Unique weapons

Throughout both series of Robot Wars, some robots featured weapons that did not fit into any fixed category. These are known as unique weapons. Unique weapons may still act in a similar manner to conventional lifting/flipping, overhead or rotating weapons, but function in very different ways. Famous and successful examples of unique weapons include the trap mechanism of Series 4 Semi-Finalist Mousetrap, and the 'smothering shell' of Series 3 middleweight competitor Tentoumushi.

Definition

A unique weapon is designated by the fact that it does not fit one exclusive category of weapon. The trap mechanism of Mousetrap, for example, functioned in the same way as a hammer (Series 4) or bladed axe (Series 5/Extreme 1). However, its shape and dimensions also allowed the weapon to act as a clamping jaw, which the robot used to great effect as the trap held opponents in place while it pushed and dragged them around the arena.

Additionally, there may be unique weapons that do not fit any category whatsoever, such as the 'smothering shell' of Tentoumushi or the 'wagglers' featured on Darke Destroyer 2.

Advantages and Disadvantages

Advantages

• Roboteers can often use the custom weapons to fit in with the design of their robot, for both effectiveness and entertainment. Mousetrap's trap weapon is perhaps the best example of this, adding to the robot's theme and proving to be reasonably effective throughout its performances in Series 4-5.
• Creating a new type of weapon grants a robot an element of surprise.

Disadvantages

• It is very difficult to predict whether a unique weapon will be effective in combat without any predecessors to compare it with. Unfortunately, most of the weapons listed here proved to be largely ineffective in practice.

List of Robots with Unique Weapons

Robots are listed alphabetically. Robots that aren't heavyweight are listed with a green background, whilst House Robots are listed with a red background.

Robot	Weapon	Picture	Series Appearances with Unique weapon	Description	Advantages	Disadvantages
8645T	Combination axe/flipper arm		Series 5, 7	The flipper and axe were attached to the same piston so that when it was fired, the axe would go down and the flipper up simultaneously.	Protected both sides at the same time. The weapons offered good leverage to one another.	It didn't allow 8645T to self-right from any position except on its back.
Big Brother	Morningstar mace		Series 3	The morningstar functioned as an overhead flail, which would whip back and forth.	Fast attack rate	Had a very short range and caused no damage. In addition, the mace was prone to falling off and could be snagged by opponents.
Binky	Nose axe and Battle sled		Series 3	Binky's battle sled was a large wedge scoop attached to a frame. The frame, itself attached to Binky's turret body, was capable of rotating around so that Binky's battle sled had a 360 degree range.	Provided a good deal of protection when facing an opponent, as it kept robots at least three feet away from the mechanics.	Was very slow in moving around, often required torque from the actual robot. Taking up a good deal of Binky's 80 kg limit, often the body rotated and the battle sled remained still.
Broadsword	Medieval broadsword		Extreme 2	The sword was a long blade made out of car springs. It was similar to a spear, but had bladed edges, and could damage opponents by swinging the side of the blade into them	Protected it from spinners, it held off Typhoon for most of the match.	Was long and unwieldy, it struggled to hit low robots and had minimal effect on them if the attack connected.
Cronos	Crusher/rear-hinged flipper		Series 4	Cronos' weapon consisted of a vertical crusher and a rear-hinged flipper mounted together on the same arm. The leverage from the crusher raised the rear wedge which was supposedly capable of lifting a double decker bus. Functioned similar to 8645T, Robochicken and the Series 5 Sir Chromalot.	Both weapons were powerful	Ineffective at self-righting
Daisy	Heavy overhead "Skipping rope"		Series 3	Described as a skipping rope, Daisy's weapon was a thick metal blade which swung over the robot to strike opponents. Very little is known about the weapon as it, and Daisy, were never seen in action.	It appeared to be able to strike both front and back Its design would have allowed it to act as a srimech.	Potential reliability issues, although unknown whether this was the reason Daisy pulled out Had a limited range and would have struggled against large opponents, such as its would-be opponent, Aggrobot.
Darke Destroyer 2	Spring-loaded "wagglers"		Series 4	The wagglers were two spring-loaded, sharp pieces of metal that would be fired when they came into contact with another robot, hopefully slicing into the shell	Could be fired at an incredible rate	Were very weak, and never caused any damage
Dome	Pneumatic trebuchet		Series 5	The trebuchet functioned as an overhead flail, with the "ammunition" a disc attached to the main arm by a chain	Very fast	Didn't cause much damage
Dragbot	Movable Spikes On Wedge		Extreme Warriors Season 2	The spikes could grab onto an opponent and catapult it over the wedge towards the disc at the rear	Helped to keep an opponent trapped on the wedge	The spikes were not very effective and also could not help the robot self-right as opposed to regular flippers
Growler	Flamethrower		Extreme 2	A weapon outlawed for use by competitor robots, which was powered by propane and fired a jet of flame at opponents.	Effective at setting fire to robots covered in flammable exteriors, such as fur.	Largely a visual effect weapon, incapable of causing significant damage. Extremely unreliable, causing it to be scrapped after just one series.
Haardvark	Grinding blade		Series 3	The blade was originally meant to be a circular saw, but it had to be removed due to health & safety regulations. It was also attached to a plastic blade. It was an abrasive saw that was designed to grind away the armour of robots	Made lots of sparks, which would help emphasize damage and aggression in the event of a judges' decision	Fragile, struggled against tough armour, needed to be held in place to work properly.
Havoc	Zinc mace	File:Havoc mace.gif	Series 2	Interchangeable with a flipper, the mace was a spiked ball attached to a rod on the top of Havoc by a chain, allowing it to move freely.	Large attack radius	Ineffective
Little Nipper	Twin mousetraps		Extreme 1	Little Nipper wielded two mousetraps that looked like an actual mousetrap. They would bludgeon down on its opponent.	Fast	Ineffective, retracted very slowly
Mousetrap	Trap mechanism		Series 4-5	The mechanism was designed to resemble the actual mechanism of a conventional mousetrap. Functioned as an overhead weapon, with a heavy bar, and then a guillotine blade in Series 5, as the impacting part of the weapon. Reached a Series Semi-Final and recorded four wins, including a victory over the seeded Evil Weevil, with this weapon.	Was effective as a trapping mechanism; Mousetrap could easily drag robots across the arena once it had slammed the trap down.	Could not function as a srimech. Was vulnerable to damage, as shown in the battle with S3.
Piranha	Saw-Hammer		Extreme 2	The weapon functioned as a large blade that was fired like an axe.	Was fast-acting early on.	Not very powerful. Speed and power decreased significantly after the first few swings.
Roter Osche	'Demolition Hammer'		Series 2	The weapon worked like a jackhammer to dent and buckle other robots' armour. It was strong enough to damage the arena sidewall, but was not seen in action on the televised broadcast.	Proved very powerful and destructive.	Only worked on slow or immobile opponents. Mounted high, likely too high to hit most low-profile robots.
Sergeant Bash	Flamethrower		Series 1-7, Extreme 1-2	A weapon outlawed for use by competitor robots, which was powered by propane and fired a jet of flame at opponents. This flamethrower was mounted on a turret that could rotate 360 degrees.	Effective at setting fire to robots covered in flammable exteriors, such as fur. The turret allowed for a wide range of attack.	Largely a visual effect weapon, incapable of causing significant damage.
Sir Chromalot	Combination axe/flipper		Series 5, Extreme 1	The flipper's gas bottle was mounted on the flipping arm, and had a spike attached to the rear end of it. It functioned akin to 8645T and Robochicken.	Reasonably effective	Inaccurate, prevented it from self-righting after being flipped by Firestorm.
Sting	Whipping tail		Series 2-3	The tail was basically a spiked chain that would whip back and forth quickly.	Very fast	Inaccurate, weak
Tentoumushi	'Smothering Shell'		Series 3	It also had a small spinning disc, but the main weapon was the 'smothering shell'; this was used to grab hold of its opponent, allowing it to either use its saw or drag any robot trapped within around the arena. It did this to great effect in both the Middleweight Melee and the Series 3 War of Independence.	Could easily control an opponent by trapping it with the 'smothering shell'.	Was necessarily fragile.
Toe Cutter	Spring-loaded blade		Series 3	The blade was a 5 kg blade attached to a Clay Pigeon trap, which when fired would hopefully cut into the armour	Was very fast and could be fired in quick succession	Wasn't very powerful, very narrow range of attack. Low-profile robots could avoid the blade entirely.
Twister (Dutch)	Spinning Triangle		Dutch Series 2, Series 7	Twister featured a triangular spinner with blunted vertices that acted as hammers. The entire outer triangle was thick enough to cause damage. The weapon was mounted at a 45-degree angle in Dutch Series 2 and horizontally in UK Series 7. Due to its unusual shape, Twister's weapon cannot accurately be classified as a flywheel or a heavy rotating blade.	The weapon was well-designed with much of its weight away from the central axis.	The 45-degree orientation left the robot precariously off-balance. The horizontal configuration left the space in between the vertices exposed - if that was the point of impact the triangle would glance harmlessly off the opponent and be unable to spin up.