Drisks, also known as Driscs, are a type of spinning weapon seen on BattleBots competitors which combine characteristics of drum spinners and vertical disc spinners.
The name "drisk" is a portmanteau of "drum" and "disk", with this particular weapon type allowing for a spinning weapon's reach and circumference to remain the same, but with less weight being held in the middle. Drisks sometimes feature grooves in the centre of the drum, or hub, to help align weapon belts and prevent slippage. The outer discs can either be welded or bolted into the central mass.
History and Design[]
While the pioneer of the drisk weapon is uncertain, the original middleweight version of Witch Doctor sported drisk weaponry as early as BattleBots IQ 2010, where Busted Nuts Robotics won the Pro Championship. Returning a year later, Witch Doctor defended its middleweight title, again sporting its drisk.
Middleweight Witch Doctor using its drisk to take out Pandemonium.
With the revival of BattleBots on ABC, the Witch Doctor team designed a 250lb version, which featured drisk weaponry from World Championship II onward. This was used throughout Witch Doctor's first six seasons before the team began favoring an asymmetric disc in recent competitions. During this time, several other competitors adopted similar weaponry, with shorter and longer drums sandwiched between their discs. Another build captained by a product of BattleBots IQ, HyperShock debuted in World Championship I with two twin-toothed discs either side of a large cylindrical drum. Exclusively in its debut season, HyperShock coupled this with hydraulic grabbing arms, but later ditched these in favor of improving its primary weapon's effectiveness.
Witch Doctor's drisk weapon.
Fusion's drisk from World Championship VI.
Ill-fated World Championship II drop-out The Dentist notably featured a drisk weapon inspired by Team HyperShock and Team RioBotz, with the intention to power it with a Toyota Prius motor. This idea was dropped late in the build process, however, and complications in its design meant the team were forced to withdraw. In 2018, the first international entry to feature a drisk, Reality, debuted. Its team would later compete with an omniwheeled entry in World Championship VII with a narrower but larger drisk weapon called Ominous.
2019 season competitor Wan Hoo became the first Asian representative in BattleBots history to sport drisk weaponry, and despite its primary weapon being relatively small, Wan Hoo picked up four wins in its only competition to date.
Team Whyachi's ambitious heavyweight Fusion sported a 28lb drisk weapon at the rear, with hinged wedgelets leading into it. Fusion was the only robot in BattleBots which pairs a drisk spinner with another high kinetic energy weapon, though the team have expressed interest in retiring the drisk for a more destructive eggbeater spinner.[1]
Notable Competitors[]
| Robot | Seasons | Image |
|---|---|---|
| Diablo | BattleBots: Destruct-A-Thon |  |
| Disarray | BattleBots Proving Ground |  |
| Fusion | World Championship V - Present |  |
| HyperShock | World Championship I - Present |  |
| Ominous | World Championship VII BattleBots: Champions II |
 |
| Reality | World Championship III |  |
| Wan Hoo | World Championship IV |  |
| Witch Doctor | BattleBots IQ 2010 - Present |  |
| More... | ||
References[]
[]
| ||||||||||||||||||||||||||