Roadblock's purge of the Grand Final was attributed entirely to its wedge
Wedges were a type of weapon used in Robot Wars. The hugely successful La Machine was the first to use a wedge, but the wedge also became hugely successful in the UK Series, with two of the first ever Grand Finalists, including the Grand Champion, using wedges to great effect. Even in the final year of the Series, Storm 2's basic wedge managed to take out the New Blood Championship.
Definition
A wedge or ramp is simply when a robot's body slopes to the ground, creating a triangle shape. The bottom of the wedge is designed to negotiate ground clearances and turn robots over.
Quite often, a wedge will be classified under ramming blades also.
Advantages and Disadvantages
Advantages
Tornado charges straight into Hypno-Disc's deadly flywheel without fear of damage
- Wedges were the easiest weapons to make. They were only as expensive as the chassis.
- Wedges were very useful in conjunction with another weapon, usually a flipper or an axe. As robot combat went on, traditional wedges tended to evolve into some form of flipping weapon.
- In the early wars, wedges were very effective finishing weapons, as few robots had self-righting mechanisms.
- Heavily armoured wedges could prove to be very good defensive weapons. Terrorhurtz and Hypno-Disc were both outclassed by Tornado's "charity scoop".
The inverted wedge put Tornado at a massive disadvantage against Bigger Brother, leading to a simple pitting
Vector of Armageddon's wedge prevented it from climbing the ramp.
Disadvantages
- With the invention of srimechs, wedges became severely ineffective on their own.
- Wedges have trouble navigating uneven surfaces. Very low wedges can be hindered by the slightest imperfection in the floor; this was seen in Storm 2's battle with Mute when Storm 2 ruined its wedge by getting jammed in the Disc of Doom.
- Although they could be incorporated with an invertible design, an inverted wedge was far less effective and often counted against a robot. Tornado, once turned over by Bigger Brother has considerable less push and was pitted very easily.
- In the Seventh Wars, robots with only wedges were banned because of the new rule stating that all robots needed a moving weapon. This rule forced the highly succesful Storm 2 to adopt a lifter in order to qualify, and Grand Champion Tornado to add a flail to its wedge.
List of robots with Wedges
NB:' Many famous wedges, such as Firestorm and Chaos 2, are excluded on this list due to their famed flipping weapons. Only robots whose wedges were their primary weapon are included below.
Beast of Bodmin
Big Brother
Dominator 2
Storm 2
Thing 2
WYSIWYG
Robots are listed alphabetically. Robots that aren't heavyweight are listed with a green background.
| Robot | Series Appearances with Wedges | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| Ally Gator | Series 3 | Weapon acted as a ramming blade. |
| Anarchy | Series 2 | |
| Beast of Bodmin | Series 3 | Also featured a very basic lifter on the wedge, but this was rarely used. |
| Big Brother | Series 3 | |
| Cruella | Series 1-2 | |
| Cunning Plan | Series 1 | Grand Finalist and holder of the Shortest Battle Record for two years. |
| Darke Destroyer 2 | Series 4 | |
| Demolition Demon | Series 2 | |
| Demolisher | Series 1-2 | Featherweight Champion of Series 2 |
| Dominator 2 | Series 3-6, Extreme 1-2 | A wedge was featured by the original Dominator, but the notable bi-wedge design was made famous by its successor. Dominator 2 used the wedge to tip over opponents such as Corkscrew, but it was most often used as a method of getting beneath a robot to then strike with its axe. |
| Doom | Extreme 1-2 | |
| Ghetto-Bot | Series 4 | |
| Grunt | Series 1 | Stock Robot |
| Krayzee Tokyo | Series 1 | |
| Roadblock | Series 1-2 | Series 1 Champion |
| R.O.C.S. 2 | Series 3 | |
| Oblivion | Series 2 | |
| Storm 2 | Series 7, Extreme 2 | Only a single, very controversial loss with this weapon and its pushing power. |
| Thing 2 | Series 3 | Original wedge had a lifter and horizontal flywheel added to in various forms of successor Wild Thing. |
| Tornado | Series 5-7, Extreme 1-2 | Called the "Charity Scoop". Proved very effective. Was combined with a flail in Series 7 in order to qualify as a moving weapon. |
| Tyke | German Series 1 | Finished fourth |
| Vector of Armageddon | Series 1 | |
| WYSIWYG | Series 1 | Stock Robot |
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