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"...looked quite good in the way that the saw moved, the arm powered by a wiper motor and the saw via a 25CC petrol engine"
— Oliver Steeples of University of Reading[1]

Disruptor was a competitor robot in Series 2 of Robot Wars. It made it to the Heat Final, but due to Disruptor's inability to bring its weapon down far enough, it could not defeat the eventual champion Panic Attack.

Design[]

"A four-wheel drive machine, with a 25CC petrol engine. For weaponry: a 9-inch circular saw on a movable arm on a moveable arm. At 82.1 kilos, it's the heaviest bot in the field..."
Jonathan Pearce introduces Disruptor
Disrupt

Disruptor with its saw arm fully extended

Double-wedged in shape, Disruptor was four-wheel driven. It featured a large circular saw on a moving arm as its primary weapon, similar to that of House Robot Dead Metal at the time, which was powered by a 25CC petrol engine. Disruptor was nearly 3kg over the weight limit for heavyweight robots at the time.

Unlike most robots, Disruptor was not fitted with a failsafe, which meant the robot was active all of the time, posing the risk of serious injury to anyone working on the robot. The rules were later changed so that all robots required a removable link because of this potential risk.

"Well Disrupter [sic] looked quite good in the way that the saw moved, the arm powered by a wiper motor and the saw via a 25CC petrol engine. The 4 wheels were also powered by individual wiper motors and the speed control was made by using simple relays. The most disturbing fact about Disrupter [sic] is that it had no safety circuits and no main on/off switch which meant Disrupter [sic] was always live and if you touched the microswitches, well I think you get the idea. Well the idea behind Disrupter [sic] was good, the weapon was good and considering it had wiper motors it seemed quite powerful."
Oliver Steeples on Disruptor[1]

Robot History[]

Series 2[]

Disruptor Gauntlet

Disruptor is turned over by Sir Killalot

Disruptor moved towards the ramp, but Dead Metal nudged it on an angle as Disruptor got delayed on the spikes. Sir Killalot came up behind Disruptor, and pushed it up the ramp and tipped it over. However, The Parthian Shot never made it in, so Disruptor progressed.

Disruptor trial

Disruptor fends off Shunt

Disruptor entered the Sumo trial in the next round, where it held Shunt to a complete stalemate. It used its wedge shape to keep underneath Shunt, and stayed on the ring for the full time limit. Regardless this only put Disruptor through in third place, as Corporal Punishment and Panic Attack both pushed Shunt off the ring.

Disruptor was then drawn against Adam Clark's Sumo victor, Corporal Punishment in the Arena Semi-Final.

Disruptor vs Corporal Punishment

Disruptor pushes Corporal Punishment

Corporal Punishment Disruptor

Disruptor and Corporal Punishment clash head-on

Corporal Punishment rammed into Disruptor's circular saw, which buckled the prongs and hampered Corporal Punishment's movements. After Corporal Punishment reversed into the House Robots, it was caught there for too long to make any impact on the rest of the battle, and was eliminated on a Judges' decision, putting Disruptor through to a now all-Welsh heat final. During the battle, Disruptor had stripped the cogs from two of its gearboxes, and the team lacked spares, giving Disruptor an immediate disadvantage in its next battle.

PanicAttackvsDisruptor

Disruptor is edged towards the pit

Panic Attack Disruptor 1

Disruptor is pitted

Here, Disruptor met the eventual series champion Panic Attack. In addition to troubles with gearboxes, Disruptor's moving arm was unable to go low enough to damage the eventual champions. It was helpless to resist as Panic Attack pushed it straight into the pit.

Results[]

DISRUPTOR - RESULTS
Series 2
The Second Wars - UK Championship
Heat Final
Heat F, Gauntlet 5.5m (5th) Qualified
Heat F, Trial (Sumo) Survived (3rd) Qualified
Heat F, Semi-Final vs. Corporal Punishment Won
Heat F, Final vs. Panic Attack Lost

Wins/Losses[]

  • Wins: 1
  • Losses: 1

NOTE: Disruptor's successful Gauntlet and Trial runs are not included

Series Record[]

Series Disruptor Series Record
The First Wars Did not enter
The Second Wars Heat Final
The Third Wars Entered with Excalibur
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

Gallery[]

Outside Robot Wars[]

Team captain Anthony Lockwood once built a hang glider out of scaffolding and tarpaulin and made his sister test it.

In 2014, it was reported that Anthony Lockwood had half-completed an as-yet unnamed new robot, capable of running inverted and armed with a front vertical disc and rear flipper. The project was conceptualised before spinning weapons were banned from live events, with Lockwood stating that it was planned to compete in later series of the original Robot Wars and abandoned following Channel 5's acquisition of the show.

Anthony Lockwood: "I hope they do heavyweight spinners then I will finish my new robot."
Nate Franklin: "What kind of bot are you building? "
Anthony Lockwood: "I half built a vertical spinner with a flipper at the back. I put a lot of design into it, it runs both ways up and can crawl lol. 100kg."
Nate Franklin: "Why would you build it if you knew you wouldn't be able to compete with it?"
Anthony Lockwood: "I built it years ago when spinners were allowed. My third robot; I had Disruptor on Series 2 and Excalibur on Series 3, old school stuff, my third machine took me a while to build then BBC sold the show and I never finished it."
— A conversation from the Official Robot Wars Facebook group on Anthony Lockwood's new robot

In 2016, the team expressed interest in completing a heavyweight robot named KONG, having missed out on Series 8 of Robot Wars.

References[]

Navigation[]

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