The Beetle was a heavyweight competitor robot which fought exclusively in the 1994 US Robot Wars competition. In its only appearance, it reached the overall final of the inaugural Heavyweight Face-Off, where it lost to Ramfire 100. The Beetle also competed in the multi-class Melee at the end of the event, which it lost outright to middleweight South Bay Mauler.[1][2][3][4][5]
Design[]
Assembled three days before the competition,[1] The Beetle was a bulky box-shaped robot with a plywood construction and checkerplate base panel. The robot itself was built around Caleb Chung's own lawnmower, including the motor,[6] chassis and wheels.[3] At the front was the robot's main weapon - an articulated arm with twin spiked prongs, meant to emulate the mandibles of a beetle. According to Next Step and Gearheads: The Turbulent Rise of Robotic Sports, the complex weapon was respectively referred to as a 'pincer arm'[3] or simply 'pincer'.[7] Brief descriptions from both sources suggest that it was intended to grab opponents using the prongs themselves, making The Beetle a likely pioneer of gripping weapons of any form. Additionally, the prongs could lift from their pivots and were useful as a set of ramming spears. Combined with its strong drive system, these allowed The Beetle to hold and push other robots into walls or hazards with ease.
For the Heavyweight Face-Off Final and multi-class Melee, a set of antlers was added to the back of The Beetle, presumably to provide a secondary ramming weapon.
The Team[]
Builder Caleb Chung is best known as a toy designer and inventor, notable as the co-creator of the Furby electronic toy.[8][9]
Robot History[]
1994 US Championship[]
The Beetle first fought Doolittle in the Heavyweight Face-Off championship.

The Beetle and DooLittle in combat
The match did not last long as Doolittle seemingly suffered from mobility problems from the start as The Beetle charged in and bashed into Doolittle. Doolittle struggled to move effectively as The Beetle slammed into it and Cambot, by accident, sending Doolittle facing a different direction. Here, Doolittle slowly crawled to a stop near the arena wall.
In the second round The Beetle faced The Master.

Sparks fly as The Master grinds into The Beetle
Dubbed the "best battle of the night" by Discovery's Next Step, The Master started off the stronger machine, slamming into and pushing The Beetle into an arena mousetrap, slicing away with the sawblade against the wooden armour and pressuring it. The Beetle began to fight back and span on the spot, smacking The Master in the saw blade causing sparks to fly. The Beetle sat and span some more before pushing The Master around the arena, unintendedly causing The Master's saw to slice through the wood more and damaging itself. The Master was now on the backfoot as The Beetle pushed it about sending the sawblade grinding against the concrete floor sending smoke across the arena. Despite this, The Master backed away and attacked The Beetle some more, damaging the corner of the wooden robot and targeting its lifting arm sending sparks all over the arena. The Beetle and The Master began to smoke as The Beetle charged in and pinned The Master against the arena side wall, ending the match with both robots smoking internally.
In the final, The Beetle faced Ramfire 100. The Beetle entered the arena with antlers attached to the back of the robot as decoration and additional weaponry. The battle began with both robots circling each other until Ramfire slammed into The Beetle and fired its spike. This single attack caused The Beetle to charged into the arena side wall in full force and stab its weapon into the side wall itself. Unable to break free, The Beetle's driver unattached it from the side wall, freeing it but The Beetle continued driving in forward motion with no control despite help from its driver to get it working, The Beetle had no control and Ramfire became heavyweight champion.
The Beetle competed in the end of event melee where it was one of eight robots, who were still functioning and working properly, to battle it out in a grand rumble with all weight classes involved. Here it fought Ramfire 100, Zomo, Tiny Tim, Doolittle, The X-1, Spiny Norman and South Bay Mauler. Battle began slowly for most competitors as The X-1, Spiny Norman and South Bay Mauler all targeted Tiny Tim, slamming it about in the corner of the arena, only for all machines to seemingly dogpile into one another. Soon The Beetle attempted to attack Ramfire, pushing it slightly as the latter attempted to join in on the dogpile in the corner. Doolittle managed to slowly crawl across the arena as Zomo, The X-1 and Spiny Norman battled one another while South Bay Mauler sped away to the other end of the arena, away from all other competitors and started to spin up to speed. South Bay Mauler charged into the corner once again, this time smacking into Spiny Norman, Zomo and The X-1, tearing off Spiny Norman's shell leaving it defenceless and weaponless, whilst also dislodging Zomo's shell. South Bay Mauler sped away again as Tiny Tim and The Beetle pushed each other then turning to The X-1 who seem immobile for a brief moment before charging away to attack Ramfire. Both Tiny Tim and The Beetle began suffering control issues with Tiny Tim going in circles with one wheel not working and The Beetle immobile against the arena side wall meanwhile the armourless Spiny Norman slammed into both The X-1 and Ramfire as Zomo attempted to attack South Bay Mauler. Both The Beetle and Tiny Tim managed to drive away from the arena side wall and join the battle as Ramfire became immobile as a result of Spiny Norman driving underneath and wedging itself and Ramfire stuck in the middle of the arena, The X-1 and South Bay Mauler attacked one another, with the former unable to use its weaponry correctly and The X-1 backing away while Zomo crashes towards the two and smacks into an arena flipper. Once again The Beetle had mobility issues stopping near the arena corner as Tiny Tim began pushing both Zomo and The X-1 into an arena mousetrap, here The X-1 began immobilised for a while.
As the battle, continued the arena wall opened up and House Robot emerged, slamming Zomo out of the way and driving around the arena, then The X-1, unintentionally reactivating it, before turning to Zomo again, flipping it against the arena side wall. House Robot began to attack South Bay Mauler whilst Spiny Norman managed to free itself from under Ramfire, however Ramfire was still immobilised. Tiny Tim and The Beetle once again broke down in the arena corner, this time for good. The Beetle lost the melee to South Bay Mauler.
Results[]
THE BEETLE - RESULTS | ||
1994 US Championship | ||
Heavyweight Face-Off Runner-up | ||
Round 1 | vs. Doolittle | Won |
Round 2 | vs. The Master | Won |
Final | vs. Ramfire 100 | Lost |
Melee | ||
Melee | vs. Ramfire 100, Zomo, Tiny Tim, Doolittle, The X-1, Spiny Norman, South Bay Mauler | lost |
Wins/Losses[]
- Wins: 2
- Losses: 2
Series Record[]
Events | The Beetle Event Record |
---|---|
1994 | Heavyweight Runner-up (Face-Off) |
1995 | Did not enter |
1996 | Did not enter |
1997 | Did not enter |
Honours[]
References[]
- ↑ 1.0 1.1 'First Annual Robot Wars', Team Minus Zero website (archived)
- ↑ 'Robot Wars 1994 Official Promo', ASilva528 (YouTube), uploaded February 18 2015
- ↑ 3.0 3.1 3.2 'next step', compilation of Next Step segments on the 1994 US Robot Wars event uploaded by garth knight (YouTube), March 1 2009
- ↑ 'Robot Wars 1994 Highlights Part 1', ASilva528 (YouTube), uploaded February 18 2015
- ↑ 'Robot Wars 1994 Highlights Part 2', ASilva528 (YouTube), uploaded February 28 2015
- ↑ Brad Stone (2003), Gearheads: The Turbulent Rise of Robotic Sports, p.44
- ↑ ibid, p.44
- ↑ 'Caleb Chung | Speaker | TED', TED, accessed July 24 2024
- ↑ 'What's Your Story, Caleb Chung?' Gregory Green (YouTube), uploaded April 11 2014
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