Weapon immobilisation

Hypno-Disc destroys Splinter

A weapon immobilisation is inflicted where another robot inflicts terminal damage upon the other. These are often called Knock Outs (or KOs), more so than the other type of knockout to legally fit that definition, hazard immobilisations. The distinction is that a robot has used their own weapon and driving ability to do most, if not all of the work, rather than relying on the side bars (Bodyhammer v Torque of the Devil), arena spikes (Tornado v Gemini) or Pit of Oblivion (Bigger Brother v Hypno-Disc)

In the showmanship format of Robot Wars, it is entirely possible for a robot that has suffered a weapon immobilisation to then be pitted, burned on the flame hazards or thrown out of the arena. Similarly but more rarely, it is possible for a battle that has been decided by judges or hazards to also end with a weapon immobilisation (such as Raging Reality throwing Brutus Maximus out of the arena).

Weapon immobilisations can vary depending on the weapon, and it can often be unclear whether a robot has been immobilised by hazards, malfunctions or an opponent’s weapon. As such, this is a non-exhaustive list.

Flippers, lifters and wedges

Overturning

Robot the Bruce turned on its side

Cassius 2 disposes of Dundee

G.B.H. overturns Ivanhoe

Eruption throws Sabretooth over

"Flipped up and over! Immobilised, but no damage caused. Rex Garrod, as good as his word."

— Jonathan Pearce during Cassius' defeat of Loco

Before invertible robots and self-righting mechanisms became a major factor, a standard KO victory could be achieved by simply turning an opponent onto its back or side. Notable achievers of this feat were Roadblock, Cunning Plan and Thing 2, managing to defeat Killertron, Robot the Bruce, Demolisher and Cerberus this way. Team Cassius were particularly formidable with wedge/flipper KO. Recyclopse was the first to inflict a flipper KO on a House Robot (Matilda) and also a competitor robot (Scrapper). Cassius and Cassius 2 later replicated these victories against both Loco and its successor Dundee, whilst Gravedigger and Firestorm (inspired by Cassius) would inflict swift defeats on Manic Mutant, Crasha Gnasha and Sir Chromalot via this method.

The lifter was later introduced in Series 2 with robots such as Panic Attack and G.B.H. inflicting knockouts by overturning opponents such as Whirling Dervish and Talos with controlled movements. Save for Behemoth and Panic Attack, which were able to score KOs via pushing opponents into the pit and out of the arena, lifters became less capable of scoring KOs in their own right as the war progressed.

The rear-hinged flipper was introduced properly in Series 3 and became a quick way of defeating opponents as only a small piece of flipper needed to be under a robot. Chaos 2 was able to inflict several quick defeats to non-invertible, srimechless robots in Crocodilatron, Sonic, Trident and Mace 2, whilst Facet similarly defeated Terminal Ferocity in the same way.

As of Series 9 it is still possible to defeat an opponent by merely overturning them, as demonstrated by Eruption’s defeats of Sabretooth and Hobgoblin. However, the most common victory to involve overturning an opponent is when a high-pressure flipper runs out of CO₂ - see TR2's defeat of Dantomkia and subsequent loss to Apollo.

Notable instances of a robot being overturned

Robot	Immobilised opponent	Weapon	Occasion	Notes
Roadblock	Killertron	Wedge	The First Wars, Heat A, Heat Final	First instance of a robot overturning an opponent with a wedge.
Recyclopse	Matilda	Front-hinged flipper	The First Wars, Heat B, Trial (British Bulldog)	First instance of a robot flipping another.
Recyclopse	Scrapper	Front-hinged flipper	The First Wars, Heat B, Heat Semi-Final	First instance of a robot flipping another competitor robot. Held the shortest battle record until Heat D of Series 1.
Cunning Plan	Demolisher	Wedge	The First Wars, Heat D, Heat Final	Held the shortest battle record until Heat N of Series 3.
Panic Attack	Whirling Dervish	Lifting forks	The Second Wars, Heat F, Heat Final	First time lifting forks were used to overturn a competitor robot.
Cassius	Loco, Matilda	Wedge/front-hinged lifting arm	The Second Wars, Heat H, Heat Final	Second Team Cassius machine to flip opponents, thought the wedge did most of the work with only minimal assistance from the flipping arm. Garrod would go on to immobilise Matilda with the flipper once the battle was won.
G.B.H.	Talos	Lifting scoop	The Second Wars, Heat J, Heat Semi-Final	First time a lifting scoop was used to overturn an opponent.
Cassius	Haardvark	Front-hinged lifting arm	The Second Wars, Semi-Final 2, Arena	First time Cassius employed its lifting arm to properly flip an opponent.
Griffon	Sergeant Bash	Lifter	The Second Wars, Internet Insurrection	First time a lifter was used on a House Robot.
Chaos 2	Crocodilatron	Rear-hinged flipper	The Third Wars, Heat E, Round 1	First time a rear-hinged flipper immobilised an opponent.
Berserk 2	Tut's Revenge	Lifting weapon	The Third Wars, Heat H, Round 1	First rear-mounted lifter to defeat an opponent.
Beast of Bodmin	Onslaught	Lifting weapon/wedge	The Third Wars, Heat I, Round 2	Whilst Roadblock had been unable to flip its foe, during the grudge match Beast of Bodmin was able to overturn Onslaught.
Cassius 2	Dundee	Front-hinged flipper	The Third Wars, Heat M, Round 1	Team Cassius' third machine to overturn an opponent. Second use of front-hinged flipper in Robot Wars, and second time Team Cassius overturned one of Team Loco's machines.
Thing 2	Cerberus	Wedge	The Third Wars, Heat N, Final	Last instance of a robot overturning an opponent with its wedge, where that wedge was the primary weapon.
Facet	Terminal Ferocity	Rear-hinged flipper	The Third Wars, Heat O, Round 1	One of two rear-hinged flippers to enter Robot Wars.
Fire Storm	Crasha Gnasha	Front-hinged flipping arm	The Third Wars, Heat O, Round 1	Currently ranked fifth on the list of shortest battles in UK Robot Wars
Fire Storm	Facet	Front-hinged flipping arm	The Third Wars, Heat O, Round 2	First time a flipping robot immobilised another flipping robot by turning it onto its side.
Panic Attack	Thing 2	Robot's rear	The Third Wars, Semi-Final 1, Round 1	Panic Attack reversed into Thing 2 and drove over an arena spike. The spike jostled Panic Attack, but because Thing 2 was mounted on its opponent, the motion resulted in Thing 2 being overturned.
Chaos 2	Trident	Rear-hinged flipper	The Third Wars, Semi-Final 1, Round 1	Currently ranked 12th on the list of shortest battles in UK Robot Wars
Chaos 2	Hypno-Disc	Rear-hinged flipper	The Third Wars, Grand Final, Final	Second instance of a UK Championship being decided by knockout.
Wheely Big Cheese	Killertron	Rear-hinged flipper	The Fourth Wars, Heat H, Round 2	First time a robot was thrown from in front of its opponent to behind to land on its back.
Reactor 2	Gemini	Rear-hinged flipper	The Fifth Wars, Heat D, Round 2	Reactor 2 flipped Gemini onto their wheely bars so that they could not self-right.
Dominator 2	Corkscrew	Wedge	The Fifth Wars, Heat F, Final	Dominator 2 overturned Corkscrew with its bi-wedge body, making it the first time a robot overturned its foe with a secondary weapon.
Bigger Brother	Chaos 2	Rear-hinged flipping arm	The Fifth Wars, Semi-Final 1, Round 2	First instance of a flipping arm (not a true flipper) being used to defeat an enemy by overturning it. First time a robot succumbed to lack of CO2 due to multiple flips. End of Chaos 2's record eighteen consecutive UK Championship victories.
Firestorm 4	Mr. Psycho	Front-hinged flipper	Commonwealth Carnage, Round 2	Only instance of Mr. Psycho being flipped by another robot.
Robochicken	Mega Morg	Rear-hinged flipper	The Seventh Wars, Heat M, Round 2	Threw Mega Morg (a rollover design) flat onto its back so as to negate its opponent's self-righting capability.
Bigger Brother	Typhoon 2	Rear-hinged flipping arm	The Seventh Wars, Heat O, Round 1	Notably could have changed the course of the Seventh Wars, as Typhoon 2 progressed by being the third robot immobilised.
Ripper	Daisy-Cutter	Rear-hinged flipper	The Seventh Wars, Heat P, Round 2	One of the quickest immobilisations in Robot Wars, at less than three seconds.
Gravity	Growler, Cassius Chrome	Rear-hinged flipper	The Seventh Wars, House Robot Rebellion	Only time Growler and Cassius Chrome were immobilised in this way. Gravity had previously overturned Dead Metal and Shunt.
Eruption	Ironside3	Rear-hinged flipper	Grand Final, Head-to-Head	Most recent instance of a robot being immobilised by being overturned. Ironside3's srimech had previously been broken, leaving it helpless when flipped.

Pinning

Firestorm 4 pins 13 Black

As robots became capable of righting from an overturned position, their vulnerable sides became a far more exposed way of achieving victory. Firestorm’s Graham Bone was one of the most notable exploiters of this method of victory, defeating Panic Attack, 13 Black, Crushtacean and Ripper by pinning them against the arena wall. Pinning is also possible for rear-hinged flippers (albeit much more difficult) as seen by Kronic the Wedgehog's immobilisation of Gravedigger, and Panic Attack's defeat of Spawn of Scutter.

This became far more difficult to achieve in the Series 8-9 arena, where the walls are noticeably smoother. However, it is still possible, as demonstrated by Dantomkia's defeat of King B Remix and Interstellar: MML's defeat of The Cat.

Gravity-induced concussion

Apollo immobilised Kan-Opener upon landing

As invertible robots and srimechs became more prevalent but rear-hinged flippers became more powerful, a viable method of victory became the gravity-induced KO. This is only possible with powerful rear-hinged flippers, who throw their opponents into the air and cause them to land hard enough to knock out their removable link. It can turn a battle around significantly, as seen by Spawn Again's defeat of Supernova in Series 6.

In the rebooted series, Apollo defeated Kan-Opener and PP3D in this way during its Series 8 championship run, demonstrating it to be one of the most viable ways of victory with a rear-hinged flipper.

Out of the arena

Main article: Thrown Out of the Arena

Starting with Chaos 2, robots began to use flipping (and occasionally lifting or rotating) weapons to throw opponents over the arena wall for an instant knockout victory.

Overhead weapons

Penetration - spiked axes

Dominator 2 retracts its axe from Henry 2

A spiked axe is a difficult weapon with which to knock out an opponent. The main requirement is to hit something vital within the robot. Famous examples include Dominator 2’s instantaneous KO of Henry 2 and Trident’s victory over Twn Trwn.

The most viable method of attacking with a spiked axe is the opponent's wheels; Killerhurtz was able to immobilise one of Stinger's wheels in the Series 4 Northern Annihilator, and Dominator 2 flattened S.M.I.D.S.Y.'s tyre in Series 6 (though the latter battle ultimately went to the judges).

A very rare early method of victory was penetrating and pulling opponents over – Killertron achieved victory over Behemoth in this way by using its spike axe for leverage and reversing Behemoth onto its side.

Concussive blows – bladed axes, hammers

Terrorhurtz immobilises S.M.I.D.S.Y.

Bladed axes and hammers required less accuracy to score a knock out victory, but a lot more power. Only Terrorhurtz and Thor ever achieved victory this way, against robots such as S.M.I.D.S.Y., Dantomkia and Tough as Nails. These blows could knock loose internal links in the same way that heavy contact on the arena floor.

Rotating weapons and heavy rotating weapons

Cutting, slashing and carving

Pussycat hamstrings Razer

Lighter rotating weapons were capable of immobilising opponents by targeting key areas in the same way as a spiked axe. Pussycat was a famously capable "slashing" robot, able to score knockouts on Razer (the only robot to do so) and Hypno-Disc by crippling the robot's vulnerable rears, Reptirron by severing its fuel line, and Dantomkia by striking a highly vulnerable area.

Bulldog Breed 3's link

Carving at key areas was a viable method of victory for flywheels, but it was considerably rarer than the "outright destruction" method they typically favoured. Hypno-Disc carefully carved out the removable link from Bulldog Breed 3 in the Series 5 Heat Final, causing an instant immobilisation. It also smashed the wheels clean from Ming 3's body.

"Don't bring wheels into the Robot Wars arena!"

— Jonathan Pearce

M.R. Speed Squared cleaves Chimera's wheel from its body

Cutting and slashing has become even harder to achieve in the reboot era, with HARDOX armour becoming common, and robots no longer requiring exposed aerials. Only highly vulnerable wheels are likely to suffer damage from them, with some examples including The General, Chimera and the Battle of the Stars competitors. Powerful robots such as Carbide can still immobilise opponents’ vulnerable spots (such as Shockwave's rear axle), but few are strong enough and rely on concussive victories.

Concussive blows

IG-88 knocks out Tomahawk

"As it went over the arena wall its disk (sic) hit the tip of Dantomkias flipper and sent a surge through the radio interface electronics and fried a load of relays and their driver ccts. This plagued us for the rest of that RobotWars series. The weapon often wouldnt work, relays would jam or refuse to operate and even the Radio Control deadband would drift. Unfortunately I didnt have a spare set of electronics with me so I had to use what I had."

— Mike Lambert on IG-88's weapon

Rotating weapons are capable of causing internal damage to robots even where the robot's exterior remains relatively undamaged. They can cause electrical surges, knock removable links and components loose or jam wheels. It was not uncommon to hear Jonathan Pearce say that a blow had "knocked something loose" inside a robot when commenting on a concussion-based immobilisation.

Carbide pounds Apollo

Examples include Little Fly's defeat of Weld-Dor 2, The Alien's knockout blow on Velocirippa, and IG-88's defeats of Tomahawk and King B Powerworks in Series 7. This remains a viable method of victory in the reboot. Supernova immobilised Or Te in this way during Series 8, and Carbide did the same in its first one-on-one encounter with Apollo in the Series 8 Grand Final.

Outright destruction

Hypno-Disc destroys Robogeddon

Outright destruction is a common method of victory for flywheels, as it is sometimes impossible to locate the reason for victory amidst the destruction. Hypno-Disc was by far the most famous architect of outright destruction victories, annihilating Robogeddon, Stealth, V-Max, Splinter and Atomic 2. Supernova and Disc-O-Inferno later followed in Hypno-Disc’s footsteps with outright destruction dealt against opponents such as Mechaniac, Spartacus, Velocirippa and Comengetorix.

In the modern era, outright destruction is rarer, particularly in the head-to-heads where the Gentleman's Agreement is enforced because robots have to be repaired in order to fight again just two hours later. The best examples of outright destruction are Carbide's obliteration of Nuts in Series 8, and Aftershock's decimation of Sabretooth in their Series 9 Head-to-Head battle. Gary Cairns openly revealed that in order to reach the Heat Final in Series 9 with PP3D, he would need to destroy Eruption outright and force the team to withdraw from the competition - otherwise PP3D would not be able to qualify on points alone. However, this plan did not succeed.

Overturning

Pulsar flips Ironside 3 over with its spinning drum.

Vertical spinners are able to immobilise an opponent by overturning them in the same was as a flipping or lifting weapon. Pullverizer's defeat of Scraptosaur in Dutch Series 1 and the middleweight 259's defeat of Mammoth in Extreme 2 are some examples.

In the rebooted series, powerful spinning drums have taken over from vertical flywheels as the spinning overturning weapon of choice, as seen by Pulsar's overturning of Ironside3 (although this later went to a Judges' decision, it was deemed a knockout). However, Aftershock showed that flipping opponents remains a viable option for vertical flywheels, by flipping Rapid and Terrorhurtz over during its Head-to-Head battles against the latter opponents.

It remains possible to throw an opponent out of the arena with a vertical flywheel, as demonstrated by X-Terminator and Cyclone, but this has yet to be done in the reboot era.

Crushing and Gripping Weapons

Razer carves Milly-Ann Bug's wheels off

Razer pierces Techno-Lease

Much more so than other weapons, crushing and gripping weapons very rarely win by KO in their own right. Famous wielders like Razer, Chompalot, Crushtacean and Pitbull often relied on arena hazards to immobilise opponents (Razer, Chompalot and Crushtacean were very inclined towards pitting opponents, whilst Pitbull used the flames), or even secure victory via the judges. Many of Razer's most famous victories were actually judges' decisions with damage so heavily inflicted and control so unanimously in favour of Razer that the decisions became technicalities. That being said, it is still possible for a crushing or gripping weapon to KO an opponent.

Crushers have become far rarer than other weapons in the reboot, with Kan-Opener, Tough as Nails and Razer all losing in Round 1 and Battle of the Stars competitor Soldier Ant scoring only a single judges' decision.

Piercing vulnerable areas

Razer was most capable of piercing vulnerable areas such as motors, batteries and wheels. Its victories over Milly-Ann Bug and the first battle with Tornado all saw its opponents immobilised when the powerful beak pierced wheels and motors, while the horizontal crushers of Big Nipper removed the wheel of Jackson Wallop.

Internal damage

Somewhat rarer, crushers were capable of causing internal damage to a robot. Razer caused All Torque and Techno-Lease to break down from repeat attacks, whilst Kan-Opener immobilised Ripper with its horizontal crushers.

Other weapons

Outside the main groups, it is possible for other weapons to cause KOs.

Spikes and Spears – impaling

T.R.A.C.I.E. spears Prince of Darkness

Spears are capable (albeit rarely) of defeating an opponent by KO. The best way to do so is to pierce the wheels of an opponent. T.R.A.C.I.E. did this against Prince of Darkness in Series 1, whilst King B Powerworks showed that stabbing an opponent could cause terminal breakdown as it immobilised Tornado in this way during Extreme 1.

Uniquely, Spawn of Scutter used its retracting spike to flip Banshee for a KO.

Static spikes and spears are not used as weapons in the reboot and cannot be used to score KOs, as they are not considered to be active weapons.

Thwackbots – concussive blows

Stinger pounding Bulldog Breed 2

Thwackbots are difficult to cause immobilisations and typically win fights on aggression through judges decisions. However, Stinger was capable of causing internal damage with its heavy weapon, scoring victories over Bulldog Breed 2, General Carnage 2 and Fluffy by continually pounding at them.

Thwackbots have been mostly prohibited since Series 7 of Robot Wars, although some rare exceptions exist in the reboot through Chimera, Gabriel and Dee. However, aside from Gabriel, these robots have not had the heavy weapons required to score concussive KO victories.

General pressure

It should be noted that sometimes robots cause KOs with their weapon that simply come from pushing an opponent around. Roadblock's pressure on Recyclopse using its wedge led to its immobilisation, despite not overturning it with its wedge. This sort of pressure is less common, but worth noting as not all weapon KO's can be categorised neatly - robots such as Tornado and Storm 2 immobilised their opponents by slamming them into the arena wall, without specifically using their weapons.