Xiake, and it was eliminated at the quarter-finals stage.

Remora TIFR — Remora with Great White in *This is Fighting Robots*

Great White also competed in the same season as a 'Challenger', which joined the competition later into the series. Although Ellis Ware was not a member of the team, the minibot Remora which Ellis Ware built was still present alongside Great White. Remora was able to cause damage to White Tiger Guardian, before the main body of Great White earned a very quick knockout. However, Remora sustained damage in Great White's loss to Cat King, where the vertical spinner of the American machine threw Great White out of the arena.

Trivia

Team Ranglebots are the only Grand Finalists across the three revived series that never battled Carbide at some point.