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"The Idea behind forklift was to produce a cheap, simple and reliable robot. We weren't too concerned about armour... we figured that we wouldn't win, so better to loose spectacularly!"
— The Forklift team on entering Robot Wars[1]

Forklift was a competitor robot that fought in the Reserve Rumble, held at the end of Robot Wars: The Second Wars. It lost the Rumble after driving itself into the PPZ and being attacked by the House Robots, sustaining severe damage in doing so.

John Benton would later compete in Series 3 of Robot Wars with a new robot, Forklift's Revenge.

Design[]

Forklift plans

Design plans for Forklift's chassis

Forklift was a large orange, trapezoidal-shaped robot with steep front and rear wedges and a set of lifting spikes designed to resemble a forklift, hence its name. The lifting spikes were powered by a car windscreen wiper motor. Despite its size, it only weighed 55.4kg, making it one of the lightest heavyweight robots to compete in Robot Wars.

Qualification[]

"Forklift was our first attempt at a robot. The original prototype robot was very basic.. kiddie bike wheels powered by windscreen wiper motors. A microswitch and relay setup gave us 5 speeds on each wheel. This wasn't enough though... The robot still tended to go in circles. However, it did more than most robots at the audition. If we passed, we would spend some more money on it."
— The Forklift website on the auditions[2]

Forklift attended the auditions for Series 2, although at the time its windscreen wiper motors were quite underpowered, and Forklift had limited movement in its audition. This was enough for Forklift to pass the audition and compete in the Second Wars, albeit only as a heavyweight reserve.

"After Passing the audition, we invested in a pair of wheelchair motors, and a speed controller. These were 20 quid from a local wheelchair service centre. I needed to build a subframe to mount the wheels on. After the upgrades, we ended up with a robot that was far better than many in the main event (we only got into the heavyweight reserves) I guess that its just that the crappy ones that got in were fully working at the audition (we didn't have a working weapon at the audition)"
— The Forklift website on being selected as a reserve[3]

Robot History[]

Series 2[]

Having not been selected to compete in the main competition, Forklift appeared in the Reserve Rumble, which was broadcast as part of the Grudge Matches special. There, it fought Lateral Thought, Malice, Bumblebot and Jim Struts.

"Forklift was never intended to be the ultimate weapon, nor was it intended to be invincible. It gave use the chance to learn about building robots."
— The team on the positives of competing[4]
Forklift shunt

Shunt pepperpots Forklift

Very little was seen of Forklift in the early stages. Unseen on TV when 'activate' was called, it sped off the mark and avoided Lateral Thought's initial charge, and took advantage by ramming Lateral Thought from the side near to the PPZ, and control difficulties caused itself becoming trapped. Malice was immobilized almost immediately but Forklift couldn't attack it as Sir Killalot got in first, and so Forklift paused before it eventually drove into and nudged Jim Struts. It also attempted to raise the walkerbot with its namesake weapon, but lacked the sufficient power to succeed. Forklift backed away, only to suddenly stop in the middle of the arena. It eventually spun round and dodged a hammer attack from Bumblebot, but drove into the PPZ in doing so and was promptly attacked by Dead Metal and Shunt. Shunt axed Forklift several times as Dead Metal grabbed it by the lifting spikes, leaving several holes through its bodyshell, before Sir Killalot came in and lifted it with his lance. Forklift was dragged and flipped onto its back in the process, before Sir Killalot grabbed it by its chassis and lifted it again. This caused Forklift's shell and a ballast brick to come loose as it was carried towards the Flame Pit.

ReserveRumble3

Sir Killalot carries the now-exposed Forklift to the Flame Pit

"It's gonna be burnt - it's on fire, Forklift! A fiery Forklift... well I don't think we've seen a robot mashed up quite like this one!"
Jonathan Pearce as Forklift is burnt and pitted

There, Forklift's electronics caught fire, before Sir Killalot threw it onto its back and pushed it into the pit, minus its armour. As a result, Forklift was eliminated from the Reserve Rumble, which was eventually won by Jim Struts.

"Forklift expired in the Heavyweight Reserves melee, after loosing its forks, and suffering substantial external damage. The evil Sir Killalot was responsible for slicing through the winch mounting, and dumping the robot on the top of a pile of other flaming robots. I think we were 4th of 6 to go, which wasn't bad by my reckoning. I was disappointed not to receive the "most comprehensively destroyed" trophy. Perhaps if I get into series 3, I might make one - the forklift memorial trophy."
— The Forklift website on being destroyed in the Reserve Rumble[5]

Despite the major damage Forklift sustained in the battle, the robot was surprisingly still functional other than its burnt electronics.

"After removing the charred components, however, we discovered that everything worked. Dispite falling apart, the robots welded subframe protected the main components from harm."
— The Forklift website on the working components[6]

Results[]

FORKLIFT - RESULTS
Series 2
The Grudge Matches
Reserve Rumble
Reserve Rumble vs. Jim Struts, Malice, Bumblebot, Lateral Thought Lost

Wins/Losses[]

  • Wins: 0
  • Losses: 1

Series Record[]

Forklift design

Forklift's initial design

Series Forklift Series Record
The First Wars Did not enter
The Second Wars Reserve Rumble
The Third Wars Entered with Forklift's Revenge
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

External Links[]

References[]

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