Drum Spinners are a variation of spinning weaponry whereby the spinning mass resembles a drum shape or a steamroller's wheel. There are a number of sub-categories of drum spinner, with the concept applied to both vertical and horizontal spinners throughout BattleBots history.
Design and History[]
BotsIQ 2008 champion Copperhead III.
As with a number of other spinner weapons, drum spinners are typically mounted at the front of a robot. Traditionally, they consist of a long, cylindrical mass with teeth or spikes attached. Though first introduced to BattleBots by Zack Bieber and El Diablo, competitors such as Team Whyachi found success with the design at middleweight and 15lb level with Falcon and Falcon15 respectively. The 2008 middleweight BotsIQ championship was also won by a drum spinner - Copperhead III. Drum spinners have since become a highly-destructive option for reboot era competitors such as Copperhead (and its predecessor, Poison Arrow), as well as Team RioBotz's Minotaur.
Yeti with its painted drum ahead of World Championship VI.
Other takes on the drum spinner weapon have also been attempted over the years. Debuting in 2016, Axe Backwards took the approach seen by shell spinners where a robot's armor doubled up as its weapon, and applied it to the drum spinner model. All of its electronics were mounted within its large spinning drum, which proved to be its downfall. During battles, the shock from weapon-to-weapon impacts was often absorbed into the drum itself, damaging the electronics as a result. The nature of its design also forced Axe Backwards to have exposed wheels, which were often targeted during its BattleBots career. The "full-body drum spinner" design was also seen with the British Robot Wars competitor Barber-Ous, which was designed to resemble a barber's pole.
Malice's drumette weapon after fighting Minotaur.
In 2020, Bunny Liaw and Malice debuted what the team called a "horizontal drumette" - essentially a drum-shaped spinning mass mounted horizontally. In 2023, Luke Quintal of Copperhead fame built a shuffling full-body drum spinner for the 30lb division, but actually weighing 45lbs due to weight bonuses, called Pepe Silvia.
Advantages & Disadvantages[]
Advantages[]
- Drums are durable, and it's hard to fracture them.
- Like vertical discs, drums are easy to control.
- They can act as makeshift Flippers: launching a target into the air. Minotaur displayed this on Blacksmith's wedge.
- They are easy to include with Invertibility due to their low height, and nearly every drum-user is invertible.
- They have a wide diameter, so they can inflict damage at a big width.
- Alternatively, if the robot has the drum as a body as well, then it can include the benefits of Shell Spinners too (as shown by Axe Backwards).
- The gyroscopic-forces drums generate can provide self-righting. Minotaur and Yeti showed this several times.
Disadvantages[]
- They're known to consume a lot of energy, and therefore don't last long.
- Additionally, the energy a drum feeds off of can work against it if it was rammed or shoved into the wall (Minotaur had a drive-chain dislodged when it was struck by Bombshell directly in the drum, and the chain was caught on the drum's axle).
- They have to be built in properly, otherwise they can be removed in battle.
- The gyrating a drum gives can make turning difficult, and worse leave the owner susceptible to getting scooped up.
- They are known to be tough to repair of damage, especially if fractured.
- Simply creating a drum is time-consuming and laborious.
- What drums have in width, they lack in range: they must get up close to the target to damage it, which can be risky.
Notable Competitors[]
| Robot | Seasons | Image |
|---|---|---|
| Axe Backwards | World Championship III - BattleBots: Bounty Hunters |  |
| Copperhead | World Championship IV - Present |  |
| Copperhead III | BattleBots IQ 2005 BattleBots IQ 2007 BattleBots IQ 2008 2009 High School Championship |
 |
| El Diablo | Season 2.0 Season 3.0 Season 4.0 Season 5.0 |
 |
| El Diablo Grande | Season 3.0 Season 4.0 Season 5.0 |
|
| Falcon | 2004 NPC Charity Open R3: Rochester Robot Rampage 2005 2009 Pro Championship World Championship IV |
 |
| Little Drummer Boy | Season 3.0 - Season 5.0 |  |
| Minotaur | World Championship II World Championship III World Championship IV World Championship VI - Present |
 |
| Poison Arrow | World Championship II |  |
| REDRUM | R3: Rochester Robot Rampage 2005 |  |
| Yeti | World Championship II World Championship III World Championship IV World Championship VI |
 |
| More... | ||
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