Turbulence was a heavyweight robot entered by Team Asgard. Although Turbulence competed in and won the pilot episode of Robot Wars: Series 8, it did not compete in the main competition due to Ed Wallace's place on the Robot Wars crew during Series 8-9. However, it fought a whiteboard match towards the end of filming.
Turbulence was originally built by Ed Wallace and Dave Moulds, although Dave Moulds would instead compete in Series 8-10 with Carbide, and Ed Wallace would later compete in Series 10 with Apocalypse.
Design[]
Rear view of Turbulence in the loading bay
Turbulence was armed with a low pressure CO2 flipper, partly inspired by Roobarb[1], with a red and yellow colour-scheme. Armed in HARDOX and titanium, Turbulence's high speed and low pressure flipper allowed it to continue flipping throughout long matches, while also serving as the robot's self-righting mechanism. Turbulence's front wedge was broad, and relatively low to the ground.
Robot History[]
Series 8[]
Turbulence in the pits
Although Turbulence did not compete in the main series of Robot Wars in Series 8 it was nevertheless invited to attend filming of the pilot episode on 1 March 2016, giving it the opportunity to compete in front of a live audience as part of a camera test.
Turbulence in the arena for its first battle
In its Group Battle, Turbulence fought Ka-Pow!, Tanto, and Basher. Tanto immobilised itself when driving over Ka-Pow!, knocking its removable link loose, while Basher pitted itself by overbalancing when pitting the beaten Tanto, leaving Turbulence and Ka-Pow! as the qualifiers.
Turbulence in battle with Reaper
Turbulence advanced to the Head to Head stage, and fought Reaper. Because Reaper's CO2 canister valve was not opened correctly, Turbulence's opponent entered the battle with a faulty flipper. Turbulence completed a flip on Reaper, from which its opponent self-righted, but after Turbulence secured a second flip, Reaper could no longer self-right, and Turbulence won the battle by knockout.
In its second Head to Head, Turbulence defeated Merlin on a Judges' decision, after maintaining the upper hand in aggression and control.
Turbulence returns to the entry gate. Note that Ka-Pow! is over the Pit
Turbulence is disarmed after its victory
Turbulence's final fight was addressed as the Heat Final, where it met Ka-Pow! for a second time. At the end of the battle, Turbulence was able to push Ka-Pow! into the Pit, and emerged as the winner of the Series 8 pilot.
Although Turbulence went undefeated in the pilot episode, it suffered a loss during an off-screen whiteboard fight, held to entertain the crowd. Turbulence was brought into this battle after some of the selected whiteboard competitors, Gabriel and Shockwave, were unable to be repaired in time. Against Infernal Contraption, Turbulence's removable link fell out, and it lost the battle.
Despite not competing in the main competition, Turbulence still made multiple cameos throughout the televised Series 8. The robot is visible opposite Team Carbide's Pit bench during their team shot ahead of the Heat A Final, and in Heat C, when Dara Ó Briain interviews Judge Dr Lucy Rogers. Turbulence, with MONTE and Merlin, made further appearances at the beginning of Heats D and E, during Angela Scanlon's introduction to The Pits in those respective episodes. Further background appearances in Heat E included one in a pre-match interview with Team Saint, where Craig Colliass explains the 'battleaxe' weapon used by Gabriel against Ironside3. Turbulence also made multiple cameos in the Grand Final, again appearing in most of the shots taken from The Pits.
Results[]
| TURBULENCE - RESULTS | ||
| Series 8 | ||
| Series 8 - Pilot Episode Winner | ||
| Pilot, Group Battle | vs. Ka-Pow!, Tanto, Basher | Qualified |
| Pilot, Head-to-Heads | vs. Reaper | Won |
| Pilot, Head-to-Heads | vs. Merlin | Won |
| Pilot, Heat Final | vs. Ka-Pow! | Won |
| Whiteboard matches | ||
| Head-to-Head | vs. Infernal Contraption | Lost |
Series Record[]
Ed Wallace is interviewed after winning the Heat Final
| Series | Turbulence Series Record |
|---|---|
| Series 1-7 | Did not enter |
| Series 8 | Pilot Episode winner |
| Series 9 | Did not enter |
| Series 10 | Entered with Apocalypse |
Outside Robot Wars[]
Turbulence with its team at the 2006 Fighting Robots UK Championships
Turbulence's main success came two years after the original cancellation of Robot Wars, where it won the 2006 UK Championships. The team promised to flip all of their opponents out of the arena, and indeed, it qualified outside of its heat having thrown Iron-Awe 3, Kronic the Wedgehog and Spike out of the arena. In the quarter-finals, it then threw Tough as Nails out, and defeated third-placed Big Nipper and runner-up Storm 2 on its path to victory.
In 2007, Turbulence finished joint-second at the UK Tag Team championships with its partner Tiberius, with Weird Alice and The Saint. More recently, Turbulence finished third in the Robots Live! Team Championships, alongside Team Barbie.
Turbulence also fought in the Robots Live! European Championships in 2013, losing to Titan in its heat, alongside Luzifer. The original version has since continued to appear at various Robots Live! events; its most recent appearance being at the October 2017 event in Stevenage, where it competed in numerous whiteboard battles and the Tag Team competition; in the latter, Turbulence was partnered with Series 8 champion Apollo.
During the retirement of the first version of Turbulence, a second version of Turbulence which was known as Turbulence Mk2 was built. This version was renamed Apocalypse in 2008. For more information on this machine, as well as the other robots Ed Wallace competed on the live circuit with, refer to Apocalypse's article.
In 2021, the original Turbulence attended Robonerd as a static display alongside a brand-new version,[2] which debuted at Robots Live! Crawley a month later.[3]
Robot Wars Live Events[]
Despite being a competitive robot in the live event circuit, Turbulence only entered the Robot Wars live events one time, at the fourth event in Widnes 2013. Turbulence lost in its heat of the main competition against Rattler, Big Nipper and eventual runner-up Maelstrom due to a CO2 leak in its system. Turbulence would then become exclusive to Robots Live! events.
Trivia[]
- With a total of five untelevised matches, Turbulence has the highest number of Robot Wars battles which were not aired on television, tied with Behemoth.
References[]
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