Brutus

Brutus
Participation Information
Reboot Seasons	ABC Season 2 Discovery Season 3
Team Information
Team	Team Brutus
Team Members	Adam Bercu Andrew Berkowitz (ABC S2) Esther Shang (ABC S2) Joel Greenwood (ABC S2) Amanda Fowler (Discovery S3) Luis Rosende (Discovery S3) Ben Striegal (Discovery S3)
From	Somerville, MA
Associated Robots	Overhaul, Witch Doctor, Coincidence (Adam Bercu)
Robot Statistics
Weight	242lbs
Weapons	Vertical spinner
Statistics correct as of its most recent appearance on the show, or if not applicable, qualification attempt.

"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."

— Adam Bercu, ABC Season 2

Brutus was a heavyweight robot built by Adam Bercu's self-titled team, which competed in ABC Season 2 and Discovery Season 3 of the BattleBots reboot.

Its primary weapon was a vertical spinning disc, but Brutus was also armed with two prop guns which shot special effects bullets. It was built by Adam Bercu, who competed as part of the Overhaul team in the first season of ABC's BattleBots and reached the quarter-finals.

Brutus performed well in its debut season, racking up two wins by knocking Moebius out of the qualifying rounds and defeating Lock-Jaw in a controversial split judges' decision. Reaching the Round of 16, Brutus lost to eventual Season 2 champions Ray Billings and Tombstone.

For Discovery Season 3, Brutus got rid of the air cannons and went with a tried and true design: a box shaped chassis with a wedge, two wheels at the rear, and a 168mph vertical spinning disc at the front. Brutus had also improved its armor, which in total made up 100lbs of the robot's weight. Things started off poorly for Brutus as they lost their first fight to Red Devil after their motors went up in smoke, but rebounded after knocking out Son of Whyachi and 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.

Adam Bercu originally competed in BattleBots IQ events as part of the team behind the middleweight version of Witch Doctor. 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 almost immediately after the initial challenger round.

For unknown reasons, Brutus did not return to BattleBots after Discovery Season 3.

Robot History

ABC Season 2
Brutus vs. Moebius The finishing blow onto Moebius. Brutus was drawn against a completely redesigned Moebius for their first battle. In the beginning of the match, Brutus fired its projectiles, causing sparks to fly around the BattleBox, but doing no damage. Meanwhile, Moebius tried spinning up its shell, but became unbalanced, likely from one of the lower-mounted teeth hitting a divot in the floor, causing the robot to wobble. The rocking caused some of its batteries to be expelled through a gap between the shell and the body. Brutus slowly approached Moebius and hit it, causing Moebius to flip completely, landing on its wheels but spewing smoke from the batteries that powered the shell. A second shot from Brutus put Moebius on its back and cracked the shell before Moebius was counted out. Brutus won the match by KO at 47 seconds and advanced to the Round of 32 with its No.16 seeding, where it faced the No.17 seed, Lock-Jaw.
Brutus vs. Lock-Jaw Brutus is held at bay by Lock-Jaw's wedge. Brutus approached Lock-Jaw with its disc up to speed. Neither robot was able to deal damage as Lock-Jaw was using its rear plow to shield itself and Brutus couldn't get a good bite with its flywheel at that plow. Both robots continued moving around, Brutus spinning away each time but unable to reach Lock-Jaw's wheels. Lock-Jaw managed to get underneath Brutus and pushed it weapon-first into the screws, causing the hazard to stop temporarily. Brutus' weapon motor began overheating as smoke started coming out, allowing Lock-Jaw some control in the final seconds. Lock-Jaw then attempted twice to clamp Brutus, with the latter escaping the first attempt unharmed and pushing Lock-Jaw back against the screws on the second attempt. Time ran out and the judges awarded a very controversial 2-1 split decision for Brutus, allowing it to advance to the Round of 16, where it faced the feared No.1 seed Tombstone.
Brutus vs. Tombstone At the start of the match, Brutus tried going around the backside of Tombstone, but Ray simply turned to keep the blade pointed to Brutus. The first hit caused both of Brutus' protective wedges to fly off as Tombstone nearly spun into the screws. Brutus charged at Tombstone, but Brutus skidded backwards into a corner. Tombstone came in and got its weapon underneath Brutus, sending a lot of sparks flying and kicking Brutus up. Brutus takes shots to the underside from Tombstone Brutus seemed to have lost drive on the left side as Tombstone broke the front right caster. Tombstone delivered a few more hits, before one powerful weapon-to-weapon shot flipped Brutus over as Tombstone went flying away. Brutus' and Tombstone's weapons collide. Brutus could no longer move and was counted out. Tombstone won by KO at 59 seconds and Brutus was eliminated from the tournament. Brutus was originally going to take part in the MIT exhibition rumble, were it would have faced Overhaul and SawBlaze. However, due to damage caused by Tombstone and due to Adam wanting to give Dane Kouttron a chance to fight, Brutus pulled out and was replaced by Road Rash.
Discovery Season 3
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 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 KO.
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 weren't enough, as they couldn't 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. 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 KO.
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 with 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 disc 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 KO.

Results

Wins/Losses

• Wins: 4
• Losses: 4

Competition	Wins	Losses
ABC Season 2	Moebius Lock-Jaw	Tombstone
Discovery Season 3	Son of Whyachi (Undercard Match) WAR Hawk (Undercard Match)	Red Devil (Undercard Match) Gigabyte (Undercard Match) WAR Hawk (Play-In Rumble)

Brutus with the bar equipped.

Faruq Tauheed Introductions

"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 Slamilton 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 bottery. 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. *imitates Popeye's laugh* 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!"

Trivia

• 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 Season 3 of BattleBots, Adam Bercu utilised his knowledge of robotics to help develop crop protection drones.
• Brutus' debut appearance in ABC Season 2 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.