Tungsten

Tungsten
Participation Information
Series	S1.5 (This is Fighting Robots)
Team Information
Team	Team Carbide
Team Members	Dave Moulds Sam Smith
Robot Statistics
Weapons	Vertical spinner

Tungsten was a robot from the United Kingdom, which competed in Season 1.5, the debut of This is Fighting Robots. It was built by Team Carbide, former Robot Wars champions, and up-scales Sam Smith's featherweight Shard. The influence of Gabriel Stroud allowed Tungsten to be chosen Zheng Shuang. It lost its first battle in a rumble won by Lieutenant Bam, but won its Tag Team battle in the next round over Model Teenager and Saturn.

Design

Front view of Tungsten

Rear view of Tungsten

Tungsten is based upon Sam Smith's featherweight Shard, and features a large single-toothed vertical spinning disc. Its wedge is steep, and the robot is driven by two wheels at the rear. An overhead axe is also equipped to the top of Tungsten, as an additional means of attack while also offering a self-righting mechanism.

Robot History

This is Fighting Robots (Season 1.5)

Tungsten is selected by its celebrity

Tungsten was initially unnoticed by the celebrities when they were building their teams of robots, but as Tánshè had already been selected by Zheng Shuang, its captain Gabriel Stroud was able to convince the presenter to pick Tungsten, using the success of Carbide in Robot Wars as justification. After she agreed, Tungsten joined the Green team, alongside machines including Spectre, Tánshè and Megabyte.

Tungsten in the jaws of Greedy Snake

Tungsten sends Mr Hippo flying

In its first fight, Tungsten was up against its fellow UK machine Lieutenant Bam as well as the two Chinese machines Greedy Snake and Mr Hippo. After a brief clash with Mr Hippo, Tungsten found itself shoved against the wall by Greedy Snake who attempted to lift it, but thanks to the latter's lack of grip, Tungsten managed to escape Greedy Snake's jaws. Attempting to resume its attack on Mr Hippo, Tungsten once again found itself caught by the green machine, and this time it found itself hoisted of the arena floor by it. Luck was in Tungsten's favor though, as at that exact moment, Mr Hippo hit the side of Greedy Snake with its drum. This caused Greedy Snake to drop Tungsten and be lifted onto the side-wall spikes, rendering it immobile.

Tungsten is thrown over by Mr Hippo's drum

Tungsten smashes into Mr Hippo

With Greedy Snake out, Tungsten continued in its attack on Mr Hippo, finally getting use out of its flywheel as it sent the Chinese machine flying several feet into the air and across a good chunk of the arena. A quick recovery by Mr Hippo resulted in Tungsten being sent flying through the air a few seconds later, courtesy of its opponent's drum. Using its axe to self right, Tungsten shoved Mr Hippo into the side wall, repeatedly smashing against it with its flywheel. Eventually, the Chinese machine seemed to be losing power, and it was declared knocked out.

Lieutenant Bam pounds Tungsten

As Lieutenant Bam finally entered the battle proper by repeatedly smashing its mace against the immobile Mr Hippo, Tungsten attempted to hit it as well, but only succeeded in being driven over by its fellow UK robot. As Lieutenant Bam briefly got itself caught by the arena saw-blades, Tungsten seemed to also be losing power as it was now driving very slowly. This allowed Lieutenant Bam to come in and smash its mace on top of it, its scoop catching onto the flywheel and seemingly stopping it. With the spinner disabled, Tungsten spent what remained of the battle trying to avoid Lieutenant Bam's mace with limited success, and it lost the following judges' decision. Tungsten would also emit smoke some time after the battle had concluded, implying further damage.

Tungsten remained in the competition for the Tag Team round, where it allied with Red River Hong of the red team. The two robots fought Model Teenager of the yellow team, and Saturn of the blue team.

Results

Wins/Losses

• Wins: 1
• Losses: 1

Series Record

Tungsten launches a barrel in testing

Series	Tungsten Series Record
Season 1	Did not enter
Season 1.5	Selected by celebrity, one win
Season 2	Did not enter

Outside King of Bots

Dave Moulds has also participated in ABC's two rebooted series of BattleBots, both as part of Team Carbide and with different teams. In Season 1, he joined Team Robo Challenge when they attempted to enter with Beta, although Beta could not compete due to parts being lost in transit.

Team Carbide with Cobalt

Cobalt in ABC's second season of BattleBots

Dave Moulds and Sam Smith later produced a heavyweight for Season 2 of ABC's BattleBots, Cobalt, armed with an axe-like asymmetrical bar spinner. In its first battle, Cobalt was drawn against Season 1 quarter-finalist, Overhaul. Its spinner quickly reached top speed at the start, and a series of attacks on Overhaul's sides caused Cobalt to deflect away constantly. One hit and a loose set screw caused Overhaul to lose drive on one side, putting Cobalt through to the round of 32, further than Photon Storm, Team Storm's rebuilt version of Sam Smith's former heavyweight Tiberius. In the round of 32, Cobalt fought newcomer, wildcard recipient and eventual Season 2 runner-up, Bombshell. It tried to ram into Bombshell's overhead bar spinner rear-first to open up an opportunity to attack, but Bombshell's blade repeatedly cut through Cobalt's tires, hampering its mobility. While Cobalt managed to tear one of Bombshell's side panels off, it was eventually immobilised and eliminated after Bombshell continued to damage its tires. Due to BattleBots filming clashing with the filming of This Is Fighting Robots, Cobalt did not enter the next season of BattleBots, which aired on Discovery Channel.

Carbide in Robot Wars Series 8

Team Carbide are most well-known for entering the UK show Robot Wars, where they reached the final two of the competition on three occasions with their robot Carbide. This was also an invertible robot armed with a bar spinner, differentiated by its green-and-black color scheme, and symmetrical bar. In Series 8, it knocked out The General and Bonk in its Group Battle, before losing to Terrorhurtz in its next battle. Despite this, Carbide won consecutive matches against Nuts and Behemoth to qualify for the Heat Final, where it once again defeated Behemoth, winning the heat. In the Grand Final, it put Shockwave in a state of disrepair, and defeated both Thor and Apollo in the next round, only suffering its second loss to TR2. Carbide had won enough battles to qualify for the Grand Final, but after suffering damage across its previous battles, Carbide lost the use of its bar spinner in a rematch with Apollo, and lost the Judges' decision, finishing as the runner-up.

Carbide in Robot Wars Series 9

Carbide returned for an even more successful Series 9, quickly defeating Trolley Rage and Meggamouse in the first round. It defeated Apollo, Crackers 'n' Smash and Coyote in sequence to qualify for the Heat Final, where it collected its third win over Apollo. In the Grand Final, Carbide continued its undefeated run, immobilizing Concussion in the first round; Aftershock, Eruption and Ironside3 in the second, before knocking out Eruption again to win the UK Championship.

Carbide in Robot Wars Series 10

Entering Series 10 as the defending champion, Carbide suffered a near-loss in battle with Gabriel 2 and Big Nipper, but nevertheless qualified to defeat Aftershock and Eruption in its newest heat win. In the first round of the Grand Final, Carbide suffered a shock loss to Nuts 2, but after defeating Rapid in the redemption round, Carbide avenged its earlier loss to Nuts 2 with a knockout win. Once again in the final, Carbide faced Eruption, but on this occasion, it lost the Judges' decision, again relegating Carbide to runner-up position.

• Tiberius in Robot Wars Series 4
• Tiberius in Robot Wars Series 4
• Tiberius 2 in Robot Wars Series 5
• Tiberius III in Robot Wars Series 6
• Tiberius III in Robot Wars Series 7
• Tiberius 4 on the live circuit

1/6

Sam Smith had previously competed in the classic series of Robot Wars with his vertical crusher, Tiberius. In Series 4, Tiberius emerged victorious in a melee over Evil Weevil 2, but broke down in the second round against Little Fly. Tiberius 2 competed in Series 5, and defeated Monad, but lost to the seeded Panic Attack. Tiberius III was built for Series 6, and lost its first battle to Supernova, but regardless won the University Challenge special in the second series of Robot Wars Extreme, by defeating Fluffy, C.V., and Infinity. In Series 7, Tiberius III escaped its melee against Shell Shock and Vader despite offering little input, and soundly defeated Roobarb, but despite its early lead, Tiberius III lost to M2 when it was flipped into the pit. While Robot Wars was off-air, Sam Smith built Tiberius 4, with a radically improved crusher. At the 2006 UK Championships, Tiberius defeated Steel Sandwich, and pitted Tough as Nails, but eventually lost the battle when Tough as Nails escaped the pit and put Tiberius in the same position.

• Dave Moulds as a member of the Turbulence team in 2006
• 360
• 540
• 720
• 722

1/5

On the live event circuit, Dave Moulds won the 2006 FRA Heavyweight UK Championships with the heavyweight flipper Turbulence. He has also fought with various featherweight robots since 2002. He has fought with various different versions of Turbine, armed with a flipper, which has since been retired. In full-combat events, Moulds has fought with a few spinner-wielding robots. These include:

• 360, a featherweight version of Hypno-Disc, with a horizontal flywheel.
• 540, a six-wheeled box-shaped robot with an interchangeable eggbeater and rammer configuration. The robot has since been bought and renamed Disturbance.
• 720, an octagonal-shaped robot armed with a spinning drum, now owned and renamed Sabre20 by Team Legion.
• 722, an improved version of 720 with a similar paint scheme to Carbide, which finished runner-up at the 2017 FRA Featherweight International Championships.

Sam Smith's featherweight NST

Shard, inspiration for Tungsten

Sam Smith also fights in live featherweight events with NST, a horizontal bar spinner, and Shard, a vertical flywheel which inspired the design of Tungsten. Both robots have proved considerably successful; NST won the 2012 Featherweight UK Championships and the 2015 UK Featherweight Annihilator, while Shard recently finished tenth at the 2017 FRA Featherweight International Championships.

External Links

• Carbide - Robot Wars UK Champions Facebook page
• Team Carbide Twitter