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Rammstein was an American competitor robot from Miami, Florida, which appeared in Series 4 of Robot Wars. It fought exclusively in the War of Independence special broadcast as part of that series, losing its only battle to Panic Attack after running out of power and being pitted.

Rammstein was also one of the robots in attendance for MTV's unaired American Robot Wars 2000 pilot, held prior to the filming of Series 4, but it was not selected to compete.

Design[]

Rammstein arena

Rammstein in the arena

Rammstein was an invertible, parallelogram-shaped robot with six-wheel drive and initially armed with a pneumatic spike at the front. Despite being classified as a superheavyweight in American robot competitions, it was permitted to enter the War of Independence after making a few weight-saving adjustments which brought its weight down to 95kg, the upper limit introduced exclusively for the American Robot Wars 2000 pilot.[1] Such adjustments included the replacement of the robot's spike with a static ramming one and the removal of some of its drive motors. However, being designed for the three-minute bouts in BattleBots, Rammstein's power source was not adapted for the longer five-minute battles held in Robot Wars, which contributed to its loss in its only UK Series appearance.

A picture of Julio Roqueta, the fifth member of the team who could not attend Robot Wars filming, was placed on Rammstein's wedge for its appearance in the War of Independence. Roqueta sadly passed away in 2005.

Robot History[]

American Robot Wars 2000[]

RammsteinInternals RobotWarsMTVPilot

Rammstein in The Pits for American Robot Wars 2000

Before its televised debut on Robot Wars, Rammstein was one of eight robots selected to compete in the unaired American Robot Wars 2000 pilot commissioned by MTV in July 2000. However, when one robot withdrew from the competition, the field of competitors was reduced to four, which led to Rammstein losing its place in the competition despite being present at filming.

Series 4[]

Representing the United States of America, Rammstein faced UK Series 2 champion Panic Attack in the first round of the War of Independence.

Rammstein rams panicattack

Rammstein shoves Panic Attack across the arena

Panicattack vs rammstein

Panic Attack lifts Rammstein

PAvsRAmm

Panic Attack drops Rammstein down the pit

The two robots drove at each other, but were at first unable to cause too much damage to each other, even with Rammstein making use of its weight advantage to push Panic Attack around the arena. Eventually, Panic Attack lifted Rammstein and flipped it over, but this did not affect Rammstein, since it was invertible. Panic Attack then lifted up Rammstein and tried to set it on its side. Eventually, it overturned the American machine again. Rammstein tried to escape, but was running out of power and drove straight onto Panic Attack's lifting forks. The former British champion lifted Rammstein up and performed its signature move, by lifting it up off the floor and carrying it over to the open pit, before lowering the worn-down Rammstein into the abyss. As a result, Rammstein was eliminated in the first round.

Results[]

RAMMSTEIN - RESULTS
War of Independence
Representing USA, Round 1
Round 1 vs. Panic Attack (UK) Lost

Wins/Losses[]

  • Wins: 0
  • Losses: 1

Series Record[]

Rammstein spike

Rammstein's spike weapon

Series Rammstein Series Record
The First Wars Did not enter
The Second Wars Did not enter
The Third Wars Did not enter
The Fourth Wars War of Independence, Round 1
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

Outside Robot Wars[]

In addition to the War of Independence, Rammstein competed in all five seasons of Comedy Central's BattleBots in its full superheavyweight specification. In Season 1.0, it reached the semi-finals of the main superheavyweight division before losing to Minion. This was followed by quarter-final finishes in Seasons 2.0 and 3.0, both ending in losses to Donald Hutson and Diesector, and a Round of 16 finish in Season 4.0, losing to New Cruelty. Rammstein's Season 5.0 run was cut short in the second round, where it lost a judges' decision to Hammertime.[2]

Alongside Rammstein, Team Loki also competed with several other robots across different weight classes. These included:

  • Surgeon General - a Season 2.0-5.0 and 2009 Pro Championship heavyweight armed with a horizontal flywheel. Designed with undercutting capabilities, and renowned as one of the most powerful heavyweight spinners in the Comedy Central run, its best performance was a semi-final finish in the Season 4.0 heavyweight division.[3]
  • Turbo - a middleweight full-body spinner also appearing in Seasons 2.0-5.0.[4]
  • Buddy Lee Don't Play In The Street - a middleweight engineered and captained by Nola Garcia under the all-female Team Fembot entry. A powerful four-wheel drive pusher with a shell modelled on a vintage fire truck, it famously defeated Turbo to reach the quarter-finals of the Season 2.0 middleweight division.[5]
  • TriMangle - a second superheavyweight for Seasons 3.0-5.0 captained by Korey Kline, equipped with a solid triangular spinner.[6]

In addition to their involvement as competitors, Nola Garcia and her husband Bill played significant roles as directors of BattleBots IQ (later BotsIQ) events, initially running between 2002 and 2011. Hosting competitions between robots built by high school and college teams, Bots IQ was essential in nurturing future generations of US roboteers, including those associated with the current ABC/Discovery BattleBots run. Among the notable roboteers to build experience or start their careers in these events include Paul Ventimiglia (Bite Force), Andrea Gellatly, née Suarez (Witch Doctor), Will Bales (HyperShock), Marc DeVidts (Icewave) and Victor Soto (ROTATOR). Alongside fellow STEM teacher Alan Crockwell, Nola and Bill Garcia also cofounded the non-profit organization StarBot Technologies, providing a robotics and engineering education outlet for students in the Miami area.[7][8][9]

Members of Team Loki would themselves return for the modern BattleBots run on various occasions. For the 2015 ABC season, Nola and Bill Garcia competed as part of Sweet Revenge, a friction-based horizontal spinner entered by a team formed of Carrollton School of the Sacred Heart students. Technical issues greatly hampered Sweet Revenge in its opening battle against Radioactive, built by UK Robot Wars veterans Team Make Robotics, contributing to its elimination at that stage.

In both ABC seasons and the 2018 Discovery season (World Championship III), Korey Kline competed with a brand-new heavyweight crusher, Mohawk, whose weapon incorporated a flamethrower at the tip. Mohawk's campaign also brought limited success, with its only win occurring in a 2016 pre-qualifier match against Invader and Lycan. Following its 2018 run, Mohawk was retired. Kline designed another brand-new robot for the 2021 season (World Championship VI) called GrassKicker, but was not selected to compete.

In the 2018 and 2021 Discovery seasons, Alex Espinosa was present as part of Team Icewave, effectively marking his return to BattleBots following his stint at Team Loki. Espinosa would thus be involved in Icewave's runs to the Round of 16 and Round of 32 in those respective seasons, along with its appearance in the 2020 spin-off BattleBots: Bounty Hunters. Highlights of the former included a particularly destructive Fight Night win over Jack Tweedy's Vanquish, where a hit from Icewave's bar spinner split the UK entry in two.

Sadly, Nola Garcia passed away on January 22 2024, the news being announced on this date by official BattleBots social media accounts.[10]

Trivia[]

  • When literally translated, Rammstein's name means "Ramming Stone" or "Battering Ram" in German.
  • Like Meshuggah, Rammstein shares its name with a metal band. In its case, it was named after Rammstein, a German Industrial Metal band known for their use of pyrotechnics.
    • This makes Rammstein one of three robots to share its name with a hardcore band, the third being Suicidal Tendencies.
  • Although normally a superheavyweight, the revised Rammstein ended up weighing 0.1kg less than the heavyweight frenZy when the two robots fought in the War of Independence.

See Also[]

References[]

External Links[]

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