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"Galvanised aluminium and steel gives protection, this father-and-son robot is powered by lawnmower motors, plans to hack opponents with an axe, then send them to the cobbles, teeth first, with the flipper!"
Jonathan Pearce describes Ultor

Ultor was a competitor robot that fought exclusively in Series 3 of Robot Wars. It reached the Heat Final in its only appearance, which it won against Big Brother on a judges' decision, putting it through to the Semi-Finals. However, the Ultor team overruled the decision, instead approaching Team Big Brother and offering them the Semi-Final place, due to their work commitments[1]. This act gained Ultor a nomination for the Sportsmanship award at the end of the series, but it lost out to Diotoir.

As a result of its post-battle forfeit, and not returning for any later series of Robot Wars, Ultor is one of the very few robots never to have lost a battle.

Design[]

Ultor

Ultor in the arena

Ultor was a green and white dome-wedge shaped robot. It featured a galvanised aluminium and steel chassis with a fibreglass top and featured two weapons - a piercing spiked axe and a rear lifter, a weapon combination later used by The Steel Avenger. It had two lawnmower motors to power the wheels and the axe, cost £1000 to build, and had a 1-3 cm ground clearance.

Etymology[]

The robot's name is derived from the Latin word for "Avenger".

Robot History[]

Series 3[]

"Father and son team, who apparently have not bonded at all, in fact quite the reverse, during the building of this robot. It's great to see Robot Wars bringing family together."
Philippa Forrester introducing Ultor during her walk around the pits

Ultor's first match was against Flipper, which was actually a substitute robot, brought in when The Parthian Shot was forced to withdraw.

Ultor vs flipper

Ultor axes Flipper

Both robots drove towards each other, but Ultor stopped and swerved away as Flipper closed in. Flipper tried to turn around to get in position to attack, but Ultor continued turning away, then drove around its opponent. Flipper accidentally drove close to Sgt. Bash's CPZ, and reversed quickly when Sgt. Bash fired its flamethrower. Ultor rammed into it, but Flipper turned away, then drove away from its opponent before it could get close enough to use its axe. Ultor pursued, but as it got close, Flipper reversed up the arena. Eventually, Ultor got side-on at Flipper, but when it fired the axe, it failed to puncture Flipper's armour.

"I don't think that's caused major damage though, at all."
— Jonathan Pearce
Ultor Flipper

Ultor after being turned over by an arena spike

However, Flipper was not moving forwards, instead turning back and forth, until it reversed into Ultor, at which point it stopped moving. Ultor turned around for another attack, but merely bumped past Flipper and drove onto a spike, which flicked it up and down. Ultor drove off the spike, turned around, and drove at the side of its opponent, pushing against it, but as it did so, Ultor drove dangerously close to the pit. Ultor reversed, and the House Robots came in. As the House Robots attacked Flipper, Ultor drove at Matilda and started axing her front. Matilda pushed back, and tried driving away, but Ultor followed her. Matilda spun around, and lifted Ultor a little with her tusks. Ultor was not deterred, and drove back at her, but drove over the arena spike again, which flipped it over.

"Oh and Ultor is turned up and over! Oh dear, what a daft way to end this! They were in control, surely the battle is won, because Flipper was immobilised and destroyed by the House Robots, but ignominious end for Ultor!"
— Jonathan Pearce as Ultor is flipped

Despite this, Ultor was through because Flipper had been immobilised first.

Philippa Forrester: "You had a good old joust with Matilda though, didn't you?"
Barnaby Golder: "Yeah, why not?"
Roger Golder: "Well, we thought "If we can't have a go at one, we'll have a go at the others!""
— The Ultor team explain their attack on Matilda in the post-battle interview

In the next fight, Ultor was drawn against Bumblebot.

Philippa Forrester: "We've established that you've got the smaller weapon"
Roger Golder: "Well it's not the size, it's the way it's used"
— The Ultor team prior to their battle with Bumblebot
PushedIntoDM

Ultor pushes Bumblebot into Dead Metal

Ultor vs bumblebot

Ultor rams the weaponless Bumblebot

The two robots cautiously drove at each other, and Ultor got at the side of Bumblebot, but missed with the axe. Ultor turned away and drove away as Bumblebot turned around, before turning back and charging at its opponent, getting underneath it. Bumblebot slid down the side, and Ultor missed with its axe again. Bumblebot tried to turn to use its axe, but Ultor got side-one at it. Bumblebot was able to turn against Ultor, causing it to miss with the axe. The two robots got side-on at each other by Shunt's CPZ, and turned against each other together, each trying to get in a position to attack.

"Very cagey, early on."
— Jonathan Pearce as both robots get off to a slow start
PushedTowardsPit

Ultor pushes Bumblebot towards the pit

However, the two drifted too close to the CPZ. Shunt moved towards them, and the two competitors moved away to avoid the House Robot. The two robots turned to face each other again, and Ultor got under Bumblebot, but as it tried pushing it to Dead Metal, Bumblebot slid off. Bumblebot reversed and fired the axe, but the axe drooped down and became stuck in the fired position. Ultor got behind Bumblebot and pushed it and axed it. Ultor then drove around to Bumblebot's front as it tried to get away. Bumblebot tried reversing, but Ultor kept in close pursuit. Bumblebot tried turning to get away, but its long axe hit Dead Metal. Dead Metal grabbed the axe with his pincers and cut off the axe head. After the axe head was cut off, Bumblebot was moving very slowly, and Ultor pushed it towards the pit. As Ultor reversed to get a charge to knock Bumblebot down, Sir Killalot nudged Bumblebot into the pit. However, Sir Killalot then tried drilling the top of Bumblebot with its lance, and when that failed, punctured it with the lance and picked it up, lifting it out of the pit. Shunt axed Bumblebot's base, which knocked it back into the pit, only for Sir Killalot to pluck it out again with his claw, dropping it near the flame pit. Ultor pushed it onto the flames, and cease was called.

Philippa Forrester: "It's not the size that matters, it's what you do with it!"
Roger Golder: "It's how often you use it as well, by the looks of it"
— More innuendo in the post-battle interview

In the Heat Final, Ultor's opponent was Big Brother.

"Just win!"
— Roger Golder's "tactics"
Big Brother Ultor

Ultor drags Big Brother around

Big Brother started by charging towards Ultor, which initially had some steering problems as it tried to move away from the arena wall. Big Brother then rode up on Ultor, before sliding back off and moving away, dodging Ultor's axe. Ultor drove after it, but Big Brother turned and pushed in reverse against Ultor's side. Big Brother hit Ultor with the mace a couple of times, but when Ultor turned away after the second attack, the weapon got caught on Ultor's axe. This allowed Ultor to drag Big Brother around, nearly pulling it over on to its back. However, Ultor reversed, which allowed Big Brother to get free

"Caught though, on the spike of Ultor, who could drag here, Big Brother, towards oblivion, if they play it right, no, they let Big Brother get away, and could rue that now"
— Jonathan Pearce as Ultor pulls Big Brother
Big Brother Ultor 1

Big Brother's 'morning star' falls off

AxingBB

Ultor axes Big Brother

Big Brother reversed into Ultor, pushing it around the arena, until suddenly, the mace fell off, leaving Big Brother with only the wedge on the front as a weapon. Big Brother went on the defensive, trying to keep away from Ultor as it chased after it. Ultor caught up side-on and fired the axe, but caused no damage. Ultor turned around for another attack, but Big Brother got under Ultor with its wedge and pushed Ultor up the arena. However, as Big Brother pushed Ultor over the floor flipper, Ultor hit the side of the flipper panel, knocking it up Big Brother, and as Big Brother pushed, Ultor fell off.

"As long as Ultor stays out of trouble here, they could have won this one, and it would be a surprise and Poor little Joe could be left in tears. Would we want to see that?"
— Jonathan Pearce
Big Brother vs Ultor

Big Brother gets underneath Ultor

The two robots spun around each other for a while, each trying to get in a good position to attack, or dodging its opponent as it tried to do the same. Ultor tried to axe Big Brother, but Big Brother dodged. Ultor got under Big Brother, but turned the wrong way and missed when it fired its axe, with Big Brother sliding off the front. Ultor turned around for another attack, but Big Brother escaped, and Ultor drove onto an arena spike by Shunt's CPZ, which flicked it multiple times. Ultor reversed off the spike, but in doing so reversed into Shunt's CPZ. Ultor managed to get away, avoiding an axe blow from the House Robot, and caught up with Big Brother. It fired the axe, but still did no damage. Ultor retreated, and Big Brother chased after it, getting the wedge underneath its opponent. Big Brother pushed Ultor, but Ultor managed to get off the wedge and drive away just before 'cease' was called.

The battle was sent to a very close Judges' decision, and ultimately, the Judges awarded the battle to Ultor. However, the Golders could not continue filming, due to not arranging enough time off from work commitments,[2] and claimed that the decision was wrong, so they conceded their place in the Semi-Finals, to Big Brother.

"We've decided that the judges decision was wrong, in our opinion, and we're allowing you to go through to the next round. You win!"
— Barnaby Golder sacrifices Ultor's place

This act earned Ultor a nomination for the Sportsmanship Award. However, it lost out to Diotoir.

Results[]

ULTOR - RESULTS
Series 3
The Third Wars - UK Championship
Heat Final
Heat D, Round 1 vs. Flipper Won
Heat D, Round 2 vs. Bumblebot Won
Heat D, Final vs. Big Brother Won
NOTE: Ultor later conceded its place in the Semi-Finals to Big Brother.

Wins/Losses[]

  • Wins: 3
  • Losses: 0

Series Record[]

Ultor pits

Ultor in the pits with its team and the rear lifter raised

Series Ultor Series Record
The First Wars Did not enter
The Second Wars Did not enter
The Third Wars Heat Final (Withdrew before Semi-Finals)
The Fourth Wars Did not enter
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

Trivia[]

UltorMM

In-game screenshot of Ultor from the Robot Wars: Metal Mayhem box

  • Ultor is one of only two robots to fight in the UK main competition and remain undefeated, the other being Scar.
  • Ultor is also the only robot ever in any version of Robot Wars to win its Heat, yet never reach the Semi-Finals or Grand Final.
  • On the rear box art for the video game Robot Wars: Metal Mayhem, Ultor is seen in an in-game screenshot, but does not appear in the actual game. This suggests that the robot was at one stage planned to be included in the final release, but was likely cut from the game during production.
  • Ultor is the only Series 3 Heat Finalist to only appear in the Third Wars (although Panzer did not compete in another UK Championship, it did appear in Extreme Series 1 as Panzer Wraith).

References[]

Honours[]

Nominations

Navigation[]

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