Crushers are a type of robot whose weaponry looks to not only grab hold of opponents in a similar way to grabbing weaponry, but also cause damage by piercing through armor.
Design and History[]
They work by focusing an immense amount of force into sharp teeth, which are then able to clamp on and often puncture through armor. While many robots use hydraulic systems to produce the power required to cause damage with crushing weaponry, other methods have been seen in BattleBots over the years.
Razer champing down on Agrippa during the 1999 Long Beach event.
The first notable crusher in BattleBots was the British entry Razer, which entered the Long Beach and Las Vegas 1999 events. Razer brought unprecedented power in its crushing arm, combining three tonnes of pressure at the tip with driving skill to dominate numerous opponents. It was also able to cause serious damage to the likes of Agrippa and Kill-O-Amp, even raising the latter into the air during their fight. Although Razer would not compete in BattleBots again after 1999, it earned a plethora of awards throughout its Robot Wars career and became the show's most decorated competitor, and is believed to be the first known crusher in history.
World Peace trying to grab hold of Diesector.
Few BattleBots competitors thereafter found the same success, with notable examples throughout Comedy Central run including superheavyweight World Peace, who combined a vertical crusher with lifting mechanism, and Mark Setrakian's stompbot Mechadon.
A variation on crushing weaponry is the horizontal crusher, which typically sees two crushing arms powered by rams meeting in the middle to attack from the sides. This was a consistent feature on the superheavyweight entry Jaws of Death, as well as the Canadian entry DaCraw, both of which picked up wins during their careers.
Kraken bites down on one of Red Devil's treads.
With the reboot era of BattleBots came several notable competitors armed with crushing weaponry. However, armor had improved significantly since Comedy Central BattleBots and crushers therefore had a hard time replicating the visual spectacle seen in years past. Mohawk was the first crusher of the reboot era, and was the first robot to feature a flamethrower mounted inside its crushing break. Photon Storm, Gamma 9 and the first iteration of Chomp struggled to impress with their respective weapons, Matt Spurk's Kraken introduced a unique take on the crushing weapon, with its first iteration utilizing an airbag to force its top jaw down. Although it was cited to crush with upwards of 100,000lbs of force, Kraken was rarely able to transfer this force into its weapon due to the surface area of its airbag. It still picked up numerous wins across its career before Kraken was redesigned after World Championship VI.
Petunia clamps down on the rear of Jasper.
Quantum bites into the top of Captain Shrederator and rams it into the hazards.
Also debuting in World Championship III was the Dutch entry Petunia, which used a traditional hydraulic ram setup to power a curved beak. More recent designs of Petunia have also incorporated a flamethrower into its piercing tip, as well as lifting functionality somewhat similar to World Peace. However, Petunia has either not been able or selected to compete since the 2019 competition.
Team Robo Challenge debuted their own hydraulic crusher, Quantum, in World Championship IV. Based on the team's title-winning robot Spectre, Quantum was able to pierce through modern armor options, even breaching AR500 steel and reaching the electronics of its opponents. After two years away, Quantum returned for World Championship VII with a more powerful and durable weapon, able to transfer 50,000lbs of force directly through its single or dual toothed crushing head.
Notable Competitors[]
| Robot | Seasons | Image |
|---|---|---|
| DaCraw | Season 5.0 |  |
| Jaws of Death | Season 3.0 Season 4.0 Season 5.0 |
 |
| Mechadon | Las Vegas 1999 Season 1.0 |
 |
| Petunia | World Championship III World Championship IV |
 |
| Quantum | World Championship IV World Championship VII |
 |
| Razer | Long Beach 1999 Las Vegas 1999 |
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| World Peace | Las Vegas 1999 Season 1.0 Season 2.0 Season 3.0 Season 4.0 |
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| More... | ||
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