Double Dutch was a heavyweight robot built by Iron LungFish Robotics which competed exclusively in BattleBots World Championship III.
Built by Kevin Lung of Team Lungfish, who competed in Comedy Central BattleBots with lightweight entry Spwack, middleweight "walker" Mongus and heavyweight Chomp. Double Dutch originally applied for World Championship II of BattleBots reboot, but were not selected to compete.
The robot was designed with a similarly-shaped chassis to that of his classic era lightweight Spwack. Double Dutch featured omni-directional drive and a pair of steel blades originally measuring 41.5" in length. However, these blades were never seen on the robot due to being too dangerous to test safely. Instead, the robot used 39.5" cedar planks during testing.
Kevin Lung was contacted in February 2016 ahead of filming for World Championship II, to see what progress had been made on the construction of Double Dutch. The robot was complete, but the proposal was for Double Dutch to be a "double secret backup alternative", in his words, meaning a selected team and then their replacement would both have to drop out for Double Dutch to be considered.
- "Well I was one of the last entries to get the call that my entry wasn't selected, but I could be a double secret backup alternate. Since this came with no funding, I wasn't too thrilled with the idea, but I was pretty surprised we didn't make the cut."
- — Iron LungFish Robotics explain their surprise and frustration towards how their rejection was handled.
This meant Double Dutch had been officially rejected, and Kevin Lung explicitly stated he would not apply for any future seasons of the show, instead opting to dedicate the time to his then two-year-old daughter.[1]
- "Good luck to all the competitors who made it, but shame on any of you who replace your active or in some cases barely active weapons with plows and wedges whenever it suits you. You guys are all better than that and nothing is worse than seeing good engineering wasted on a push bot, unless of course your goal is to kill the show."
- — Kevin Lung's Reddit outburst following rejection from World Championship II.
Despite this, Double Dutch did re-apply and was selected for World Championship III. Double Dutch sported a red and black color scheme, but retained much of its functionality from 2016, including its unique drive setup. Its steel blades were positioned above and below the main chassis and would spin opposite directions. Double Dutch's weaponry proved prone to breaking in several of its fights, and it struggled to cause serious damage as a result.
Neither Double Dutch nor the team returned to BattleBots after the 2018 season. In 2022, Kevin Lung would design a featherweight walking robot named "Sweet Tango", with hopes of scaling up the robot should it perform successfully. Over the past two years, Sweet Tango has seen fairly limited success.
Robot History[]
World Championship III[] |
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Double Dutch & Basilisk vs. Bale Spear & Parallax Double Dutch's first fight was a 2v2 match, where alongside Basilisk, they took on Bale Spear and Parallax. Double Dutch immediately started on the back foot after hitting the arena screws and losing its undercutting bar. In the same motion, Double Dutch's top blade snagged the tire of Bale Spear and despite tearing it away, left the tire jammed between their blade and left-side wheels. Double Dutch was unable to play a big part in the fight after this, holding back as Basilisk ground to a halt. It took several hits from the hindered Bale Spear before a count started on it and Parallax. With two seconds left, Parallax started moving again, and the match went the distance. The judges awarded a unanimous 3-0 decision to Double Dutch and Basilisk. |
Double Dutch vs. Gamma 9 Double Dutch's second match was against Gamma 9, which went unaired in the main season. As the match got underway, Double Dutch spun up its top bar and started to attack Gamma 9. After the next hit, the top bar of Double Dutch flew away, and the team opted to use the undercutter instead. Despite suffering from the bar hitting the BattleBox floor at times, Double Dutch was beginning to rack up damage on Gamma 9, causing one of Gamma 9's front forks to bend out of shape. Repeated impacts eventually caused the undercutter to detach as well. Despite Double Dutch now being weaponless, Gamma 9 drove into the side wall and immobilized itself. Gamma 9 was counted out, giving Double Dutch the win by KO. |
Double Dutch vs. Gigabyte Though Double Dutch was 2-0 in the season, its wins were far from impressive, so the team entered the Desperado Tournament to compete for a guaranteed spot in the Top 16. In the first round, Double Dutch found itself up against John Mladenik's Gigabyte. As the match began, Double Dutch took a hit from Gigabyte which tore away one of its rear wheels. The next hit from Gigabyte did the same to its other rear wheel, leaving them unable to escape the destructive shell spinner. The subsequent two attacks tore away both of Double Dutch's bars, which was becoming a common theme in its battles by this point in the season. Gigabyte deflected into the corner of the BattleBox and almost found itself upended, but righted itself and returned to the center to spin back up. Now driving only in circles, Gigabyte dealt several glancing hits before Double Dutch was counted out, giving Gigabyte the win by KO after 1:29. |
Double Dutch & Bale Spear vs. Petunia & Predator Double Dutch fought one last time in another Tag Team battle, paired with former opponent Bale Spear against Petunia and Predator as part of the USA vs. The World tournament. Double Dutch were able to get both bars up to speed to start, but inadvertently hit Bale Spear's right rear tire, hindering their teammate's mobility. After some light hits to Petunia and Predator, Double Dutch's weapons soon both stopped working, leaving it with little in the way of attacking power. It found itself grabbed by Petunia and was pushed on top of the screws, but the pinching grip they had caused Petunia to tip, so the crusher was forced to let go. Later on, Bale Spear and Predator stopped working, so it was down to just Double Dutch and Petunia, who continued to fight until time ran out. The judges awarded a unanimous 3-0 decision and one point to The World. |
Results[]
DOUBLE DUTCH | ||
World Championship III | ||
Fight Nights 2-0, Desperado Tournament, Quarter-Finals | ||
Team Match (with Basilisk) | vs. Bale Spear & Parallax | Won (JD) |
Fight Night (Untelevised) | vs. Gamma 9 | Won (KO) |
Desperado Tournament, Quarter-Final | vs. Gigabyte (2) | Lost (KO) |
USA vs The World Representing the USA | ||
Team Match (with Bale Spear) (Untelevised) | vs. Petunia & Predator | Lost (JD) |
Wins/Losses[]
- Wins: 2
- Losses: 2
Competition | Wins | Losses |
---|---|---|
World Championship III | Bale Spear and Parallax (Untelevised Tag Team Rumble with Basilisk)
Gamma 9 (Untelevised Undercard Match) |
Gigabyte (Desperado Tournament) Predator and Petunia (Untelevised USA vs. the World Tag Team Rumble with Bale Spear) |
Faruq Tauheed Introductions[]
"It floats like two butterflies and stings like two bees. Its dual attacks will have you begging please. It's DOUBLE DUTCH!"
"It plays with rope so if it asks you to hang, skip it. This robot's twin attacks are twice as nice. No sugar, all spice. Here's the ultimate two-timer, DOUBLE DUTCH!"
"Congratulations, you just gave birth to identical spins. Get ready to get slapped around until you cry. It's DOUBLE DUTCH!"
"This bot likes its opponents like it likes its coffee... dead. In this Uncivil War, it plays The North but delivers big hits down south. It's DOUBLE DUTCH!"
Trivia[]
- A rumble featuring this robot was shown as a humorous way to advertise the Jurassic World: Fallen Kingdom movie.
- "Double Dutch" is a slang term given to something that is unintelligible or difficult to understand, though likely refers to the jump rope game where two long ropes are spun in opposite directions and are jumped by one or multiple players at a time.
- Double Dutch and Bale Spear both hold the record for the most tag team rumbles competed in (2).
References []
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