Tracked Robots

Tracked Robots
101, one of the most successful tracked robots
Robots
Pioneer(s)	Doolittle (1994-1997 US competitions) Mortis (televised series)
Notable Robots	Killbborg, DooAll, Z (1994-1997 US competitions) Plunderbird 2, 101, Slicer, Cyclone (televised series)
House Robots	Sir Killalot, Mr. Psycho

Tracked Robots are a type of rolling robot which use treads or caterpillar tracks instead of wheels. The first robot of this kind debuted in the original 1994 US Robot Wars competition in the form of Scott LaValley's Doolittle, which was also the first to feature an invertible design. Robots with tracks would appear sporadically, but gain reasonable success in US events. For example, DooAll (a direct successor to Doolittle) and Z would reach the Semi-Final and Quarter-Final stages of the 1997 Heavyweight Face-Off championship, the former also reaching the final of that year's Heavyweight Melee event.

Tracked robots began appearing in televised Robot Wars series from The First Wars, with Mortis and Plunderbird 1 among the early UK pioneers. Incarnations of both would reach the Semi-Finals of the following series (the latter as Plunderbird 2), with Mortis also winning the Series 4 War of Independence in its final appearance. Other successful tracked robots in televised versions include Series 3 Semi-Finalist 101, Dutch Series 1 champion Slicer and Extreme Warriors Season 2 Annihilator winner Cyclone. The House Robots Sir Killalot and Mr. Psycho also used tracks as their means of locomotion.

Definition

Tracks refer to sets of linkages which are connected to drive gears, wheels, rollers or sprockets, allowing them to run a certain length along the robot's chassis in a similar manner to a conveyor belt. This enables them to pull the robot along when driving forwards or backwards and turning sideways, as well as giving it the ability to drive over opponents if its ground clearance is high enough. Tracks can vary widely in design, usually being made out of metal or rubber, and featuring grooves, treads or screws built into them to provide traction along the arena floor.

Tracks in general, particularly treads, are not to be confused with simple drive chains, which merely provide drive power by connecting the motor output shaft to a robot's wheels or gears.

Advantages and Disadvantages

Advantages

Plunderbird 2's tracks gave it sufficient traction on the arena floor to push The Mule around with ease

101 (left) was able to use its tracks to steer Panic Attack into the pit after being lifted

• Tracks can give much more traction on the arena floor than wheels, offering better acceleration and making robots with them generally more capable of pushing opponents. Plunderbird 2's Series 2 Heat Final against The Mule was particularly illustrative of this, with its tracks enabling it to maintain enough traction to negate The Mule's low ground clearance and push it around the arena.
• Depending on their designs, tracked robots can also maintain contact with the arena floor at all times, enabling them to continue driving and steer away from opponents if they were lifted. Many of 101's victories - particularly those over Overkill and Panic Attack - resulted from its tracks having enough traction to drive itself away from its opponents when being lifted and pushed towards arena hazards. In the case of the latter, 101 was able to steer Panic Attack into the pit after being lifted and hooked by the Series 2 champion's forks.
  • In earlier series featuring Gauntlet and Trial events, this advantage, combined with a suitably high ground clearance, could also be especially beneficial in events featuring ramps. Rameses II team captain Chris Crosskey believed that the robot's tracked design would negate the clearance issues found with its wheeled predecessor Skarab, though its higher clearance would prove disadvantageous in combat.
• Tracks can easily be compatible with invertible designs, as proven by Suicidal Tendencies, 101 and Slicer.
• Tracks can offer better balance than wheels as a result of their length and larger mass. The US Season 2 version of Cyclone adopted tracks in order to resolve the stability issues of the original two-wheeled Season 1 version.

Disadvantages

101 has one of its tracks ripped apart by Fluffy

Sir Killalot hooks Panzer by the track

Behemoth turns Mortis over after getting underneath its partially-exposed tracks

• Tracks are usually much more fragile against spiked, overhead, spinning and crushing weapons, which can either result in them becoming dislodged, seized, punctured or torn apart completely. 101's loss to Fluffy in Series 5 was particularly illustrative of this issue, as was Track-tion's defeat in the Series 10 10 Robot Rumble at the hands of Concussion.
  • This vulnerability is further heightened if the tracks are not protected from the sides, where they can easily be damaged/dislodged and usually leave the robot immobilised on one side. Crusher's loss to Beast of Bodmin in Series 3 particularly highlighted this issue.
• Tracks can also be caught on and/or damaged by arena hazards. Mortis infamously had one of its tracks damaged by an arena spike at the start of its initial Series 2 Pinball run, resulting in it attempting the trial a second time.
• Lifting, spiked and drilling weapons can easily hook underneath the exposed gaps between the tracks and the drive mechanism, enabling them to be caught or damaged as the robot is lifted. Sir Killalot's lance, for example, could easily hook Panzer and Plunderstorm by their tracks following their defeats in Series 3, while Panic Attack's forks also performed similar actions on 101 and Mortis during its battles against them.
• Most tracked robots had a high ground clearance as a result of their tracks protruding from underneath the robot's chassis, making them considerably more vulnerable to getting lifted or flipped over unless they were fully concealed. Several of Mortis' defeats resulted from it being lifted or flipped over by opponents which exploited its ground clearance, such as Gravedigger, Behemoth and Steg 2.
  • Ironically, this feature could negate clearance issues with ramps in Gauntlet/Trial events, as was the reasoning behind Rameses II's design.
  • Robots with fully-exposed tracks are more susceptible to driving up and being lifted by opponents as a result of their even higher ground clearance. 101, for example, was easily lifted by Panic Attack once it drove up its forks during their First World Championship battle.
• Because they are usually custom-made, tracks are much more difficult to repair or replace than wheels if they become damaged during battles.

List of Tracked Robots

Robots are listed alphabetically.

DESKTOP MODE ONLY: Robots which are not heavyweight entries are listed with a green background. House Robots are listed with a gold background. Robots from the 1994-1997 US competitions are listed with a purple background.

Robot	Series Appearances as a Tracked Robot	Notes	Image
101	Series 3-5, Extreme 1	Tracks made from a milk bottle washing machine, with metal screws built in to increase traction. Series 3 Semi-Finalist and Series 4 Tag Team Terror co-champion.
Beaverbot	Dutch Series 2
Creeping Death	1995 US Championship
Crippler	Series 3	Tracks made from a conveyor belt and industrial chains.
Crusher	Series 3
Cyclone (Dutch)	Dutch Series 2
Cyclone (Extreme Warriors)	US Season 2	US Season 2 Annihilator Champion.	Extreme Warriors Season 2
Demon Duck	Series 2	Super Heavyweight Championship only. Tracks made from high-tensile steel.
DooAll	1997 US Championship	Treads made from 'modified conveyor belts'; located in separate drive pods on either side of the machine. Chassis and drive pod design allowed for the robot to climb over obstacles and opponents. 1997 Heavyweight Face-Off Semi-Finalist and Heavyweight Melee Finalist.
Doolittle	1994 US Championship	First robot with tracks and an invertible design to appear in any Robot Wars competition.
Flextreme	Dutch Series 1	Designed to resemble a fish tank.
Gigan	1995-1996 US Championships	Featherweight/Super Lightweight. Off-the-shelf tracked system from a 1:10 scale Tamiya "King Tiger" RC tank. First combat robot built by Peter Abrahamson.
Hammertron	Series 3
Hefty	Series 3	Cost £2,000 to build, based on a miniature tank-like chassis.
Iron-Awe	Series 4	Series 4 version only. Later versions had wheels for locomotion.
Kater Killer	Series 3-4
Killbborg	1996 US Championship	Two pairs of narrow red tracks, each with three metal chains, for 'considerable redundancy'. 1996 Heavyweight Face-Off Quarter-Finalist and Heavyweight Melee Finalist.
Lightning Tracks	US Season 2
Limpet	Series 2	Tracks made from motorcycle chains.
Minotaur	Series 2	Super Heavyweight Championship only.
Mortis	Series 1-4	Series 2 Semi-Finalist and Series 4 War of Independence Champion. Also received the 'Best Engineered Robot' award in Series 1. Tracks featured injection-moulded pads in Series 3-4.
Mr. Psycho	Series 6-7, Extreme 2, Dutch Series 2, German Series.	House Robot.
Pain	Series 2	Some parts were carried over to the robot's successor Judge Mech.
Panzer	Series 3, Extreme 1	Tracks made out of rubber.	Panzer
Plunderbird	Series 1-4	Series 2 Semi-Finalist as Plunderbird 2. Winner of the 'Best Design' award in Series 1 (Plunderbird 1) and 'Best Sportsmanship' in Series 2 (Plunderbird 2). The final incarnation, Plunderbird 5, switched to wheels in Series 5/Extreme 1.	Plunderbird 2
Rameses II	Series 2	Designed specifically to counter clearance issues with its Series 1 predecessor, Skarab.
Reckless Endangerment	Series 2	Replaced by Griffon in the main heavyweight championship. Competed in the Super Heavyweight Championship.
Rhino	Extreme 1	Modified bomb disposal vehicle.
Robo Doc	Series 2	Stainless steel tracks made out of a milk bottle washing machine, lined with spikes for extra traction. Allowed the robot to climb obstacles up to 50cm in height.
Shear Khan	Extreme 1	Failed to qualify for Series 4.
Sir Killalot	Series 2-10, Extreme 1-2, US Seasons 1-2, Nickelodeon, Dutch Series 1-2, German Series	House Robot. Used his tracks to drive over other robots, sometimes crushing them with his extreme weight.
Slicer	Dutch Series 1	Dutch Series 1 Champion.
Suicidal Tendencies	Series 3-5, Extreme 1	Series 3-4 Heat Finalist, Extreme 1 Tag Team Terror co-runner-up with The Steel Avenger.
Terminal Ferocity	Series 3	Had honey applied to the drive rollers to improve traction.
The Mulcher	1995 US Championship	Electric 'tank-tread assemblies'. Disqualified from the 1995 Heavyweight Face-Off due to safety concerns regarding its lawnmower weapon.
The Sentinel	Series 2	House Robot. Essentially a modified Hanix H08A mini excavator, primarily used as an obstacle in The Gauntlet. Tracks remained intact and were visible from certain camera angles, but purposefully enclosed and never used as locomotion onscreen.
Thud	Series 2	Entered the Super Heavyweight Championship after being unable to compete in the main competition.
Tomahawk	Series 7	Modified from a four-wheel drive robot, and became a two-wheel driven robot in the reboot. Final tracked competitor in the Classic Series alongside Trax.
Track-tion	Series 10	Only tracked competitor robot in the Revival Series. Modified from a Securotrack unit, powerful enough to pull a school minibus.
Trackzilla	US Season 2
Trax	Series 7	Final tracked competitor in the Classic Series alongside Tomahawk.
Traxx	1996 US Championship	1996 Middleweight Face-Off runner-up.
Tridentate	Series 6
Trilobyte	US Season 2
Vercingetorix	Series 2-4
Whirlpool 70	Extreme 1	Robot made from a swimming pool cleaning device.
Z	1997 US Championship	Hand-riveted tracks, used in tandem with a powerful drive system and custom 36V NiCad battery packs. 1997 Heavyweight Face-Off Quarter-Finalist and 'Best Design' award winner.
Ziggy	1995-1997 US Championships	Originally built as a super lightweight/featherweight entry, later rebuilt into a lightweight for 1997. Utilised two rubber belts for drive in both incarnations.

Trivia

• Only four tracked robots made it past the heats of a domestic championship - Mortis and Plunderbird in Series 2, 101 in Series 3 and Slicer in Dutch Series 1.