Vertical flywheels

Vertical flywheels
Aftershock throws Crank-E into the air using its vertical flywheel
Weapon Category	Heavy rotating weapons
Robots
Pioneer(s)	Torque of the Devil
Notable Robots	S3, Aftershock, Black Hole, Cyclone, Kadeena Machina, PulverizeR
House Robots	Matilda (Series 5 / Extreme 1 onwards)

Vertical flywheels are a type of heavy rotating weapon which first became prominent in later series of Robot Wars. The first robot to be equipped with such a weapon was Torque of the Devil in Series 1, while the most successful UK Series competitors to be equipped with one include fourth-place finishers X-Terminator (Series 7) and Aftershock (Series 9), Series 5-6 Semi-Finalist S3 and Battle of the Stars co-champion Kadeena Machina. House Robot Matilda was also equipped with a rear-mounted vertical flywheel from Series 5/Extreme 1 onwards, replacing her chainsaw in the UK Series and being made interchangeable with it in Robot Wars: Extreme Warriors and Nickelodeon Robot Wars.

Whilst vertical flywheels were not as common or initially as famous as their horizontal counterparts in the UK Series, robots with this weapon type also enjoyed considerable success in international versions. Dutch Series 2 champion PulverizeR and German Series champion Black Hole were both equipped with these flywheels, as was US competitor Cyclone, winner of the Extreme Warriors Season 2 Annihilator. They also enjoyed some success in the lower weight categories, with Argh! winning the Extreme 2 Featherweight Championship by using a vertical flywheel to devastating effect.

Definition

The first vertical flywheel on Torque of the Devil

• A flywheel (alternatively referred to as a spinning disc or simply disc) is a comparatively heavy spinning disc weapon that spins at high speeds. To cause damage, one or more "teeth" are welded onto or integrated into certain places along the disc's circumference, in order to gouge and tear large sections off of opponent's armour or destroy vital components.
• Compared to the horizontal flywheel, these flywheels are mounted vertically, and are intended to strike the bottom edges and sides of other robots.

Advantages and Disadvantages

Advantages

S3 shreds Plunderbird 5

X-Terminator tosses Killer Carrot 2 out of the arena

Kadeena Machina throws Dee into the air

Bulldog Breed's flipper plate was badly buckled after repeated attacks from X-Terminator's flywheel

Big Nipper causes damage to Eruption as it lands after a flip

• Like the horizontal type, vertical flywheels are capable of inflicting substantial amounts of damage to their opponents, tearing into and ripping off sections of armour plating as well as destroying their chassis, wheels and weapons. S3, PulverizeR, 259, Cyclone, Black Hole, Kadeena Machina and Aftershock are among the most prominent examples.
• Vertical flywheels can also double as flipping weapons. Most robots equipped with them - famously 259 and Aftershock - are capable of throwing opponents over as well as damaging them at the same time. Certain flywheels, such as the unused weapon designed for Storm 2 in Series 8, were even intended primarily to flip rather than cause extensive damage.
  • Some are even capable of throwing other robots out of the arena, as demonstrated by Matilda, Cyclone, the Series 7 version of X-Terminator and the Series 10 iteration of Big Nipper.
• They often target the underside of a robot, usually considered its weakest point, allowing for maximum damage to its chassis and wheels/tracks. S3 particularly destroyed Plunderbird 5's chassis, armour and wheel mounts during its first televised battle, and Kadeena Machina was able to shred Dee's wheel off in Battle of the Stars.
• Vertical flywheels also deliver more powerful blows for the same amount of stored kinetic energy as their horizontal counterparts, as robots equipped with them are braced by contact with the arena floor when they hit opponents. This enabled robots such as 259, Kadeena Machina and Aftershock to remain stable even while making repeated attacks on their opponents.
• They are especially effective against robots equipped with wedges and flippers, effectively neutralising them by buckling the wedge/flipper plate and rendering them unable to negotiate the wielder's ground clearance. X-Terminator demonstrated this in its Series 7 Semi-Final fights against St. Agro and Bulldog Breed.
• Very rarely, this type of flywheel can also double as a self-righting mechanism, being able to 'kick' robots back onto their wheels if the flywheel hits the arena floor or walls. Aftershock was the only Robot Wars competitor to demonstrate this capability.
• If a robot wielding a vertical flywheel is thrown upside-down, the flywheel is still capable of causing damage to nearby opponents if it lands weapon-first on them. Aftershock and Big Nipper, for example, were still able to damage Eruption with their discs as they landed on top of the latter, during their Series 9 Grand Final Group Battle and Series 10 Heat Semi-Final respectively.

Disadvantages

259 being counted out, unable to self-right after being struck by Fluffy during the UK vs Germany special

After being flipped over by Philipper 2, Black Hole's discs lost their effectiveness, and were eventually unable to prevent it from being pitted

The gyroscopic forces of Kadeena Machina's disc resulted in the robot frequently lifting itself onto one side whenever it tried to turn with the weapon spinning

In Extreme 2, a combination of gyroscopic forces and a hit from Typhoon were enough to flip the middleweight version of 259 over

• Vertical flywheels are often hard to combine with most invertible designs, especially larger ones such as those used by 259 or Cyclone. This often meant that a robot with this weapon type either required an additional srimech (e.g. Cedric Slammer), had to adopt smaller flywheels (e.g. Black Hole, the Series 8 and 10 incarnations of Big Nipper), or at least needed wheels/tracks that were equal or greater in height.
• Also, the weapon's effectiveness can often be decreased when inverted, due to many flywheels spinning in only one direction. This problem especially affected Black Hole in its European Championship battle against Philipper 2, with its discs spinning towards the ground once the robot was flipped over and causing it to jump upwards upon striking Philipper 2's armour.
• Depending on the weapon's design, the mechanism of a vertical spinner such as a flywheel can also be left vulnerable to extensive damage from other weapons. This was especially apparent in Hyperactive's defeat in the Extreme Warriors Season 2 Annihilator, wherein a hit from the similarly-armed Cyclone was enough to dislodge its disc entirely from its mount. Aftershock's weapon shaft also suffered a blow from Terrorhurtz's bladed axe at one point during its Series 9 run.
• Vertical flywheels have a narrower attack range than their horizontal counterparts, limiting their precision. Black Hole circumvented this through using two flywheels attached to the same axle, each mounted on either side of the machine.
• The gyroscopic forces of a vertical flywheel can adversely affect the robot's manoeuvrability, making it difficult for it to turn when the weapon is spinning. Additionally, they could also lift the robot up onto one side or even cause it to overturn when turning left or right. Though commonly displayed by more modern spinners such as Kadeena Machina, Aftershock, Pulsar and the Series 10 version of Big Nipper, early instances of this happened to Matilda during the first heats of German Robot Wars and the Extreme 2 New Blood Championship, as well as Black Hole in its aforementioned European Championship battle.
  • In some instances, gyroscopic forces can also destabilise a flywheel-wielding robot following collisions or impacts to its chassis or armour. Critically, the middleweight version of 259 was eliminated from the Extreme 2 Middleweight Final when Typhoon hit its front-right panel, causing it to flip over while the disc was spinning.

"We didn't do a vertical spinner because the gyroscopic effect makes steering very difficult."

— Dave Rose of Hypno-Disc

List of Robots with Vertical Flywheels

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.

Robot	Series Appearances with Vertical Flywheels	Notes	Image
259	Series 6	Large four-toothed disc powered by an 89bhp electric motor. Won the 'Best Design' award in Series 6.
259 (Middleweight)	Extreme 2	Middleweight version of 259. Three-toothed disc spinning at 1,750rpm and powered by a 750W motor. Extreme 2 Middleweight Finalist.
Aftershock	Series 9-10	Two interchangeable discs, each weighing 24kg (Series 9-10) and 30kg (Series 10) and spinning at 2,400rpm. Interchangeable with a 14kg vertical bar spinner (Series 9-10) and an asymmetric bar spinner (Series 10 only). Series 9 Grand Finalist, finishing fourth overall.	Series 10 incarnation
Argh!	Extreme 2	Extreme 2 Featherweight Champion.
Alienator	Series 7	Featherweight counterpart to The Alien.
Big Nipper	Series 8, 10	Part of its interchangeable weaponry, alongside its signature crushing/lifting claws. Flywheel mounted on a lifting arm, weighed 20kg, and was capable of spinning at up to 4,000rpm in five seconds in Series 8. Series 10 iteration features a 20kg single-toothed disc with a tip speed of 180mph, which can be reached in three seconds. Only competitor robot in the reboot to flip an opponent out of the arena with a flywheel.	Big Nipper in its Series 10 disc configuration
Black Hole	German Series 1, UK Extreme 2	German Series champion. Two 4,000rpm four-toothed discs mounted either side of the robot and connected to the same axle.
Bot Out Of Hell	Series 5	Disc was disabled on television for safety reasons.
Cedric Slammer	Series 6, Extreme 2	Disc was made out of a car wheel and featured two 4kg steel blades attached to the rim. Spun at 3,000rpm. Extreme 2 New Blood Grand Finalist, finishing fourth overall.
Crazy Coupe 88	Series 8	Features its vertical disc at the rear, with a heavier horizontal blade at the front.
Cyclone	US Season 1-2	US Season 2 Annihilator champion. Original US Season 1 version used a two-toothed disc; US Season 2 version (Cyclone 2) featured a four-toothed disc spinning at 700rpm. First robot with a vertical flywheel to throw an opponent out of the arena.	Cyclone (Extreme Warriors Season 2)
Daisy Chopper	Series 3	Erroneously referred to as a 'circular saw' or 'hammer' on the show. Two-toothed weapon weighed 20kg, was powered by a hatchback car motor and spun at up to 600rpm.
Derek 2	Series 6	Two-toothed weapon was inspired by that of 259. Replaced the original robot's pneumatic forks and small rear spinning disc.
Diotoir	Series 10	Applies only to the version competing in Robot Wars: World Series, where a loanerbot which previously competed as Kadeena Machina was loaned to Team Nemesis to represent the Republic of Ireland.
Doctor Fist	Series 6, Extreme 2	20kg four-bladed disc powered by two 5hp petrol engines, spinning at 2,000rpm. Weapon spun downwards rather than upwards.
Hell's Teeth	Extreme 2	13kg disc, spinning at 1,800rpm and 16 inches in diameter.
Hyperactive	US Season 2	29-inch, 35lbs disc with two teeth and a rotational speed of 215mph. Interchangeable with a large cutting disc originally used by Unibite, although only the two-toothed disc was used on television.
Inshredable	Series 6	Two-toothed steel disc spinning at 1,000rpm.
Kadeena Machina	Series 9	Competed in Battle of the Stars only. Two-toothed flywheel weighed 15kg and spun at 2,000rpm. Entered by Paralympic gold medallist Kadeena Cox. Joint Battle of the Stars Champion along with Arena Cleaner. Later remodeled into the World Series version of Diotoir.
Kill-E-Crank-E	Series 8	Top speed of only 450rpm, could cause extra damage by swinging its body overhead.
Major Tom	Series 5-6, Extreme 1-2	Small front-mounted disc rotating at 35mph; teeth enlarged for Series 6 and Extreme 2.
Manta	US Season 1-2	Three-tooth spinning disc capable of flipping other robots over in Season 1. Substituted for a machined tri-blade spinner for Season 2.	Manta (US Season 1)
Matilda	Series 5-10, Extreme 1-2, US Season 1-2, Nickelodeon, Dutch Series 1-2, German Series	Weighed 27kg in Series 5-7 and 35kg in Series 8-10. Interchangeable with the original chainsaw in US and Nickelodeon series.	Matilda at the time of Extreme 2
Meshuggah	Dutch Series 1-2	Multi-toothed titanium disc made from an F-16 fighter jet part. Powered by a 2hp chainsaw engine and rotating at 2,000rpm in Dutch Series 1. Dutch Series 2 Grand Finalist.
Mesmer 2	Extreme 2	Antweight.
Mini Morg	Extreme 2	Mini Morg used a vertical spinner in Extreme 2, which would be mounted horizontally on the Series 7 incarnation of Mega Morg.
ODT-Zero	Dutch Series 2	Interchangeable with a flipping weapon. Only the flipper was seen on television. Flywheel weapon was not directly stated to spin vertically, but can be presumed from the layout of the robot's weapon module.
Pika 2	Dutch Series 1	Inaugural Belgian Champion.
PulverizeR	Dutch Series 1-2, UK Series 7, Extreme 2	Dutch Series 2 champion.
S3	Series 5-6, Extreme 2	Series 5-6 Semi-Finalist, reaching the second round of the Semi-Finals in both of its UK Series appearances. Disc was 18 inches in diameter and weighed between 17-20kg, spinning at 1,000rpm.
Storm 2	Series 8	Interchangeable, two-toothed disc described by Team Storm as a 'kinetic energy flipper'. Designed to throw, rather than cause substantial damage to opponents, though equipping this would have sacrificed the robot's invertibility. Not used in battle.
The Bat	US Season 2	Six-toothed, 2,500rpm flywheel, powered by four EV Warrior motors.
Thorgrim	German Series	Robot ultimately never moved.
Torque of the Devil	Series 1	First robot to be equipped with a vertical flywheel. Four teeth bolted onto the weapon's circumference.
Vader	Series 6-7, Extreme 2	Original Series 6 incarnation featured a two-toothed 20kg disc, which spun at 850rpm. Series 7 incarnation featured a 10kg disc and an improved weapon motor.
Vortex Inducer	Dutch Series 2	Mounted on an arm which allowed it to twist into vertical or horizontal positions.
X-Terminator	Series 7	Series 7 Grand Finalist, finishing fourth overall. First UK competitor with this weapon type to perform out-of-the-arena flips. Disc weighed 14 or 15kg and spun at 1,500rpm.