The General

Not to be confused with General Carnage or General Chompsalot

The General
Participation Information
UK Series	3, 8
Team Information
Team	Team General
Team Members	Tom James Haydn James Alan James
From	Carmarthen, South Wales
Other Entries	Spartacus (Series 2)
Robot Statistics
Weight	110kg
Top Speed	15mph
Power	Sealed lead acid batteries (24v)
Drive	2x Electric Gate motors
Weapons	Dual spinning discs
Statistics correct as of its most recent show/competition appearance, or if not applicable, qualification attempt.

"Upgraded for a surprise return"

— Robot Wars: The Official Handbook

The General was a Welsh robot which competed in the Robotic Soccer Tournament of Series 3 of Robot Wars, and later the main competition of the Series 8. It reached the Robotic Soccer final after beating Spectre, but lost to fellow Welsh robot Evil Weevil on a Judges' decision. In Series 8, it lost its Group Battle after Carbide ripped one of its wheels off and Behemoth left it on the Flame Pit.

The team also entered with Spartacus in the lightweight competition of Series 2 and had planned to enter Hazzard into the Series 3 Lightweight Competition, but this competition was cancelled due to a behind-the-scenes accident.

Before building robots, team member Haydn James originally built tractors for his own farm, with The General being built in the milking parlour.

Versions of The General

The General (Series 3)

The General in the arena

The Series 3 version of The General weighed 79kg, and was armed with a static scoop for weaponry. The robot was invertible, driven by four huge wheels, to fit with the robot's army theme. Though it had no active weapons, its pushing power was theoretically amongst the strongest in the Third Wars. The General brandished the Welsh flag to represent the team's home country.

The General (Series 8)

"Farmer Haydn has designed and built his own tractors in the past and the General was built in the family’s milking parlour, with its design based on an army tank. The General is made almost exclusively from parts found around the farm – the spinning disc is taken from an old plough, and its motors are normally used to power electric gates."

— Robot Wars website

The General in Series 8

The General with its team

In 2016, a brand-new version of The General retained its invertible design, but switched to a setup with two prominent tyres, while still boasting great ramming power, with its fairly high top speed of 15mph. It was powered by a sealed lead acid 24V battery, and was equipped with two large spinning discs that could spin at 500-1000rpm. The robot was armoured in 2.5mm aluminium, although the team were more concerned about their exposed tyres, a notion shared by Jonathan Pearce.

Qualification

The General that failed to qualify for Series 4

The General attended the auditions for Series 3, but was not selected for the main competition, although it did appear in the Robotic Soccer side event filmed concurrently. For Series 4, the team had added a larger blade and claw at the front of The General, and placed a toy cannon on top for decoration. However, it failed to qualify, despite beating the team's other hopeful qualifier Slicer in its battle.

The General qualified for Series 8 via open applications.

Robot History

Series 3

The General competed exclusively in the Robotic Soccer competition, where it first faced Spectre in a one-on-one match.

The General dribbles the ball

The General managed to get to the ball, but its scoop didn't help it very much to begin with. Matilda kept taking the ball away from The General, whom used its scoop to shunt her from behind. However, after a brief tussle with Spectre, The General managed to regain control of the ball and dribbled it in an attempt to shoot. It was blocked, but then the ball went into the goal off the rebound from Matilda.

The General had qualified for the final, a four-way free-for-all against Evil Weevil, Gnasher and Velocirippa.

The General in the final

The General was slightly too slow to get to the ball. However it finally managed to tackle Matilda and gain the ball, but lost it soon afterwards to Gnasher. The General then appeared to break down, as its batteries ran out of charge. It came back to life towards the end, but it was too little, too late and the judges' decision went against it, going in favour of Evil Weevil.

Series 8

Over seventeen years after its last appearance on Robot Wars The General competed in Heat 1 of Series 8, fighting Behemoth, Bonk and Carbide in its first round melee.

The General is flipped by Behemoth

Sparks fly as The General's discs make contact with Behemoth's scoop

The team flew the Welsh flag as they entered the arena. At the start of the battle, The General's discs clashed with Behemoth's scoop, sending sparks flying, and The General was flipped over in response. The General's exposed wheels sustained a blow from Carbide.

"Tyres in Robot Wars, no no no no no! Not a good idea!"

— Jonathan Pearce, on The General's exposed tyres

The General loses a tyre to Carbide

The General burns on the Flame pit

The General fled, damaged by Carbide, but clashed with Behemoth's scoop to create more sparks, while Behemoth flipped itself over, missing The General, although Carbide launched another attack. The General attacked the side of Behemoth with its discs, and then went to attack Bonk, but this left The General unassuming of a back attack from Carbide. Hit at full strength, one of The General's tyres was ripped away, and rolled across the arena. An immobile General hobbled onto the flame pit, and sustained another blow from Carbide, which knocked The General out cold, eliminating it from the competition.

"Don't bring wheels into the arena!"

— Jonathan Pearce

Results

Wins/Losses

• Wins: 0
• Losses: 1

NOTE: Robotic Soccer matches are not included

Series Record

• The General sketch design
• The insides of the Series 3 General
• The General entering the arena
• The General before its Series 8 battle
• The General's team approach the arena
• The General after the melee
• The General inverted in the arena

1/7

Series	The General Series Record
The First Wars	Did not enter
The Second Wars	Lightweight Championship with Spartacus
The Third Wars	Robotic Soccer Lightweight Championship with Hazzard (event cancelled)
The Fourth Wars	Failed to qualify Failed to qualify with Slicer
The Fifth Wars	Did not enter
The Sixth Wars	Did not enter
The Seventh Wars	Did not enter
Series 8	Heat, Round 1
Series 9	Did not enter
Series 10	Did not enter

Trivia

• With a seventeen year gap, The General holds the record for the longest time between its Robot Wars debut and its first appearance in the main competition.
• The General was one of only four robots in Series 8 to not use modern lithium polymer or nickel metal hydride batteries inside the machine, the others being DisConstructor, Kill-E-Crank-E and Sweeney Todd, which also used lead acid batteries.
• Five of The General's seven opponents were teams who would compete the UK Championship semi-finals, and only Team Mute did not reach at least the top eight of that tournament (Evil Weevil counting as a former UK Champion as Panic Attack).

External Links

• The General on the Robot Wars website