Trident

For the Series 6 robot of a similar name, see Tridentate.

Trident
Participation Information
UK Series	3
Team Information
Team Members	Peter Benn Stephen Benn Neil Ward Peter Ward
From	Leeds
Robot Statistics
Weight	76.5kg
Dimensions	0.61m x 1.24m x 0.73m
Clearance	60cm
Top Speed	20mph
Power	2 x drive motors
Weapons	Axe
Statistics correct as of its most recent show/competition appearance, or if not applicable, qualification attempt.

"Axe no questions. Tell no lies. At twenty miles an hour this robot flies! Deadly too! The shell's too shiny to be true! Tri-denting it Matilda!"

— Jonathan Pearce

Trident was a robot that competed exclusively in Series 3 of Robot Wars. It reached the Semi-Finals in its first and only series after making steady progress through its heat and displaying a rather effective axe weapon, eventually losing to eventual champion Chaos 2. Like fellow Series 3 Semi-Finalists Pitbull and Blade, Trident did not return outside of its debut series.

Design

"Two drive motors with another for the weapon make this tri-drive Trident with an axe, bodyshell of stainless steel. The chassis is a modified stair climber. At twenty miles an hour, its the fastest in the heat."

— Jonathan Pearce introduces Trident in its heat

Trident in the arena

Trident side shot in the arena

Trident was an unusually designed robot with a chassis and stainless steel bodyshell resembling a postbox that was gleaming silver while the front section was gleaming gold. Its weapon was an electric powered axe that was rather fast in speed and was capable of inflicting considerable damage to other robots.

A damaged Trident returns to the arena in the Semi-Finals

The front wheels were salvaged from a stair climber, with two sets of three wheels arranged in a pair of triangular-shaped mountings on either side, though only the bottom two wheels served to drive the robot. An additional castor wheel was also placed at the back underneath the chassis to aid with turning. Trident also had a top speed of twenty miles an hour, and took three hundred and fifty hours to build.

The axe and wheels end of the robot was often confused to be the robot's rear, though the team clarified that it was the robot's front.

"Everybody makes that mistake, that's why they always attack us from the back!"

— Peter Benn to Craig Charles, after the fight with Victor 2

The Team

Trident and its team

Trident was entered into Robot Wars by a team based in Leeds. The robot was built by team captain Peter Benn and Peter Ward, a Design and Technology teacher. Both of them had engineering backgrounds.

Peter Ward's son, Neil Ward, was originally meant to drive the robot. However the pair were involved in a car accident in France a few weeks before filming and Neil sustained injuries to both of his arms. As a result, Peter Benn's son, Stephen Benn, who was only intended to be involved in the design work, was drafted in to drive Trident due to Neil not being fully recovered at the time of recording. Stephen was also the lead speaker in interviews, though Peter also spoke a few times.

Peter Ward was present for filming, but was not seen on-screen due to the limit of only three team members being allowed on camera. He was still credited on the statistics board in contrast to Neil, who was uncredited.

Qualification

Trident qualified for The Third Wars after attending the auditions and successfully completing them.

Following its advancement into the Series 3 Semi-Finals, Trident was automatically entered into The Fourth Wars as the 16th seed; this was listed in Issue 5 of the Robot Wars Magazine, and in a document included with early versions of membership packs available through subscriptions to the Robot Wars Club. Neil Ward would have served as the driver for the series after missing out in Series 3.

However, before recording the series, Trident was removed from the seeds lists, which led to the team giving up on rebuilding Trident, only for the team to be added back again around two weeks before filming. According to Stephen Benn, the team were not informed that they had been added back, which ultimately led to no time being available to get the robot ready for the series, thus, Trident withdrew from The Fourth Wars. It would not be the only returning seeded Semi-Finalist to drop out however, as fellow Third Wars Semi-Finalist, Blade (under the pseudonym Blade's Big Bruva), would withdraw from Series 4 as well.

Robot History

Series 3

"Hi my name's Stephen. And this is Neil and Peter. He's the captain of the team. And this is Trident, our robot. It's got these stair climbing wheels, and an axe weapon, powered by an electric motor."

— Stephen Benn in the team's introduction

Trident fought in Heat P, the final heat of The Third Wars, fighting fellow newcomer Twn Trwn in the first round. Twn Trwn was at an instant disadvantage after its battering ram was removed to keep the robot within the weight limit.

The kill shot on Twn Trwn

Both robots approached each other, Trident being the faster and Twn Trwn being sluggish. Trident landed an axe blow on Twn Trwn, digging deep into the fibreglass shell and chipping pieces off of it.

"It's the slow progress of Twn Trwn against the far nippier Trident, and I'd say at this stage, Trident has the more potent weaponry. Oh, what a shame, that shell is already being splintered."

— Jonathan Pearce as Trident axes Twn Trwn

This first attack immobilised Twn Trwn and Trident drove around its opponent, knocking off another piece of its shell. Trident rammed Twn Trwn a couple of times, before leaving it to the House Robots. Shunt and Matilda each broke off more parts of Twn Trwn's shell until cease was called, with Trident advancing to the next round.

In Round 2, Trident was drawn against veteran Victor 2. Before the fight, the Trident team discovered that the axe had broken in the previous fight against Twn Trwn and required maintenance to repair.

Philippa Forrester: "You don't want to go in unprepared!"

Peter Benn: "It's alright, we'll manage!"

— Pre-battle interview

Trident axes Victor 2's flail

Trident landed two axe blows on the top of Victor 2, which was failing to get its spinning flail into effect. After both robots moved around, a front-on shove from Trident stopped Victor 2's flail, before Trident axed its top two more times, and Victor 2 drove into Sergeant Bash's CPZ. Victor 2 escaped, only for Trident to strike its flail and cause it to stop again. Victor 2 spun around quickly while Trident landed several more axle blows on its opponent and stopping its flail once more.

"Well, at the moment the weapon [of Victor 2] has just stopped on the front hacking blade of Trident, the great pickaxe coming down."

— Jonathan Pearce as Trident attacks Victor 2

Trident pits Victor 2

Trident was proving to be the more controlled and aggressive, buffeting Victor 2 towards the Pit, which appeared to be struggling with its controls. Victor 2 spun around again and veered towards the Pit where one of its wheels got caught over the edge, leaving itself helpless. Trident quickly took advantage and pitted Victor 2, advancing to the Heat Final as a result.

"Victor 2 towards the Pit! Spinning, whirling like a whirling dervish and demonically into the Pit! And it's Stephen Benn at the controls of Trident who goes through!"

— Jonathan Pearce

Through to the Heat Final, Trident faced another veteran, this time former Series 1-2 returnee Dreadnaut.

Craig Charles: "Trident, you've got a lot of wheels."

Stephen Benn: "Yeah, we have."

Craig Charles: "Have you got a lot of bottle?"

Stephen Benn: "No, basically!"

— Pre-battle interview

Trident axes Dreadnaut

Trident and Dreadnaut immobile near the Arena wall

Trident got behind Dreadnaut and axed its shell a couple of times, until Dreadnaut sped away. Trident met Dreadnaut head-on and missed a few more axe blows. Dreadnaut slowly rolled around the Arena, appearing to suffer from control problems and Trident managed to land an axe blow that pierced through Dreadnaut's armour. Trident landed more axe blows on Dreadnaut, causing more damage, until Dreadnaut limply rolled away towards the Arena wall. Trident sat behind Dreadnaut, which was not moving, having now become immobilised.

"I'm hearing from the Judges' cherry picker that Dreadnaut has been immobilised! That's why the signal's gone out to the House Robots, they can come in and attack Dreadnaut. And I think...they're just exacting revenge now...on Trident!"

— Jonathan Pearce as the House Robots set their sights on Trident

Trident takes damage from Shunt and Dead Metal

However, rather than attacking Dreadnaut, the House Robots instead went after Trident. Dead Metal sliced into the rear of Trident and Shunt came down with his axe, putting a massive dent in the stainless steel shell. Matilda and Sir Killalot soon joined in on the assault, the latter attacking with her chainsaw and cease was soon called. Despite the severe punishment, Trident was victorious and went through to the Semi-Finals.

"Well, Trident went into the final full of "Dread", but "nought" came of its opponent, then though, fun for us; you're all shiny, we want to see our faces in it."

— Jonathan Pearce on Trident's win over Dreadnaut

In the Semi-Finals, Trident was drawn up against the eventual champion Chaos 2. The team had managed to repair Trident following the assault from the House Robots.

"This would be a mighty upset if Trident could beat Chaos 2 here."

— Jonathan Pearce as the battle starts

Chaos 2 flips Trident

Chaos 2 got behind Trident, catching its rear and flipping it, but this only managed to spin Trident around. Trident retaliated with an attempted attack on Chaos 2, but crucially missed an axe blow, and Chaos 2 landed a second flip on Trident, which tossed it over onto its back. With its axe laying down, Trident could not self-right, and was then flipped onto the Flame Pit by Chaos 2.

"Oh, and again and over goes Trident immediately!"

— Jonathan Pearce as Trident is tossed over

Chaos 2 flips Trident onto the Flame Pit

Now immobilised, Trident was attacked by the House Robots again, being sliced by Dead Metal and axed by Shunt, who put a dent in its underbelly. Cease was called and Trident was eliminated from The Third Wars.

"Well, Trident tried and tested and unfortunately, he failed."

— Craig Charles

Results

Wins/Losses

• Wins: 3
• Losses: 1

Series Record

Series	Trident Series Record
The First Wars	Did not enter
The Second Wars	Did not enter
The Third Wars	Semi-Finals, Round 1
The Fourth Wars	Withdrew
The Fifth Wars	Did not enter
The Sixth Wars	Did not enter
The Seventh Wars	Did not enter
Series 8	Did not enter
Series 9	Did not enter
Series 10	Did not enter

Outside Robot Wars

After its Series 3 appearance and withdrawal from Series 4, Trident was maintained. It is currently in the possession of Peter Ward.

Trivia

• Tridentate, the Series 6 entrant of a similar name, attempted to qualify for Series 5 under the name Trident, unrelated to this robot.
  • Coincidentally, Tridentate was from the same county, West Yorkshire.
• Trident's statistics board stated it took two hundred and fifty hours to build when it actually took three hundred and fifty hours to build, which Jonathan Pearce mentioned in Semi-Final 1 of Series 3.
• Trident was the only winner of the final heat of a series to appear in the first semi-final.
  • As a result, Trident has the shortest time gap between its heat victory and semi-final appearance out of any semi-finalist, discounting Series 1 and the rebooted series, which had no semi-finals.

"And of course, if they can get things straight, robot number eight, today's winner Trident, through to the first Semi-Final!"

— Jonathan Pearce at the end of his review of the robots competing in Semi-Final 1 of Series 3