Aftershock was a heavyweight robot built by Team Shock which applied for BattleBots World Championship II.
It was a silver and blue, four-wheeled robot with interchangeable vertical spinning weapons; including a 52lb single-toothed disk and a 30lb bar spinner. The latter allowed Team Shock to dedicate more weight to armor for opponents with similarly damaging spinning weaponry. Aftershock's chassis was largely built from 6mm hardened steel, with 15mm hardened steel for the bulkheads. It used 12mm polycarbonate to protect the top, though this could be swapped out for 6mm HARDOX with the lighter bar spinner configuration.
Team Shock applied for the 2016 season, but despite making it to the final stages of the selection process, Aftershock was ultimately rejected for unknown reasons.[1]
The team stated their intentions to apply for World Championship III, but ultimately would not due to timing, and conflicts with Series 10 of Robot Wars. [2]
After opting against applying for World Championship IV or V, Team Shock again applied for World Championship VI with a new, unnamed robot, but withdrew their application due to time and funds.[3] Had they not withdrawn, Team Shock would have been forced to do so regardless due to COVID-19 related travel issues impacting UK teams around that time.
Outside BattleBots[]
Outside of BattleBots, Aftershock competed in both Series 9 and 10 of Robot Wars as a sequel to previous Grand Finalist, Shockwave. In its debut year, it managed to reach 4th place overall. However, it failed to replicate this success in Series 10 despite a handful of upgrades, and could not escape its heat.
Following the cancelation of Robot Wars, Aftershock has competed in numerous Extreme Robots events, albeit with a slower tip speed due to the restrictions of British heavyweight events, becoming a staple of the UK live scene. Team captain Will Thomas also mentored the Collingwood Carnage team of students with their Series 10 entry, Track-tion.
Aftershock was formally retired in June 2023 following that month's Extreme Robots event in Guildford, England.