"Being on Team Overhaul was tough with so many talented builders. I couldn't build the robot my way. This year, I'm going solo... to build what I want to build, and build to win, my way."
It was a box-shaped, two-wheel drive robot armed with a 168mph verticalspinning disk, housed between ¼" AR500 steel wedges mounted on shock absorbers.[1][2] Brutus was also armed with two prop guns which shot special effects bullets. The robot was built by Adam Bercu, who originally competed in BattleBots IQ events with Coincidence and as part of the team behind the middleweight version of Witch Doctor. He then competed as part of the Overhaul team in the first season of ABC'sBattleBots and reached the quarter-finals.
Brutus during World Championship II hero shots.
Brutus performed well in its debut season, racking up two wins by knocking Moebius out of the qualifying rounds and defeating Lock-Jaw by split judges' decision. Reaching the Round of 16, Brutus lost to eventual 2016 season champion Ray Billings and Tombstone.
Brutus during World Championship III hero shots.
For World Championship III, Team Brutus ditched their air cannons and sported more weapon options as its spinning disk was now interchangeable with a gold-colored spinning bar; the new blade replaced a larger disk which was donated to WAR Hawk. Brutus had also improved its armor, which in total made up 100lbs of the robot's weight. Brutus lost its first fight to Red Devil after their motors went up in smoke, but rebounded after knocking out Son of Whyachi and, ironically, WAR Hawk. It then lost out to veteran competitors in Gigabyte and lost in its play-in rumble to WAR Hawk in the fight for the No.15 seed.
Brutus did not return to BattleBots after World Championship III, with a lack of interest in returning to combat robots cited as the reason for Adam Bercu's absence. Team member Amanda Fowler would later join Team VALKYRIE and later, Omega Team.
It is unknown what happened to Brutus after its 2018 season appearance.
Brutus in The Pits during World Championship III.
Brutus in the blue square during World Championship III.
Brutus without its top armor, circa 2016.
Adam Bercu and Brutus in 2016.
Brutus with its bar equipped during World Championship II.
Away from the show, he also appeared in the Chinese show This is Fighting Robots with a second Brutus build named Big Potato, but it was eliminated following a 'tryout' match for its intended appearance in the 'challenger' round.[3]
Big Potato as it appeared during This is Fighting Robots.
Robot History[]
World Championship II[]
Brutus vs. Moebius
Brutus was drawn against a redesigned Moebius for their first fight in World Championship II.
Brutus fires its projectiles.
Immediately, Brutus fired its projectiles but largely missed as Moebius was allowed to spin up. However, the shell spinner became unbalanced due to a combination of torque and one of the shell's teeth making contact with a divot in the arena floor.[4] Brutus then approached Moebius, tossing it over.
Moebius is left smoking.
Brutus' early attacks caused four of Moebius' batteries to escape the robot and as it began to smoke.[5] Moebius landed upright and retreated to the red square, but was visibly shaken.
The final attack.
Moebius was struck again by Brutus, causing thicker plumes of smoke to gush from the shell spinner as it landed upside-down.
"Wham! Bam! Thank you, Moebius!"
— Kenny Florian
Returning to its blue starting square, Brutus celebrated a quick win as a count began on Team Moebius. The fight ended after just 47 seconds and Brutus advanced to the Round of 32 as the No.16 seed.
Brutus vs. Lock-Jaw
In the Round of 32, Brutus faced seventeenth seed Lock-Jaw.
Brutus immediately spun up as Lock-Jaw led with its V-shaped plow, looking to play defensive in the opening seconds. It turned to face Lock-Jaw, sliding in underneath the plow but failing to make meaningful contact due to the width of Donald Hutson's attachment. Both robots jostled for position as it became Lock-Jaw's turn to breach its opponent's ground clearance and drive it away, later into the hazards. Lock-Jaw then got around to Brutus' rear, but Adam Bercu's bot wriggled free and engaged in a pushing match with the No.17 seed.
"A lot of pushing and shoving so far... not a lot of offense."
— Chris Rose during highlights
Brutus is held at bay by Lock-Jaw's wedge.
With its front wheels raised off the floor each time Lock-Jaw's plow came into play, Brutus' inferior drive power meant Lock-Jaw was able to control it in the corner as both robots narrowly missed a blow from the pulverizer. The fight returned to the middle of the BattleBox as Lock-Jaw's weapon remained firmly closed, though the killsaws momentarily made contact with its lower jaw and caused sparks to fly.
Lock-Jaw takes Brutus to the screws.
The disk of Brutus remained active up to this point, but had yet to cause damage to its veteran opponent. Brutus spun in place as it sought to escape the plow, but this led to an opportunity for Lock-Jaw to push it weapon-first into the screws, halting Brutus' primary weapon for the first time in the match as its right side lay on top of the Mutant Robots machine.
Lock-Jaw then shoved Brutus from its left side and returned it to the middle of the arena, from which Brutus escaped and opted to circle its opponent in search of an opening now its disk was back to full speed. Shy of a couple of glancing shots to the edge and front of Lock-Jaw's plow, Brutus remained incapable of getting its spinning weapon into play until the bot began to smoke and its disk slowed to a standstill.
Despite being clamped, Brutus pushes Lock-Jaw into the screws as the fight ends.
Sensing an opportunity to gain valuable points for use of its primary weapon, Lock-Jaw spun to lead with its jaws, opening wide and clamping down on the left wheel of Brutus before Adam Bercu's robot escaped. Brutus drove up the lower jaws again and Lock-Jaw grabbed it once more as the buzzer sounded to signal the end of the battle.
A split decision was announced as Donald Hutson shook his head in disapproval. Judge Vernon Davis scored in Lock-Jaw's favor, but Fon Davis and Jessica Chobot ruled in Brutus' favor and it advanced to the Round of 16.
Brutus vs. Tombstone
Next up for Brutus was the No.1 seed and tournament favorite, Ray Billings and Tombstone.
Both robots collide in the opening seconds.
Brutus was quick out of the blue square as it attempted to drift to the back side of its opponent. Tombstone turned to negate this, forcing Adam Bercu to drive into its horizontal spinner. This early hit cost Brutus both of its shock-mounted wedges mere seconds into this must-win fight.
Brutus takes shots to the underside from Tombstone.
Tombstone delivered a second hit to the front of Brutus as the sixteenth seed lost drive on one side. Sensing weakness in his opposition, Ray Billings struck the rear of Brutus before carving into its right-front wheel.
Tombstone's knockout blow.
By this point, Brutus showed minimal signs of life but looked to stay in the fight, meaning Tombstone continued its assault. The 2015 runner-up sliced Brutus' tires before delivering a powerful weapon-to-weapon hit which saw Tombstone slam into the spiked wall, but more importantly, immobilized Brutus.
Brutus is mercifully counted out.
Smoke began to come out of the beaten Brutus as close-up shots showed the extent of the damage to its frame. As it was counted out, Tombstone struck one of Brutus' dislodged wedges before celebrating their victory. This confirmed Brutus' exit from the 2016 competition in under a minute.
Brutus was originally going to take part in the MIT Rumble, were it would have faced Overhaul and SawBlaze. However, Brutus was replaced by Road Rash due to Adam Bercu wanting to give Dane Kouttron a chance to fight, as well as damage sustained from this battle.
World Championship III[]
Brutus vs. Red Devil
Brutus starts smoking in the opening seconds of the match.
Red Devil gets its saw onto Brutus' wedge.
Brutus' first match of the 2018 season was against Red Devil. For this battle, Brutus was equipped with an additional titanium plate to protect from Red Devil's overhead attacks. Brutus started poorly, however, as its weapon motor controller fried almost immediately, causing its weapon to spin down. Red Devil used its weaponry to get underneath Brutus, but was not able to cause major damage. Brutus continued to try and attack, but could not get underneath and found itself under the saw arm of Red Devil. The saw continued to work into the wedge of Brutus, causing visible scars in its front. By this point, Brutus' drive motor controller had also died, which left the robot unable to move. Brutus was counted out and Red Devil won by knockout.
Brutus vs. Son of Whyachi
Brutus flips Son of Whyachi.
In its second fight of the season, Brutus had to fight former heavyweight BattleBots champion, Son of Whyachi. In the beginning of the match, both robots spun up their weapons, but Brutus was quicker and got the first hit, sending both robots flying. Both robots recovered but Brutus got another attack in. Son of Whyachi did get a hit on Brutus' wedge that spun the bot around, but it hit the killsaws slot and stopped, facing SOW. When the third attack came, Brutus launched Son of Whyachi into the air and eventually on to its top. Son of Whyachi tried to spin up and maybe self-right, but it only managed to spin its body in place. Brutus opted to hold back any further attacks and Son of Whyachi was counted out, giving Brutus a quick and shocking knockout victory.
Brutus vs. WAR Hawk
Brutus is turned on its head early on.
Brutus throws WAR hawk high into the air.
Brutus' next opponent was WAR Hawk and made a subtle modification in response. The match began poorly for Brutus as they were immediately flipped over after colliding weapon-to-weapon with WAR Hawk. However, Brutus still had full drive power whereas their opponent could only drive in circles. Brutus worked hard to try and right itself, eventually succeeding by driving into the far wall on the other side of the box, far away from its opponent. It then drove WAR Hawk hard into the arena barrier, flipping its opponent but receiving a pop to its back in the process, stopping its weapon. Luckily, after pushing WAR Hawk into the wall again, Brutus managed to get its weapon spinning again and sent WAR Hawk flying. Brutus held back as the count out began, but WAR Hawk showed some movement again so Brutus attacked it once more, getting the win by KO as WAR Hawk's final twitches of movement were not enough as they were unable to move away from the wall.
Brutus vs. Gigabyte
Brutus tries to get underneath Gigabyte.
Next up for Brutus was Gigabyte. Brutus went into this fight opting not to spin up its weapon until they disabled Gigabyte's spinning shell, therefore leading with its wedge. The match got underway and Brutus put the first half its plan into action, successfully keeping Gigabyte from causing too much damage and at times, stopping Gigabyte's shell from spinning. Gigabyte continued to attack, not really able to do much, but the repeated impacts eventually caused the spinning shell to stop working. Brutus took advantage by spinning up its weapon and continued to attack, but this didn't last long as they managed to drive up the shell of Gigabyte and flipped itself over. Despite being invertible, they had lost one of the two feet meant to allow for invertibility from one of the earlier attacks, which meant they were not really able to drive away and were left struggling to even drive in circles. Brutus was counted out, giving Gigabyte the win by knockout.
Brutus vs. WAR Hawk vs. End Game
Brutus is upended early on.
Brutus' last chance to make the Top 16 came in a play-in rumble against WAR Hawk and End Game. When the rumble began, Brutus took a big hit from End Game that ripped off the front wedge, leaving it with little chance to send its opponents flying. However, End Game was soon toppled onto its spinning disk by WAR Hawk and immobilized up against the screws. Brutus was soon toppled onto its weapon, now against the arena barrier. With no other robots mobile, WAR Hawk took a quick victory by double knockout.
This proved to be Brutus' final BattleBots fight, as it did not return for future competitions.
Results[]
BRUTUS
World Championship II
World Championship Tournament #16 Seed, Round of 16
"Here to toss you like a Caesar salad, all hail... BRUTUS!"
"If it were a James Bond film, it would be called The Bot with the Golden Guns. Their opponents gets shaken and stirred. It's BRUTUS!"
"This gladiator is Roman all over the box for carnage to the Max-imus. Are you not entertained? On my signal, unleash BRUTUS!"
"If this was Broadway, its name would be Alexander Slam-ilton and just like its country is young, scrappy and hungry and you're not throwin' away this bot. It's BRUTUS!"
"Yes. Hello, police? I'd like to report an assault and bot-tery. It's armed and definitely dangerous. It's black, gold, its a wedge, it's BRUTUS!"
"He's Roman around, ready to build an empire. It's a golden bot that'll make you expire. It's BRUTUS!"
"To battle this bot, I hope you ate your spinach. It wants to spill olive your oil and pop your eye... Give it up for BRUTUS!"
"This vicious wedge is a bigger hit at a toga party than John Belushi. To-ga! To-ga! To-ga! All hail! It's BRUTUS!"
Brutus lost to the same robot it beat earlier in the tournament by the same method. The only other opponent that had this luck was Lock-Jaw.
Since his last appearance on BattleBots, Adam Bercu utilized his knowledge of robotics to help develop crop protection drones.
Brutus' debut appearance in World Championship II marked the first instance of a competitor using a legal projectile-based weapon, these being the two gun-shaped cannons fitted to its top armor for this season.
