The Kraken

The Kraken
Side view of The Kraken, with upper claw closed
Participation Information
UK Series	7
Team Information
Team	Team Victor
Team Members	Guy Pickett Lloyd Davis
From	Pinner, Middlesex
Other Entries	Victor (Series 2-3)
Robot Statistics
Weight	100kg
Dimensions	0.50m x 1.20m x 0.80m
Drive	1HP electric motor
Weapons	2x crushing jaws
Statistics correct as of its most recent show/competition appearance, or if not applicable, qualification attempt.

"This is one of the most scary robots I've seen today."

— Jayne Middlemiss

The Kraken was a heavyweight robot which competed in the seventh series of Robot Wars, where it reached the second round before being eliminated by the seeded Thermidor 2. The team had previously competed in Series 2 and 3 with Victor.

Design

"...a black hearted fiend."

— Jonathan Pearce briefing describing The Kraken

Rear view of The Kraken

The Kraken was a very long box wedge shaped robot that was driven by a single drive motor which steers through a differential and brake system. In terms of armament, The Kraken was equipped with two vertical crushing arms. The first of these arms was pneumatic, which could be snapped down quickly to hold its opponent in place, before the second, hydraulic arm came down in an attempt to pierce into the armour of the other robots. Despite this set-up allowing the robot to self-right, this could also only be achieved with the robot flush on its back. Because of the robot's long shape, it was easy for The Kraken to be left suspended on its side - something which happened multiple times in Round 2. Also, despite its destructive weaponry, the pneumatic beak could easily buckle and the robot itself was lightly armoured - factors which ultimately affected it during its battle with Thermidor 2.

The building process proved to be time-consuming, with the team claiming that The Kraken had been built over two years. It was intended to enter The Sixth Wars, but it wasn't completed in time for the qualifiers.

Etymology

The robot's name came from the legendary sea monster Kraken, believed to live off the coast of Norway.

The Team

The team with Kraken

The Kraken was entered into Series 7 by a two-man team based in Pinner, Middlesex. The team, otherwise known as Team Victor, was comprised of captain Guy Pickett and teammate Lloyd Davis.

This was the team's third time competing on Robot Wars, after entering Victor into Series 2, and Victor 2 into the Third Wars.

Robot History

Series 7

The Kraken was drawn into Heat J of the Seventh Wars, where it was drawn against newcomers Pinser and Cobra, alongside the experienced Kronic the Wedgehog.

The Kraken scratches down on Cobra

The Kraken spent most of its first battle chasing the other robots, but it eventually got to grips with Cobra and crushed its armour, failing to puncture the tough outer shell. However, Cobra had seemed to be immobile before The Kraken's attack. Pinser then gripped Cobra and pulled it away, but in doing so drove over the flame pit, which set fire to the internals of Pinser, immobilising it. The two eliminated robots, Pinser and Cobra, who were still locked together, were thrown by the arena flipper before being placed under the Drop Zone, where a TV was dropped on the two, putting The Kraken through with Kronic the Wedgehog.

In the next round, The Kraken faced the fourteenth seed, Thermidor 2.

"May the best robot win, lads."

— Jayne Middlemiss to both teams

Thermidor 2 and The Kraken. Note that The Kraken's beak is buckled sideways

The Kraken forces Thermidor 2 backwards

Thermidor 2 flips The Kraken

The Kraken is finally pitted

Thermidor 2 immediately turned The Kraken over and then flipped it against the arena side wall, bending The Kraken's pneumatic pincer. The Kraken was able to self-right, but Thermidor 2 tossed it over many more times, coming very close to flipping it out of the arena on a couple of occasions. Thermidor 2 then activated the pit and pushed The Kraken towards it. Thermidor 2 then tried to flip The Kraken in, but The Kraken flew the wrong way and escaped. However, The Kraken couldn't do anything to fight back and Thermidor 2 continued to throw it around the arena, eventually succeeding in pushing it down the pit.

"Kraken takes a right good smacken'!"

— Craig Charles on the battle

Results

Wins/Losses

• Wins: 1
• Losses: 1

Series Record

The Kraken's twin-jaw setup

Series	The Kraken Series Record
The First Wars	Did not enter
The Second Wars	Entered with Victor
The Third Wars	Entered with Victor 2
The Fourth Wars	Did not enter
The Fifth Wars	Did not enter
The Sixth Wars	Did not enter
The Seventh Wars	Heat, Round 2
Series 8	Did not enter
Series 9	Did not enter
Series 10	Did not enter

Outside Robot Wars

The Kraken 2 in 2004

Following the end of Robot Wars, The Kraken was rebuilt and renamed as The Kraken 2. This new version had titanium armour and a pneumatic flipper in place of the pneumatic jaw which the team used previously. It was signed up to enter the Fighting Robots World Championships 2004 which were going to take place at RAF Newton but this event was cancelled. The Kraken 2 was last seen fighting at the Roaming Robots event held at Northampton in 2004 where it lost a 3-way melee against Bulldog Breed and PulverizeR.

Trivia

Official Series 7 photo

• In Heat J of Series 7, Jonathan Pearce referred to the team's prior experience on the show, stating that they had competed with a previous robot. However, The Kraken's predecessor Victor was not referenced by name.
• The name Kraken would later be famously used on the American TV show BattleBots, where a robot named Kraken competed in the 2018 and 2019 seasons of the show.
• Both of The Kraken's battles featured Mr. Psycho as one of the House Robots.
• Like its predecessor Victor, The Kraken appeared in a heat that did not feature a semi-finalist from the previous series. On two of those occasions, they lost to the eventual heat winner who then lost to the eventual champion of that series (Trident losing to Chaos 2 in Series 3 and Thermidor 2 losing to Typhoon 2 in Series 7).