For TeamBoltz's similarly named Extreme Warriors Season 1 entry, see Mad Cow.
Mad Cow Bot was a heavyweight robot which competed in Season 2 of Robot Wars: Extreme Warriors, entered by Team Think Tank. It reached the second round of the US Championship and the Tag Team Terror – the latter alongside Texas Tornado – but lost to a Judges' decision on both occasions after losing drive on one side.
Design[]
Front view of Mad Cow Bot
Mad Cow Bot was an invertible, two-wheeled robot armed with a large aluminium spinning drum and a set of rear wedges. It was painted white and black to resemble a cow, and featured two 24 Volt Etek drive motors which gave it a combined power output of 16hp, while its weapon was powered by a powerful Magmotor. While its drum proved powerful and the robot had a high top speed of 30mph, Mad Cow Bot's weapon could only spin up in one direction, potentially reducing its efficiency when it was flipped over. Additionally, it was difficult to control, while its wheels were exposed and vulnerable to losing drive after violent impacts. The latter issue ultimately compromised Mad Cow Bot's performances throughout Extreme Warriors.
The Team[]
Team Think Tank with Mad Cow Bot
Mad Cow Bot was built by Team Think Tank, a robotics team from Pasadena in California. The team captain was Ted Shimoda, who drove the robot, and he was joined by Gaylord Campbell, the team's artist, and Wayne Tamaski, Ted Shimoda's co-mechanic. The team all dressed in cow-print jackets and beanies. Team Think Tank continued to compete on the live circuit after Extreme Warriors, with Ted Shimoda continuing to compete up until the 2016 season of BattleBots.
Robot History[]
Season 2[]
Mad Cow Bot first fought in the US Championship. It competed in Heat B, and faced Trilobyte and Manta in its first round battle.
Mad Cow Bot rips away Trilobyte's fur
Team Think Tank's robot began tentatively, driving round the arena while Manta pushed Trilobyte into a CPZ. It then chased both robots across the arena before nudging Trilobyte a few times after it became immobilized, ripping part of its fur off with the drum at one point. Mad Cow Bot rode up Trilobyte's wedge just before Refbot counted it out, and was momentarily driven over by Sir Killalot as he reversed after parading Trilobyte around and overbalanced.
Mad Cow Bot progressed to the second round, where it fought The Bat.
The Bat throws Mad Cow Bot over with its flywheel
It darted across the arena before spinning to get its drum into position, only to be flipped over by The Bat's flywheel. Mad Cow Bot retaliated by slamming into The Bat, ripping off one of its wings and jamming its flywheel, but appeared to lose drive to one side following this hit, spinning in circles on the Drop Zone square as it struck The Bat again, tearing off the other wing. Mad Cow Bot continued to spin in circles and tear into The Bat's armor with its drum, before The Bat pressed the pit release button and was pushed away by Sir Killalot. Sgt. Bash came in to separate both robots as they came together, with Mad Cow Bot losing the drive belt to its drum as it spun around again and The Bat pushed it onto the Flame Pit.
- "Anybody for some Mad Cow burgers? Barbecue’s just getting toasty!"
- — Stefan Frank as Mad Cow Bot is pushed onto the Flame Pit
Mad Cow Bot continued spinning over the Flame Pit until ‘cease' was called, and the battle went to a judges' decision despite it having lost full mobility for a sustained amount of time. The decision went against Team Think Tank, eliminating Mad Cow Bot from the US Championship, although Mick Foley later addressed the outcome as a split decision.
- "Moooooove over, Mad Cow, The Bat is flying into the finals!"
- — Mick Foley
Mad Cow Bot also fought in the Tag Team Terror, paired with Texas Tornado. In the first round, they fought Trilobyte and Trackzilla, with Texas Tornado and Trilobyte starting first.
It stayed in its corner for much of the early stages until coming out to help Texas Tornado attack Trackzilla, which itself was tagged by Trilobyte. Mad Cow Bot got under Trackzilla with its drum before backing away and spinning over the Disc of Doom as all four robots met in the middle of the arena. It pushed Trackzilla again as Sir Killalot approached, before hitting Refbot and getting attacked by Dead Metal after another slam on Trackzilla. It returned to help Texas Tornado attack Trackzilla again, before spinning around in circles as Trilobyte drove itself into the pit. Meanwhile, Trackzilla had become immobilized next to the wall and was sliced into by Dead Metal before being picked up by Sir Killalot's jaws and placed on the Floor Flipper, allowing Mad Cow Bot and Texas Tornado to proceed to the second round.
There, they faced Sir Force A Lot and G-Force, with Texas Tornado again starting first alongside Sir Force A Lot.
All four competitors come out at once
In the last few seconds, Mad Cow Bots spins in circles, and Matilda attacks G-Force
Mad Cow Bot and G-Force left their corners shortly after the opening moments, with Mad Cow Bot spinning across the Disc of Doom before briefly buffeting Sir Force A Lot's side panels. Sir Force A Lot then pushed it over a flame jet and against the wall, leaving it spinning in circles again as one of its sides caught fire. Mad Cow Bot played very little part in the later stages as Texas Tornado was eventually pitted by Sir Force A Lot and G-Force was counted out by Refbot after being attacked by Dead Metal. However, it and Sir Force A Lot finished the battle by pushing each other, although it was unable to drive straight at all by the time ‘cease' was called. The judges' decision ultimately went against Mad Cow Bot and Texas Tornado, eliminating them from the Tag Team Terror.
Results[]
| MAD COW BOT - RESULTS | ||
| Season 2 | ||
| US Championship Heat, Round 2 | ||
| Heat B, Round 1 | vs. Manta, Trilobyte | Qualified |
| Heat B, Round 2 | vs. The Bat | Lost |
| Tag Team Terror Competing with Texas Tornado, Round 2 | ||
| Round 1 | vs. Trackzilla & Trilobyte | Won |
| Round 2 | vs. G-Force & Sir Force A Lot | Lost |
Wins/Losses[]
- Wins: 2
- Losses: 2
Series Record[]
| US Series | Mad Cow Bot Series Record |
|---|---|
| Season 1 | Did not enter |
| Season 2 | Heat, Round 2 |
| Nickelodeon | Did not enter |
Outside Robot Wars[]
Team Think Tank also competed with in BattleBots and Robotica with a series of robots. They first entered the Superheavyweight category of Season 3.0 BattleBots with MantaRay, which lost its only battle to Phere. It returned for Season 4.0, but lost its only battle again, this time to Fantom Thrust.
The team also entered the Lightweight division of both those series with BatRay. It was forced to withdraw from its first battle in Season 3.0 against Kraken due to technical issues, but returned for Season 4.0, where it beat SupercaliBotulistic, but then lost to Pursuer.
They also built InTriVerter, which was entered into BattleBots and Robotica. However, it failed to win any battles, losing its only fight in BattleBots to PyRAMidroid in Season 4.0, and losing the Gauntlet and Labyrinth to Deb Bot in Season 2.0 of Robotica. The team returned for Robotica Season 3 with Re-Intriverter, but this robot was equally unsucessful, losing the Gauntlet and Labyrinth to Panzer Mk 3.
The team returned for BattleBots Season 5.0 with the Heavyweight robots Bullistic and Ringmaster, not to be confused with the 2016 entry of the same name. Bullistic lost its only battle to Crabmeat, but Ringmaster was more successful, earning four combat wins and only one loss, reaching the Round of 16 in the process.
VDD, insect class
VD6.0, heavyweight (BattleBots 2009 live tournament)
Team Think Tank also built an insect class spinner named VDD, which was inducted to the Combat Robot Hall of Fame in 2005. This was scaled up into a heavyweight design, VD6.0 which entered the 2009 BattleBots live tournament in Vallejo with great success, defeating four robots including SubZero and Tombstone, only losing to the finalists Brutality and Root Canal.
Bad Kitty (BattleBots ABC Season 2)
Ted Shimoda (center-left) with Bad Kitty
In 2016, Team Think Tank returned to BattleBots for its second season on ABC, captained by Bradley Warren Hanstad, with Ted Shimoda of Mad Cow Bot's team present. They entered with Bad Kitty, a robot which used the core design of VD6.0, but was surrounded by a pink feline mould, housing its powerful vertical spinner. Team member Katie Mason of Team Think Tank also drove an invertible minibot equipped with a wedge. However, Bad Kitty did not qualify directly for the main series, instead vying for a position in the main competition during BattleBots: The Gears Awaken, where Bad Kitty was ultimately defeated by Black Ice in a three-way rumble.
After this appearance on BattleBots, Team Bad Kitty was formed in its own right, with no further connection to Team Think Tank. More recently, the separate Team Bad Kitty competed at RoboGames in 2018 with Cataclysm, loaned to the team by Team Food Fight, and in future BattleBots seasons with MadCatter under new captain Martin Mason.
Ted Shimoda (far left) with Chronos
Chronos at BattleBots World Championship V
Meanwhile, Ted Shimoda & Bradley Warren Hanstad competed as part of Chronos for the Chinese show This is Fighting Robots, as well as BattleBots World Championships IV and V with the same robot. Chronos had very little success in both shows it competed in.
Bradley Warren Hanstad would later join Team Overboard and Deep Six for the sixth season, before returning to captaincy a year later as the team debuted Triton.
Trivia[]
- Mad Cow Bot was one of the first robots to use what is now one of the leading motor types for spinning weaponry, Etek motors and Magmotors. Mad Cow Bot used two Eteks for drive.
- Mad Cow Bot competed in Season 2 under Team Think Tank after the unrelated TeamBoltz had already competed in Season 1 with a different machine named Mad Cow, but despite these similarities, the robots were unrelated.
See Also[]
- Team Think Tank (BattleBots)
- MantaRay (BattleBots)
- BatRay (BattleBots)
- InTriVerter (BattleBots)
- InTriVerter (Robotica)
- Bullistic (BattleBots)
- Ringmaster (BattleBots)
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