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[[File:Deep-Sea Shark vs Excelsior.jpg|thumb|Deep-Sea Shark's killer blow on Excelsior]] |
[[File:Deep-Sea Shark vs Excelsior.jpg|thumb|Deep-Sea Shark's killer blow on Excelsior]] |
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[[File:Excelsior immobile.jpg|thumb|Excelsior is counted out]] |
[[File:Excelsior immobile.jpg|thumb|Excelsior is counted out]] |
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| − | Excelsior was initially cautious of Deep-Sea Shark's vertical spinner, attempting to point its front wedge at Deep-Sea Shark without directly approaching it. This allowed Excelsior to avoid Deep-Sea Shark's first attack, also swinging its decorative tail at Deep-Sea Shark, but it was then forced to flee and create space. Deep-Sea Shark was unfazed, and chased Excelsior down, delivering a frontal blow which threw Excelsior into the air. |
+ | Excelsior was initially cautious of Deep-Sea Shark's vertical spinner, attempting to point its front wedge at Deep-Sea Shark without directly approaching it. This allowed Excelsior to avoid Deep-Sea Shark's first attack, also swinging its decorative tail at Deep-Sea Shark, but it was then forced to flee and create space. Deep-Sea Shark was unfazed, and chased Excelsior down, delivering a frontal blow which threw Excelsior into the air. This hit bent the drive axle of Excelsior and the wheel guard, which was a large enough impact for both drive chains slipped from Excelsior's wheels as a result of this hit, and with only forty seconds passed in the match, Excelsior ground to a complete halt. Although it fired its flipper to show signs of movement, Excelsior was counted out, and lost the battle to Deep-Sea Shark, failing to procure a place on Huang Jian Xiang's team. |
| + | {{quote|Both drive chains popped off in that hit. The wheel guard deformed 1/4" and the axle bent too since it was attached, that was enough to derail both the chains. The fact he's a one hitter quitter, well yeah, yeah, at least he lasted more than 30 seconds!|Ed Robinson<ref>https://www.facebook.com/ExcelsiorBot/posts/396434167889588?comment_id=396890391177299&reply_comment_id=396963834503288¬if_id=1564492113780293¬if_t=feed_comment_reply</ref>}} |
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==Results== |
==Results== |
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Revision as of 13:43, 30 July 2019
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Excelsior, officially Excelsior!, was a heavyweight robot from California in the United States of America which fought in King of Bots II. Built by Team Blaze, Excelsior attempted to join Huang Jian Xiang's team by fighting a head-to-head battle against Deep-Sea Shark, although it was quickly immobilized and did not join the team.
Design
Official shot of Excelsior
Wide view of Excelsior
Excelsior is a large robot with aesthetic design as its core principle, constructed to resemble a blend of prehistoric fish, including the Butterfly Koi and the Dunkleosteus. Decorations across the robot include protruding scales, two fins at the sides, a mouth and eyes, and a swinging tail at the rear. It was relatively cylindrical in shape, driven by two large tires, powered by MC160 motors.
Excelsior in the arena
Excelsior grabbing a monitor in the test box
Excelsior's weapon was a pneumatic flipping head, which could also function as a grabbing weapon, as seen in its test footage broadcast prior to its first battle. The robot was somewhat capable of running inverted, albeit without the use of its weaponry, and Excelsior could not self-right. Its decorative shell was fairly brittle in terms of defence, and its flipper reach was narrow, although Excelsior boasted decent speed across the arena.
Etytmology
Excelsior was named after the motto of Stan Lee, who had recently deceased around the time of Team Blaze's build for King of Bots, and Ed Robinson wished to pay tribute to the well-known actor. The literal meaning of the Latin word excelsior is 'higher'. Ed Robinson had originally used the name Excelsior for a heavyweight robot in the mid-2000's[1].
Robot History
King of Bots II (Season 2)
Excelsior made its King of Bots debut in Episode 3 of Season 2, where it was among twelve international robots attempting to join one of six celebrity teams, which at this point of the competition, had already been filled with three Chinese robots each. Excelsior was randomly drawn against Deep-Sea Shark of Huang Jian Xiang's team, affording Excelsior the opportunity to join the team if it could win the fight.
The two robots come together
Deep-Sea Shark's killer blow on Excelsior
Excelsior is counted out
Excelsior was initially cautious of Deep-Sea Shark's vertical spinner, attempting to point its front wedge at Deep-Sea Shark without directly approaching it. This allowed Excelsior to avoid Deep-Sea Shark's first attack, also swinging its decorative tail at Deep-Sea Shark, but it was then forced to flee and create space. Deep-Sea Shark was unfazed, and chased Excelsior down, delivering a frontal blow which threw Excelsior into the air. This hit bent the drive axle of Excelsior and the wheel guard, which was a large enough impact for both drive chains slipped from Excelsior's wheels as a result of this hit, and with only forty seconds passed in the match, Excelsior ground to a complete halt. Although it fired its flipper to show signs of movement, Excelsior was counted out, and lost the battle to Deep-Sea Shark, failing to procure a place on Huang Jian Xiang's team.
- "Both drive chains popped off in that hit. The wheel guard deformed 1/4" and the axle bent too since it was attached, that was enough to derail both the chains. The fact he's a one hitter quitter, well yeah, yeah, at least he lasted more than 30 seconds!"
- — Ed Robinson[2]
Results
| EXCELSIOR - RESULTS | ||
| King of Bots II (Season 2) | ||
| Main Championship | ||
| Challenger Round | vs. Deep-Sea Shark | Lost |
Wins/Losses
- Wins: 0
- Losses: 1
Series Record
Excelsior with Ed Robinson
| Series | Excelsior Series Record |
|---|---|
| Season 1 | Did not enter |
| Season 1.5 | Did not enter |
| Season 2 | Entered |
Outside King of Bots
The original Excelsior (left)
The version of Excelsior seen in King of Bots II was not the first machine that Ed Robinson had named Excelsior, with the original machine being a 220lb robot armed with a horizontal 3-foot saw blade, powered by a lawnmower engine. It ultimately never fought under Ed Robinson's ownership, and was sold to a college team for $150[3].
Fintastic at Robotica
Ed Robinson made his first appearance in a televised robotics competition with Fin-Tastic, which competed in Season 2 of Robotica, armed with a pneumatic flipper much like Excelsior. It was entered into the same heat as the eventual champion Flexy Flyer, and fell prior to the Fight to the Finish within its episode.
Snookums at Robot Wars: Extreme Warriors
Ed Robinson revised Fin-Tastic to compete in the second season of Robot Wars: Extreme Warriors with Snookums, with new blue colors and a swordfish theme. Snookums was initially unsuccessful, losing in the first round of its heat to Propeller-Head and Psycho Chicken, also losing its first battle of the Tag Team Terror alongside teammate Bang, where the pair were defeated by G-Force and Sir Force A Lot. However, Snookums found unexpected success in the Robot Rebellion tournament, earning back-to-back wins over Medusa Oblongotta and Ninjitsu to earn a battle against the House Robots alongside Snake Bite, but Snookums was overturned by Sir Killalot and left for dead.
Snookums acted as a House Robot called Lone Shark for the 2002 4th annual RoboJoust event in Las Vegas, which was hosted by Ed Robinson. Lone Shark was re-painted black and featured a set of jaws, but it was only used for the first few fights, and remained motionless for all the rest until it was removed from the arena. Lone Shark also competed at the 3rd Steel Conflict in 2003, before it was sold to an art collector in Las Vegas.
The team also entered two versions of the lightweight competitor Robot-X, and also P.T. Bruiser into BattleBots. Robot-X was upgraded once again after Season 5.0, and later became part of the clusterbot Ding Bot X, before finally being converted into Spike, while P.T. Bruiser became a heavyweight while BattleBots was off-air.
For the 2018 season of BattleBots, aired on Discovery Channel and Science Channel, Ed Robinson and John Hoffman built a new machine, Sharkoprion. This carries on the team's theme of shark-based robots, and is an invertible robot armed with a vertical spinning disc, and a decorative swinging tail; the name being inspired by the prehistoric shark Helicoprion. Its first battle was a rumble against fellow sea creature-themed robot Kraken, and Deviled Egg, as part of Episode 1. Sharkoprion emerged victorious after overturning Deviled Egg with a blow, while Kraken lost mobility as a result of a damaged wheel. Sharkoprion did not fight again until Episode 10, where it lost a Judges' decision against Warhead after the rubber from its tyre was bitten away. Its third and final battle was a head-to-head victory against Gemini, where in spite of losing drive on one side halfway through the match, Sharkoprion displayed enough mobility and earned enough points to win the battle via split judges' decision. By not completing four matches, Sharkoprion was not eligible for the Top 16.
An improved version of Sharkoprion returned for the 2019 season of BattleBots. As the team were only present for the second week of filming, Sharkoprion competed in a limited number of battles.
Trivia
- Excelsior was the first international newcomer to be revealed for King of Bots II, being revealed via its own Facebook page long before filming of the season took place.
References
External Links
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