Switch

Switch
Participation Information
Series	S1.5 (This is Fighting Robots)
Team Information
Team Members	Kevin Cleasby Thom Box Micheal McGahan Shaun Ghosty O'Connor
Robot Statistics
Weapons	Hammer

Switch was a robot from the United Kingdom which competed in Season 1.5, the debut season of This is Fighting Robots. It was built by Kevin Cleasby, who competed in the previous series as part of Alan Young's Vulcan team. Switch was initially selected by Zhang Yishan of the Blue team, but lost both its rumble and its Tag Team battle under this captaincy before being eliminated from the competition.

Design

Switch at its table

Switch with Kevin Cleasby

Switch was a low box-shaped robot with a four-wheel drive system, using a predominantly yellow and black color scheme. It was designed to use modular weaponry, but time constraints made this infeasible, so Switch's primary weapon is a hammer, powered by a LEM motor, which also allows the robot to self-right. Switch also features two small hinged wedges at the front, each painted in yellow and black hazard stripes. The wedges were intended to protect the robot's front wheels as well as to get underneath opponents, although their hinges often lead to ground clearance issues and resulted in the wedges getting lodged underneath Switch during battles.

"Switch was designed to be modular and therefore have switchable weapons however due to tight time constraints we focussed all of our time into making the best hammer we could which is powered by a LEM motor thanks to our friends at Lynch Motors!"

— Switch Facebook page

Robot History

This is Fighting Robots (Season 1.5)

Switch lands a hammer blow on EarthShaker, but is thrown into the air in response

Switch is pushed onto a floor flipper by Thunder

Switch is flipped by EarthShaker as all five robots converge

Switch comes under attack from both Stealth and EarthShaker

During the celebrities’ initial selection process, Zhang Yishan chose Switch to join the Blue team, and thus secured its place in the main competition. It first appeared in the second round, where it fought EarthShaker, Stealth and Thunder and Lightning. Switch began the battle by immediately turning into, circling round and driving up the front of EarthShaker; as it landed a blow on EarthShaker’s flipper, it was launched into the air, and inadvertently threw itself upside-down while retracting its hammer. A second flip from EarthShaker rolled Switch back onto its wheels, enabling it to escape and charge into Thunder. It was pushed back by the orange multibot, but used its hammer to throw itself off of Thunder’s wedge. Seconds later, Switch charged into Thunder again, but its hinged wedges resulted in it driving up Thunder’s wedge and leaving it helpless as Thunder pushed it over one of the floor flippers. The flipper threw both robots over, with Switch firing its hammer as Thunder proceeded to push it into Lightning.

Switch and Thunder (left) recoil following a hit from Stealth

Switch is pushed into the wall spikes by Thunder

Switch sustains damage as Thunder pushes it into one of the grinders

Switch is flung towards the flame jets by Stealth

Switch pushed Thunder back into Stealth and EarthShaker, which immediately flipped it over again. It self-righted flamboyantly using its hammer, only to be flipped over once more by EarthShaker and forced to self-right again. Switch darted away from an approaching Lightning before attempting to strike Thunder’s top armor as it and both multibots stood next to an immobile EarthShaker. Both Switch and Thunder were sent recoiling across the arena by an approaching Stealth, with Switch initially recovering by ramming into the rear of Stealth. By this point, it struggled for traction as one of its hinged wedges lifted its left-front wheel off the floor, allowing Thunder to push it into the wall spikes. Switch pushed Thunder back, driving away over the flame jets with both of its front wheels suspended, and sustained damage to one of its wedges as Thunder pushed it into a grinder. It continued to be pushed and carried around the arena until Stealth bumped into Thunder, causing Switch to be jolted free. Switch continued to pursue Thunder across the arena, only to receive one final hit from Stealth which threw it towards the flame jets.

Nevertheless, Switch was still mobile by the end of the battle, and survived to a Judges’ decision along with its remaining opponents. However, the decision ruled against Switch, resulting in it being unable to score a point for Yishan and his team. Switch was then drafted into the Tag Team round, where it was partnered with Lieutenant Bam of the yellow team, to battle the reigning King of Bots champion Spectre of the green team, and its teammate Orby Blade of the red team.

Switch is charged by Spectre

The immobile Switch is slammed into the wall

At the start of the battle, Switch was slammed into the air by a charge from Spectre, which grabbed Switch by the rear wheel, and pressed it into the arena wall. This had already damaged Switch's locomotion, and Spectre continued to hassle it. Reversing away from the pit, Orby Blade backed into Switch with its rear wedge, bringing Switch into the air. Switch drove under Orby Blade and attempted to use its hammer, but missed its shot. Switch clearly had mobility on one wheel only, and after hovering around Orby Blade, it eventually lost mobility altogether. Spectre took this opportunity to grab hold of Switch, crushing down on it while ramming it into the spikes on the arena wall, and then the Grinder. Spectre dragged Switch over to the pit, but just as it was about to drop Switch in for the official knockout, the pit raised back up, releasing the previously pitted Lieutenant Bam. Nevertheless, Switch was officially deemed immobile, and Lieutenant Bam was later pitted again, eliminating both teammates from the competition.

Results

Wins/Losses

• Wins: 0
• Losses: 2

Series Record

Series	Switch Series Record
Season 1	Entered with Vulcan
Season 1.5	Selected by celebrity, no wins
Season 2	Did not enter

Outside King of Bots

Behemoth

Kevin Cleasby is a member of Team Make Robotics, who had competed in the UK TV show Robot Wars with Behemoth since the second series. Cleasby himself first appeared as a team member in the eighth series, filmed and broadcast in 2016. In Series 8, Behemoth qualified over Bonk and The General to advance to the second round, where it defeated Nuts and Terrorhurtz in sequence, but lost a destructive battle to Carbide. This still gave Behemoth enough points to qualify for the Heat Final, but Behemoth lost to Carbide once again here.

Behemoth returned for Series 9 and advanced over Cobra and Hobgoblin in its Group Battle, but lost its second battle to Eruption. Behemoth started to redeem this by defeating PP3D, but after applying an experimental new weapon, Behemoth controversially lost its final battle of the series to Cherub.

Behemoth competed in Series 10 and won a narrow Judges' decision over Sabretooth and Donald Thump in the first round, and defeated The Swarm in the second round, to reach the Heat Final against former champion Apollo. Here, Behemoth pulled off a surprise win to enter its first Grand Final, although it was pitted in battle with Carbide and Nuts 2. Behemoth flipped Magnetar to win its Redemption Round, but was finally stopped by Eruption in the semi-final of the competition, resigning Behemoth to third place.

External Links

• Switch - King of Bots Facebook page