Hypno-Disc

Hypno-Disc
Hypno-Disc as it appeared in Series 6
Participation Information
UK Series	3-6, Extreme 1-2
Team Information
Team Members	Dave Rose Derek Rose Ken Rose
Robot Statistics
Weight	100kg
Dimensions	0.47m x 1.22m x 0.74m
Clearance	25mm
Top Speed	10mph
Power	2 x 750W electric motors
Weapons	Horizontal flywheel
Statistics correct as of its most recent show/competition appearance, or if not applicable, qualification attempt.

"Hypno-Disc is one I do remember...it's not something you can forget"

— Robot Wars judge Mat Irvine

Hypno-Disc (sometimes spelled Hypnodisc or Hypno Disc) was a low rectangle shaped robot armoured in 6mm aluminium checker-plate that competed in Series 3, 4, 5 and 6 of Robot Wars, also entering in both series of Robot Wars Extreme. Its main weapon was a horizontal spinning flywheel with a spiral pattern painted on, hence the robot's name. It was the first of its kind and was capable of ripping opponents' armour clean off. It was originally built over 3 months with a computer aided design, an aluminium frame and a welder that was used on the NASA Space Shuttle programme. It was capable of pulling a car and the 18 kg flywheel was capable of slicing through 3.5mm thick aluminium and spun at 500-600RPM.

"Capable of a single knock-out blow"

— Jonathan Pearce

Because of the flywheel, Hypno-Disc was quickly dubbed "the most destructive robot in Robot Wars" in Series 3 and, for its original design, Hypno-Disc was awarded the Most Original Entry Award. In Series 4, a side mounted self-righting arm was added behind the now 750RPM flywheel as a countermeasure in case the robot should get flipped over and the new motor for the weapon meant that it could get up to speed in 3.5 seconds (75 mph at the teeth). Derek Rose told the Robot Wars Magazine that Hypno-Disc was going to be a walker in Series 4, but it retained wheels when it appeared on TV. This was doubled in power for Extreme 1/Series 5 and the weapon was heavier at 20 kg therefore producing 90 mph in 2 seconds. It was quick at 20 mph and mild steel was added to the aluminium shell but the wheels were vulnerable, as shown when Pussycat defeated it, as was the robot itself when the disc stopped. It also had low pushing power. A 7mm high-grade aluminium disc cover and titanium wheel shafts were added for Series 6 and a new 10mm aluminium checker-plate chassis. The flywheel was upgraded to spin at 900RPM and the drive motor was moved under the weapon to improve reliability. Hypno-Disc made the Grand Final three times, one of the only two robots ever to do so (the other being Firestorm), and coming second in its first appearance. Hypno-Disc is the only robot to reach three successive Grand Finals (Series 3-5). Hypno-Disc is generally considered to be one of the greatest robots never to win the UK Robot Wars title.

"We did not want to meet Hypno-Disc...This machine was stunning for the amount of damage it dished out. The pits were very quiet when it was on."

— Peter Kinsey of Beast of Bodmin

The Hypno-Disc team consisted of twin brothers Dave and Derek Rose and their father Ken. The design for Hypno-Disc originally came from Dave Rose's three year old son, who made it out of Lego, and this was converted from 15 years of experience in engineering. However, the Hypno-Disc team originally planned on a two-wheeled design with a much smaller chassis, but eventually changed it. The Hypno-Disc's motto was "Spin to Win", a motto soon adopted by many a roboteer.

Robot History

Series 3

"This is the most complete destruction I think we've seen on Robot Wars ever..."

— Jonathan Pearce

Hypno-Disc in Series 3

Hypno-Disc's debut battle to Robot Wars was nominated as one of the best battles of the series. In the first round of the heat, Hypno-Disc was drawn up against fellow newcomers Robogeddon. In the battle, Hypno-Disc hit its reptilian opponent several times, as the armour started buckling, then coming off completely. Further attacks damaged the wheels and weapon, as well as rupturing its CO₂ canister, leaving the robot in a huge mess. The wheels were still turning, and the flipping weapon was still barely functional, but the wheels and tyres were so badly damaged and the chassis so deformed that they couldn't get any traction on the arena floor. Robogeddon couldn't go anywhere, so cease was called, and Hypno-Disc was declared the obvious winner of the battle, putting it through to the second round of the heat, as the rising heat favourites.

Hypno-Disc tears Robogeddon apart

"Before the fight with Robogeddon, we knew nothing at all about the level of destruction we were going give...and one or two people on the website tended to think it was a setup....I can assure them that it was not a setup, because we didn't know that the robot was going to perform as well as it did."

— Ken Rose

Hypno-Disc damages Stealth's pneumatics

In the second round, Hypno-Disc was placed up against another newcomer to the wars in Stealth. Stealth proved to be even more sluggish than Robogeddon at the beginning of this battle. Hypno-Disc only began by landing scratches on Stealth's front, but then used a small spot in Matilda's CPZ to turn around and attack Stealth's rear. However, the arena spike caused Hypno-Disc to fly upwards, with its disc ripping Stealth's rear circular saw right off. From then on, all armour panels began to fly off Stealth after every impact from Hypno-Disc's flywheel weapon. Stealth then finally used what life it had left to turn back around again, but still had its flipper gaping open, Hypno-Disc took advantage of this and disabled the flipper completely, before cease was called. This comprehensive victory put Hypno-Disc through to the heat final. Hypno-Disc was then placed up against Berserk 2 in the Heat Final.

Berserk 2 is flipped by the arena spike

Berserk's armour was notably harder than the other two competitors and Hypno-Disc was only able to cause a few minor slices in the rear of Berserk 2. However, about halfway through the bout, Berserk 2 was flipped onto its side by an arena spike. Hypno-Disc sportingly righted the machine and went through on a judges' decision. However, there was a real scare for the future runners-up, as Berserk 2 had damaged the disc and Sergeant Bash had caused the robot to have blackouts. To make matters worse, Derek departed for America, leaving Dave and Ken alone to work for four hours straight in order to avoid disqualification. They nearly had to retire from lack of parts and time, but fortunately, the Spin to Win boys brought their robot back to life just in time for the Series Semi-Finals.

"Hypno-Disc; lethal, destructive. A robo-vore - it eats other machines alive."

— Jonathan Pearce in the Semi-Finals

Hypno-Disc strikes Evil Weevil

Hypno-Disc entered the second of the Series Semi-Finals, and was placed up against Kevin Pritchard's Evil Weevil machine in the first round. In this battle, Evil Weevil lacked the agility that Hypno-Disc had, and couldn't use its weaponry into effect at all. Although Hypno-Disc started tentatively as well. After merely scratching the surface of the armour with the disc, Hypno-Disc soon managed to cause to proper damage, After slicing both antenna of Evil Weevil off, Hypno-Disc steered Evil Weevil towards Sir Killalot's CPZ, before it smashed the side of Evil Weevil, managing to break a wheel. Evil Weevil suffered control problems, as it could only turn around in circles after the crucial slam from Hypno-Disc, and the house robots finished the future Robotic Soccer Champions off. This led to one of the closest battles in Robot Wars, as Hypno-Disc was put through to the second round of the Semi-Final, and was placed up against the experienced Team 101 with their new 101 machine, this was to fill the final spot in the Grand Final.

Hypno-Disc meets 101 head on

In this battle, 101 drove in bravely and pushed Hypno-Disc, facing its first opponent not armed with a lifting weapon. 101 managed to stop the blade and drove on top of Hypno-Disc. 101 then reversed into Dead Metal and Hypno-Disc attacked it a few times, before reversing into Dead Metal itself. Hypno-Disc escaped and pushed 101 into Dead Metal. Both robots attacked each other and the fight ended with a pushing match. This was an extremely close match; for the first time ever, the judges emerged from their booth and studied the robots for damage, before eventually making their decision, which went in favour of Hypno-Disc, putting the newcomers through to the Grand Final.

Steg-O-Saw-Us rams Hypno-Disc

In the Grand Final eliminator, Hypno-Disc was drawn up against original reserves for the Third Wars in Steg-O-Saw-Us. In the battle, Steg-O-Saw-Us drove in immediately and attacked Hypno-Disc's rear. Both bots drove into CPZs, and Hypno-Disc then attacked and ripped Steg-O-Saw-Us' side armour. The dinosaur robot tried to avoid Hypno-Disc's blade and it rammed it again. Hypno-Disc then rammed the rear of Steg-O-Saw-Us and managed to jam one of its wheels.

Hypno-Disc is disarmed by Chaos 2

Hypno-Disc was subsequently put through to the Grand Final, where it went up against the experienced Team Chaos with Chaos 2. Chaos 2 had a fast start, circling Hypno-Disc, getting in a good position for a flip. However, Hypno-Disc seemed to be very sluggish and appeared to have control problems, but, luckily for them, Chaos 2 decided not to immediately finish the battle and drove away. Chaos 2 then used its flipper unsuccessfully, bouncing and landing on Hypno-Disc's disc, temporarily stopping the disc. Chaos 2 luckily managed to escape without any damage done, Hypno-Disc was also able to get its disc up to speed again. However, as Hypno-Disc drove over the flame pit, Chaos 2 was able to drive in again and land the final blow, getting under Hypno-Disc to flip it over onto its back, and win the title. While Chaos 2 then took on the house robots, the defeated Hypno-Disc machine was dragged into the arena corner by Dead Metal, before cease was finally called.

However, Hypno-Disc also won the award for the Most Original Entry that series, which amazingly turned out to be the only Robot Wars trophy or award ever given to Hypno-Disc.

"But the winner is...Hypno-Disc! Brutally powerful, and brilliant!"

— Jonathan Pearce, announcing the winner of the Most Original Entry Award

Series 4

"All eyes on the number 2 seed"

— Jonathan Pearce, as Hypno-Disc gets up to speed in its melee

Series 4 appearance, with top mounted spikes similar to the Series 6 appearance

Hypno-Disc returned to the Fourth Wars as the number 2 seed. Since Series 3 the team had changed the size and shape of the teeth on the disc; they were now thicker and were designed to grip hold of whole pieces of armour and tear them off, while the old disc did fairly localised damage to tougher armoured robots. Then, they changed the wheels' colour to white, which was used by later designs of the machine. They also fitted in a self righting-mechanism after the final against Chaos 2. The Rose family (and the new disc) did not disappoint, as their first round melee battle, in the final heat of the series, which saw it go up against The Predator and Raizer Blade, was full of action.

Hypno-Disc strikes The Predator

To begin with, Hypno-Disc hit The Predator's rear three times, ripping off its armour. Raizer Blade bravely lifted Hypno-Disc, but the heat favourites landed back on its wheels. It hit The Predator again, causing the insides to start to fall out and even the battery. At the end of the fight, only Hypno-Disc was moving, but Raizer Blade was put through as well as it sustained less damage. Hypno-Disc's second round battle was against the substitute robot V-Max, who by the end wished that someone else had entered in their place.

Hypno-Disc, about to rip out V-Max's battery

V-Max drove into Hypno-Disc's side, but the 2nd seeds attacked it and ripped off a side panel. Carbon dioxide was leaking from V-Max when Hypno-Disc attacked again. The substitutes lifted Hypno-Disc and pushed it across the arena, but lost its battery when it was rammed by Hypno-Disc again. V-Max was shredded to pieces and Hypno-Disc was through the heat final, where it was placed up against the limping Raizer Blade machine, once again. After just a few blows from the disc, Hypno-Disc managed to immobilise Raizer Blade, but despite being victorious, the previous runners-up then caused more damage to the defeated machine; breaking off the whole top and side armour of Raizer Blade, this was then before Raizer Blade was ambushed by the house robots, and then flung by the arena floor flipper while Hypno-Disc stayed out of the way. This sent Hypno-Disc through to the Series Semi-Finals once more.

"Sheer destructive power"

— Craig Charles on Hypno-Disc

Hypno-Disc turns Splinter to splinters

In the Series Semi-Finals, Hypno-Disc was placed up against Team Ivanhoe with their unseeded Splinter machine, in the first round, initiating what would arguably be Hypno-Disc's most famous battle. Splinter decided attack was the best form of defence and used its front scoop to deflect Hypno-Disc's spinning blade. It looked like there would be a major upset when Splinter grabbed hold of the seeded machine from the rear and pushed it into Dead Metal's CPZ, until Hypno-Disc escaped and came back on the attack. The blade created several gashes in the front scoop of Splinter, which seemed to be holding up well. But it then hit the flywheel at an angle, ripping it right from the front and leaving it hanging on by mere threads. Hypno-Disc then tore off the scoop completely before tearing off pieces of armour from the left-hand side. More attacks buckled Splinter's grabbing arms, and shredded the internal areas. Splinter was well and truly defeated ('left in splinters', in the words of Jonathan Pearce), putting Hypno-Disc through to the second round, which saw the number 2 seeds get placed up against the number 11 seeds Wild Thing. In this battle, Wild Thing tried to ram Hypno-Disc's rear, but hit the blade weapon and spun around as a result of the impact. Wild Thing pushed Hypno-Disc's side and rear but Hypno-Disc attacked with its disc, causing some damage to Wild Thing's wheels. However, the 11th seeds kept attacking, and pushed Hypno-Disc into Dead Metal. Wild Thing then lifted Hypno-Disc onto the arena wall before time finally ran out. The battle ended, resulting in a judges' decision, the decision went in favour of Hypno-Disc, putting the number 2 seeds through to the Grand Final once again.

"Will the 750 rpm spinning disc send the kitty into itty-bitty pieces?"

— Jonathan Pearce introduces Hypno-Disc to the Grand Final

Hypno-Disc was placed up against the number 19 seeds Pussycat in the Grand Final eliminator. Hypno-Disc went in as the favourites, but just one attack from Pussycat's blade damaged one of Hypno-Disc's wheel guards, jamming the wheel and leaving the robot with severe handling problems. Hypno-Disc was eventually pushed into the CPZ by Pussycat, and Shunt put an enormous hole in the disc with its axe, stopping the disc entirely and damaging the robot's gearing. Hypno-Disc was still spinning in circles at the end, yet it was still plucked up by house robot Sir Killalot, and dumped down into the pit of oblivion. This eliminated Hypno-Disc from the competition, and the damage sustained by it prevented it from being able to take part in the playoff battle against the number 30 seeds Stinger. Stinger was awarded third place by default, and Hypno-Disc placed fourth.

Hypno-Disc also took part in the Pinball Warrior Tournament during the Fourth Wars, it was the second robot to run the course. It finished the course with a respectable score of 135 points, the Hypno-Disc team were fairly disappointed with the result, yet it was still enough to surpass 101's score of 125 points. Hypno-Disc remained in the lead for several heats, but finished overall in joint seventh with Firestorm 2.

Hypno-Disc was also due to fight in the War of Independence special that took place during the Fourth Wars, where it would have represented the UK. However, in order to ensure that an American machine would reach the final, Hypno-Disc was replaced at the last minute by the Dartford Girls Grammar's Series 1 entrant Detonator. It is possible that the damage sustained in its battle with Pussycat would have prevented Hypno-Disc from competing anyway.

Extreme 1

"Will we see the end of Hypno-Disc: officially Robot Wars' most destructive robot?"

— Craig Charles upon Hypno-Disc's first Extreme appearance

Hypno-Disc tears Ming 3's wheel off.

Hypno-Disc's Mayhem qualifier battle was the Main Event of the second episode of the first series of Extreme, this battle was for a right to fight in the first annihilator of the series. The battle saw Hypno-Disc go up against Wheely Big Cheese and Ming 3. Hypno-Disc convincingly won the battle. It began the battle by tearing one of the wheels of Ming 3, before then putting several gashes into the sides and into the wheels of Wheely Big Cheese. Hypno-Disc dislodged one of Wheely Big Cheese's wheels, before then ripping a wheel clean off Ming 3, before then ripping off the other one. The Refbot then came in, counting out the immobilised Ming 3, and also counting out the limping Wheely Big Cheese, despite one wheel and the flipper still working. Hypno-Disc then held back, watching Ming 3 to be flipped by the arena floor flipper. Hypno-Disc moved in for one more slice at Ming 3, as Wheely Big Cheese tried to flip the wheel-less robot itself. Hypno-Disc then sat and witnessed the demise of Wheely Big Cheese and Ming 3, as both were sent down the pit by the house robots before cease was called. Despite this promising start to the series, Hypno-Disc struggled to make much of an impression in Extreme.

Behemoth pushing Hypno Disc.

For reaching two previous Grand Finals, Hypno-Disc was entered into the All-Star Tournament in the first series of Extreme. In its first round battle, Hypno-Disc was placed up against Behemoth, and it was favoured to win. In the battle, the disc of Hypno-Disc couldn't cause any more than superficial damage to the World Championship runners-up, while Behemoth managed to push Hypno-Disc around the arena and into CPZs, even managing to avoid damage from the house robots, after they would always unfairly attack Behemoth whenever the competitors would enter the CPZs. Hypno-Disc was overturned by Behemoth at one point in the battle, and got to use its srimech arm for the first time at one point in the battle, but it had a mechanical problem late on in the battle, and was pushed, and left on the flame pit by Behemoth. Hypno-Disc was counted out by the Refbot, and cease was immediately called afterwards. This eliminated Hypno-Disc from the competition.

"Well, they're stunned...I don't think they can believe it either!"

— Jonathan Pearce, reviewing the two teams at the end of the All-Star battle

Hypno-Disc returned later on in the series for the Annihilator. It went in, going up against Splinter, Arnold A. Terminegger, Pussycat, Thermidor 2 and X-Terminator. Hypno-Disc was considered one of the favourites to win the whole annihilator, but its performance was similarly disappointing, due to all its competitors ganging up on it. In the first round, Hypno-Disc was immediately flipped by Thermidor 2 before it could get its disc up to speed, and was then continually axed by X-Terminator, Splinter and Arnold A. Terminegger, to prevent the disc getting up to speed at all for the whole battle. Despite this however, Hypno-Disc still scraped through to go through to the next round, due to Thermidor 2 breaking down, and being counted out by the Refbot.

Splinter axes Hypno-Disc in the annihilator.

In the second round, Hypno-Disc failed once again to get the disc to anywhere near its full speed, and once again it took damage, notably from Arnold A. Terminegger and Sergeant Bash. However, Hypno-Disc had another lucky break when Pussycat knocked X-Terminator's removable link out, immobilising the recent Semi-Finalists. X-Terminator was counted out, flipped by the arena floor flipper, and Hypno-Disc survived to go through once again, although its movement was minimal by the time X-Terminator was fully counted out. Hypno-Disc had so far proved very lucky in the annihilator, however, the game was finally up for Hypno-Disc in the third round. Although the disc was finally up to speed in this round, just one hit on Arnold A. Terminegger was enough to knock the drive motors out completely, once again. The flywheel was still moving, but the remaining three competitors were given the opportunity to merely press the pit release button and push Hypno-Disc down into the pit of oblivion. After the pit release button was pressed, Pussycat pushed Hypno-Disc down into the pit, eliminating it from the competition, however, Pussycat was pushed in after Hypno-Disc, due to another light nudge from Splinter, although this didn't change the outcome of the battle.

"R.I.P, Rest in Pieces I think it's gonna be"

— Jonathan Pearce at the start of the UK vs Germany battle

Hypno-Disc shreds the armour of Nasty Warrior.

Hypno-Disc also went up against German competitor Nasty Warrior in the UK vs. Germany vengeance battle, in the final episode of Extreme. Despite its opponents inferior weaponry and armour, Hypno-Disc still lost the battle. Hypno-Disc was on top for most of the battle, causing considerable surface damage to the poorly armoured German machine. Yet somehow Nasty Warrior kept moving. However, eventually, Hypno-Disc's drives suddenly stopped working. The disc weapon was still spinning, but Hypno-Disc was still counted out by the Refbot, and handed the win to Nasty Warrior. This was thought to be due to a splinter of Nasty Warrior's armour that Hypno-Disc had ripped off and had actually immobilised Hypno-Disc by getting into its system.

Unbeknown to most, Hypno-Disc also took part in a Wild Card Warrior battle in Extreme Series 1, where it went up against TX-108. Hypno-Disc started the battle well, creating a few gashes in the side of its opponent. Unfortunately, Hypno-Disc suddenly broke down completely, just 30 seconds into the fight. It was counted out by the Refbot, and TX-108 was declared the winner. This made Hypno-Disc become the only veteran to lose to a newcomer in the Wild Card Warrior battles. However, this fight was never aired on television.

Hypno-Disc was also due to fight Razer as part of the People's Challenge during the first series of Extreme, due to both robots being dubbed as "the most destructive robot ever". However, as both teams did not want to risk their robot being badly damaged purely for the sake of entertainment, both teams declined, and the event never took place.

Series 5

"The Rose family return to cause their own brand of disc-struction"

— Philippa Forrester at the start of Hypno-Disc's Series 5 heat

Series 5 appearance

Hypno-Disc returned for the Fifth Wars as the number 3 seed. Hypno-Disc's first fight of the Fifth Wars saw it go up against a 200 kg walkerbot called Black Widow. In the battle, after slowly seeking the spider based robot out, the flywheel weapon of Hypno-Disc tore several of the many legs off. The disc also became coated in fake webbing before Black Widow's mobility completely ceased, however the disc didn't slow at all. The Refbot eventually came in and counted out Black Widow, with its axe still swinging, and Hypno-Disc therefore advanced to the second round. In the second round of the heat, for the first and only time in Robot Wars history, the two seeds of a heat fought each other before the heat final, as the number 3 seeds Hypno-Disc was placed up against the number 22 seeds Atomic 2.

Atomic's flipper is torn off.

In this battle, Hypno-Disc was flipped over once by the previous heat finalists, before Hypno-Disc righted itself with the center mounted self-righting arm. Hypno-Disc then began to start performing as it tore off its opponent's weapon almost completely and put several gashes down the side too, Atomic 2 was immobilised, counted out by Refbot and Hypno-Disc went through to the heat final. In the Heat Final, Hypno-Disc was placed up against the surprisingly unseeded Bulldog Breed 3.

Hypno-Disc pits Bulldog Breed 3.

In this battle, Bulldog Breed 3 was able to flip Hypno-Disc once, almost onto its back, but Hypno-Disc recovered and came back on the offensive. After a lot of slices into the Bulldog's outer shell, Hypno-Disc managed to knock out its safety link, immobilising it instantly. Rather than continue to attack the defenseless opponent, however, the Rose family sportingly pitted Bulldog Breed 3 to spare it damage from the house robots, and Hypno-Disc was put through to the Series Semi-Finals once more. This occasion was interestingly the first ever time that Hypno-Disc rammed an opponent down into the pit of oblivion.

Hypno-Disc pushes an immobile Firestorm.

"...has the first bash of the Hypno-Disc weapon conked Firestorm out?"

— Jonathan Pearce, just seconds into the Semi-Final battle

Sparks fly from the impact of Hypno-Disc's flywheel on Dominator 2.

Hypno-Disc's run to the finals was considered unspectacular by many compared to previous performances from it. In the first round of the Semi-Finals, it was placed up against the number 7 seeds Firestorm 3. In this battle, the two competitors circled each other without contact, but then Hypno-Disc moved in for a slice at the side of Firestorm 3. After just one hit from the flywheel, Firestorm 3 rolled over to the other side of the arena, with everything suddenly not working. Firestorm 3 was then counted out by the Refbot, and subsequently pitted by the House Robots, putting Hypno-Disc through to the next round of the Semi-Finals. In the second round, Hypno-Disc was placed up against the number 11 seeds Dominator 2. Hypno-Disc managed to hit one of the wheels, immobilising Dominator 2 on one side. After a couple more light slams down the side of Dominator 2, the Rose boys held back their machine to avoid sustaining damage and Dominator 2's axe was still coming down ferociously, Hypno-Disc left Dominator 2 to be counted out. However, for some reason, Dominator 2 was not counted out and the match ran down to a judges' decision, with Hypno-Disc merely sitting back waiting for time to run out. The crowd didn't like this and the judges described it as the most boring battle they had ever seen. Nonetheless, Hypno-Disc had earned its place in the Grand Final for the third time in succession.

Bigger Brother's incredible comeback.

In the Grand Final eliminator, Hypno-Disc was placed up against the unseeded Bigger Brother machine. Hypno-Disc completely dominated the battle, causing severe damage to Bigger Brother and destroying their flipper. Despite this, somehow Bigger Brother kept moving. However, the battle suddenly turned when Bigger Brother went for the pit release button, as Hypno-Disc attempted to block and pressed it themselves. Hypno-Disc then remained fairly stationary, allowing Bigger Brother to then push Hypno-Disc onto the edge of the pit of oblivion, before then pushing the seeded machine in. This proved to be one of the greatest shocks in Robot Wars history.

Firestorm drives Hypno-Disc and itself into the pit.

Hypno-Disc was then only able to fight for third place, and this time, it was able to fight. In the playoff battle, many saw this as a rematch, as Hypno-Disc went up against Firestorm 3 once again. In this battle, the two competitors pushed each other around as Firestorm 3's flipper had been broken by Razer in their previous fight. Firestorm and Hypno-Disc both drove into the pit at the same time. The Judges called for a rematch, but Hypno-Disc had suffered technical problems; the disc and srimech were both working, but the drive motors were immobile and couldn't continue fighting. This meant that Firestorm 3 won the battle and came third by default, also meaning that Hypno-Disc finished 4th for the second time in succession.

Series 6

"Now I've been out talking to some members of the crowd here, who are starting to wonder whether Hypno-Disc has still got what it takes to be a serious contender, or are its weaknesses now too well known? Well, only time will tell"

— Jonathan Pearce, doubting another smooth series for Hypno-Disc

Hypno-Disc slices Barber-Ous 2 into submission

Hypno-Disc strikes Bulldog Breed

Hypno-Disc slipped another place to a ranking of number 4 as it returned for the Sixth Wars, it was also the only seeded machine to not have its seed announced on entry to the arena by the Robot Wars announcer, Stuart McDonald, during the Sixth Wars. In its first round melee, Hypno-Disc was placed up against Team Monad's 4x4, sacrificial robot Granny's Revenge 2 and Barber-Ous 2. In the battle, 4x4's snagging cloth was unsuccessful in preventing Barber-Ous 2 and Hypno-Disc from doing damage with their blades, before long, 4x4 was immobilised, up against the angle grinder. Granny's Revenge 2 was set alight by house robot Sergeant Bash and destroyed by Hypno-Disc before it was counted out by the Refbot. Hypno-Disc then launched attacks on Barber-Ous 2, stopping the red and white machine in its tracks too, leaving Hypno-Disc as the last competitor standing. 4x4 and Granny's Revenge 2 had already been counted out, so Barber-Ous 2 went through with Hypno-Disc to the next round of the heat. The second round saw a re-match of the Series 5 Heat B Final as Hypno-Disc was placed up against Bulldog Breed. In this battle, Bulldog Breed put up another valiant fight, almost flipping Hypno-Disc straight away, with only the disc keeping the seed on its wheels. However after a few attacks, the number 4 seeds left gashes in both side panels of Bulldog Breed and it lost drive to one side meaning it was counted out by Refbot. Dead Metal tried but failed to attack Bulldog Breed with its circular saw. This put Hypno-Disc through to the heat final, where it was placed up against Barber-Ous 2 once again. In this battle, Barber-Ous 2 was immobilised by the very first hit from the horizontal spinning disc of the three times grand finalist. Hypno-Disc continued to attack Barber-Ous 2, slowly edging it towards the pit, until it left several gashes in its opponent's plastic armoury, then, Hypno-Disc left the immobilised machine hanging over the open pit as Refbot counted it out, sending Hypno-Disc through to the Series Semi-Finals for the fourth time in succession. This proved to be Hypno-Disc's final victory in Robot Wars, as an unsuccessful run of battles followed.

"Hypno-Disc...not as strong as before...are we sure?"

— Jonathan Pearce, as Barber-Ous 2 is pushed towards the pit

Hypno-Disc is slammed into the wall by Tornado

Hypno-Disc is immobilised in the CPZ

The Rose family's machine was drawn up against the number 12 seeds Tornado in the first round of the Series Semi-Finals. As the disc weapon of Hypno-Disc couldn't make much impression on Tornado's armour, the two competitors spent the duration of the battle pushing each other around. However, Tornado had the pushing advantage, and controlled most of the battle. Hypno-Disc avoided the pit of oblivion several times during the battle, and held on to a judges' decision, but this control was not enough to prevent Tornado from taking a unanimous judges' decision, meaning that Hypno-Disc was the loser's melee away from being eliminated from the competition, at such an early stage for the machine. In this loser's melee, Hypno-Disc was placed up against the number 2 seeds Bigger Brother, the robot that defeated Hypno-Disc in the last series, and the number 10 seeds Spawn Again, a robot that had reached this stage of the competition the year before. In the battle, Hypno-Disc started aggressively, causing damage to both of its opponents, however its flywheel weapon hit the arena side wall after the robot ricocheted off Spawn Again, and the whole machine suddenly stopped completely. Hypno-Disc was later counted out by Refbot, just as Bigger Brother pitted the similarly immobilised Spawn Again, eliminating Hypno-Disc from the competition for good, marking the first time in four attempts that this robot failed to reach the Grand Final of the main competition.

"I would've liked to have had the 5 minutes, even if we lost with the 5 minutes, it's a bit much when you come out after a minute, or a minute and a half, two minutes"

— Ken Rose

Extreme 2

As in Extreme Series 1, Hypno-Disc's contribution to the second series of Extreme was consistently below expectations of its destructive capabilities.

Hypno-Disc in Extreme 2

Hypno-Disc lies upside down and immobile

In the All-Stars Tournament for the series, Hypno-Disc was placed up against two robots it had fought before, Spawn Again and Dominator 2 in the first round. Hypno-Disc began the battle by slicing at Dominator 2, but it merely bounced off and not causing any visible damage. Then Spawn Again threw Hypno-Disc into the air, but then retreated to then slam Dominator 2 again, before being flipped by Spawn Again again. It then landed numerous blows on Dominator 2, but every time it just bounced off the bi-wedge shaped robot. The three robots met in the centre of the arena and suddenly Hypno-Disc conked out and its disc slowly ground to a halt. Spawn Again then flipped Hypno-Disc over and the Refbot counted it out, Hypno-Disc was then left to be pitted by house robot Growler, eliminating Hypno-Disc from the competition.

"We've been watching our opponents, laying on armour, for the last 2 hours!"

— Ken Rose before the Challenge Belt

Hypno-Disc, stuck on the arena side wall

Hypno-Disc also took part in the Extreme Series 2 Challenge Belt Special to claim the right to face Tornado for the Challenge Belt at the end of the program. In its first round four-way melee, Hypno-Disc didn't last long, going up against twice heat-finalist S.M.I.D.S.Y., recent semi-finalist Dantomkia and the Class Act's Sir Chromalot. Hypno-Disc got one slice on S.M.I.D.S.Y. where it spun itself away without causing any damage, before Dantomkia charged into Hypno-Disc and pushed it into the CPZ and flipped it onto its back, propped onto the arena side wall, from which it couldn't move at all, or even use its srimech. Mr. Psycho tried to come in and attack Dantomkia, but couldn't move forward. This gave Dantomkia the perfect opportunity to flip Hypno-Disc out of the arena, and it did so, just as the disc was spinning up to full speed. This eliminated Hypno-Disc from the competition, this was also Hypno-Disc's final televised battle.

"There are a number of reasons why we didn't make it to Series 7 this time. Unfortunately it has been an exceptionally busy 2003 at our works which took up much of the spare time we would have normally had. Derek is now a proud Dad. Natalie, who is now 6 months old, has kept Derek's hands full lately !! ."

— The Hypno-Disc website explains Hypno-Disc's absence from the Seventh Wars

Results

• The LEGO model of Hypno-Disc
• CAD drawing of Hypno-Disc's original design
• Hypno-Disc in testing before Series 3
• Left to Right: Derek, Ken and Dave Rose, the "Spin to Win" Boys
• The team display the internals of the original Hypno-Disc
• The first two incarnations of Hypno-Disc
• Hypno-Disc in Extreme 2, without the disc
• 360, Team Turbine's attempt at a "Mini Hypno-Disc"

1/8

Wins/Losses

• Wins: 22
• Losses: 12

Series Record

• Series 1-2: Did not enter
• Series 3: Runner-up
• Series 4: Fourth Place
• Series 5: Fourth Place
• Series 6: Semi-Finals, Round 1
• Series 7: Did not enter

Outside Robot Wars

Hypno-disc and Razer appear at a live event in Cosford, 2004

Despite not competing in the final series of Robot Wars, Hypno-Disc has still appeared at odd live events since, notably making a one-off appearance in the Roaming Robots circuit in 2007. However, Hypno-Disc would no longer be allowed to compete in the official circuit, as spinners have been banned from the Heavyweight Championship. The Hypno-Disc team are currently considering building a new robot to take part in live events.

Appearances in Merchandise

The Rose boys with pullbacks of Hypno-Disc, and the real machine

"So good they made the toy"

— Craig Charles in Extreme 1

• Hypno-Disc/Pullback
• Hypno-Disc/Pitstop
• Hypno-Disc/Minibot
• Hypno-Disc/Robot Wars: Advanced Destruction
• Hypno-Disc/Robot Wars: Extreme Destruction (GBA)
• Hypno-Disc/Robot Wars: Extreme Destruction (PC/Xbox)
• Hypno-Disc/Robot Wars: Arenas of Destruction

Trivia

• Hypno-Disc was one of 22 robots who were thrown out of the arena in their final appearance on the show.
• Hypno-Disc also dropped a seed each series (i.e.: seeded 2nd in Series 4, 3rd in Series 5 and 4th in Series 6).
• Along with Razer, Hypno-Disc was one of only two robots never to be seeded outside of the top 4.
• Hypno-Disc was the only number 2 seed to reach the Grand Final; this also made it the only number 2 seed not to fall in the second round of the Semi-Finals.
• Hypno-Disc was one of only two robots that reached the Grand Final three times, the other being Firestorm. Also like Firestorm, Hypno-Disc didn't reach the Grand Final in its final appearance in the main competition, falling in the Semi-Finals instead.
  • Hypno-Disc is the only robot to reach three successive Grand Finals (Series 3-5).
• According to the Robot Wars Magazine, Hypno-Disc would have been seeded ninth for the Seventh Wars, had it competed.
• Hypno-Disc was profiled in Robot Wars: The Ultimate Guide.
• Hypno-Disc was the pioneer of the horizontal flywheel, this being the main reason that it won the Most Original Entry Award in its debut appearance.
• In all four of its main series appearances, Hypno-Disc fought in the second Semi-Final.
• All robots to beat Hypno-Disc in the main competition (except in the Losers' Melee) either became champions or runners-up in that series.
• Hypno-Disc was the first runner-up of the main UK competition to be seeded second.
• For three consecutive series, in the main competition, Hypno-Disc lost its last two battles.
• Hypno-Disc was the only seed in Series 6 to not have its seed read out by the announcer Stuart McDonald.
• Hypno-Disc's Series 3 first round battle against Robogeddon was nominated for the Battle of the Series, however it lost out to The Big Cheese vs Chaos 2.
• Like Reactor and Stinger, Hypno-Disc was designed from a child's construction toy.
• The Hypno-Disc team had a strong desire to battle Mortis. However, this battle did not happen.
• Hypno-Disc proved to be the inspiration for many subsequent spinning weapons. Although spinners are now banned from the heavyweight circuit, many featherweights and antweights competing today are largely based on Hypno-Disc's design. Team Turbine even created their own featherweight called 360, which was designed to be a "Mini Hypno-Disc".