Malvolio was a middleweight robot built by Ray Ebert that competed in the final three seasons of Comedy Central BattleBots. It was a wedge-shaped robot with two spinning hammers on the wedge and spikes in the rear. Malvolio achieved some success in BattleBots, reaching the televised rounds of Season 4.0, but losing its first fight in the other two seasons. It was named after the villain in William Shakespeare's Twelfth Night.
Malvolio competed in the first season of Robotica as well, losing in the trials to Panzer MK1.
After Robotica, Malvolio was initially planned to be stripped down to compete as a lightweight in BattleBots, but due to being overweight by 10 pounds when the armor was taken off, it was revamped to compete in the middleweight division.
Team Raybotics also had a lightweight entry named Some Parts.
Malvolio would compete after BattleBots as Ze Uber Wedge.
Design and Specifications[]
Season 3.0 Malvolio's internals.
Season 5.0 Malvolio minus the armor and hammers.
| Bot Detail | Specification |
| Drive motors | Bosch 12VDC EV Electric bike drive motors running at 24VDC |
| Wheels | 4 5" Colsons with 6061 aluminum wheel hubs driven via 1" wide L series timing belts on each side. |
| Axles | 1/2" 304 Stainless Steel round stock supported by 1/2" pillow blocks |
| Transmission | 16ga 20 Degree PA Spur gears in a 4.25:1 gear reduction. Gears lightened by machining the center hubs out. |
| Power Source | Four Sanyo 2400 18 cell packs (72 cells total) that can be recharged with an AstroFlight 112D Battery Charger. |
| Emergency shutoff switch | Two modified hella key switches. Modified so that the switch can be turned on and off via a 4MM hex key. |
| Speed Controller | OSMC V1.3. One MOB controlling two OSMC's. |
| Radio Controller | Hitec RCD Prism 7x PCM |
| Weapon Controller | RCE220 Mechanical H-Bridge controlling a 100 amps contactor. |
| Body | Welded 5/8" 16ga Steel square tubing with a 1/4" 6061 Aluminum plate for the drive assembly base.
1/4" Titanium Plate for the front wedge. |
| Armor | 1/4" Polycarbonate sheet. (Lexan), 1/4" 6061 Aluminum, 1/4" Titanium, 1/8" Aluminum. |
| Weapon | 1" round grade 5 Titanium bar supported by 3/4" Oil impregnated Bronze bushing in a custom machined housing/motormount .
Powered by 1.5 AH Nicads packs, 60 cells total in three 20 cell packs. L series 1/2" wide timing gears and belts for a 2:1 reduction gearing for the weapon drive transmission. |
| Reciever Antenna | W.S. Deans 2 piece mini antenna |
Robot History[]
Season 3.0[] |
|---|
Malvolio vs. Iron Soldier   Malvolio after its fight against Iron Soldier. Malvolio fought Iron Soldier in its only Season 3.0 appearance. The two robots collided near the center of the BattleBox, and the collision bent Malvolio's spinning hammers. Iron Soldier moved behind Malvolio and Malvolio tried to ram Iron Soldier with its spikes, but one side of its drive was immobile and it only turned. Malvolio managed to hit Iron Soldier after this, but after the hit Malvolio bounced off and went under the spikestrip. At that point the drive gave out and although Malvolio couldn't move, the fight went to the judges, who turned in a 41-4 decision for Iron Soldier. This meant that Malvolio was eliminated from the tournament. |
Season 4.0[] |
Malvolio vs. Phoenix Malvolio's first battle this season was against Phoenix. Malvolio spun up and hit Phoenix's Lexan side, shattering it. This impact actually hit directly in the power on/off switch, instantly disabling Phoenix. Malvolio backed up to spin up again and hit Phoenix again, then stopped spinning and drove Phoenix into the spikestrip. At this point, Phoenix tapped out. |
Malvolio vs. Rock-Hard Malvolio advanced to the next preliminary round where it fought Rock-Hard. Rock-Hard sped across the BattleBox and stopped right in front of Malvolio. Malvolio spun up and hit Rock-Hard twice in the front, on the second hit ramming Rock-Hard into the spikestrip. Malvolio rammed into Rock-Hard again and then stopped spinning, for fear of breaking the weapon. Then Rock-Hard tapped out and Malvolio advanced to the final preliminary round against Fast Forward. |
Malvolio vs. Fast Forward At the beginning of the fight, Malvolio spun up and tried to dodge Fast Forward's weapon, hitting the corner of the robot and leaving a hole. Malvolio backed away and spun up again, and got an opportunity to hit Fast Forward's backside, which it took, causing the Lexan armor to explode and sent electronics flying out of the back end. One more hit immobilized Fast Forward and Malvolio was through to the TV rounds. |
Malvolio vs. Bad Attitude   Malvolio gets flipped by the killsaws.   Bad Attitude pushes Malvolio under the pulverizer. |
Middleweight Consolation Rumble Malvolio was repaired in time for the Middleweight Consolation Rumble, and it did well, spinning up and attacking anything that came in its way. Malvolio also drove over and hit a pile of dead robots near the red platform. After taking some damage from Blade Runner and T-Wrex, the fight ended and Malvolio advanced to the Middleweight Royal Rumble along with T-Wrex. |
Middleweight Royal Rumble At the start of the rumble, Malvolio moved forward for a second or two and got lifted by SABotage. After this, it stopped moving altogether as it had damaged multiple motors in the last rumble and it was pushed against the spikestrip. Its weapon was still spinning and it managed to hit robots that accidentally drove into it or were pushed into it. In the end, Bad Attitude was declared the winner of the Middleweight Royal Rumble and Malvolio lost overall. |
Season 5.0[] |
Malvolio vs. Pokey Despite reaching the Round of 32 in Season 4.0, Malvolio had to go through the qualifiers again in Season 5.0. Malvolio fought Pokey first during Season 5.0. On the first collision, Malvolio's weapon split apart and the match became a pushing match. Pokey lifted Malvolio on its side numerous times while Malvolio did next to nothing. In the end, the time ran out and Pokey won the fight on a 41-4 judges' decision. This meant that Malvolio was eliminated from the tournament once again. |
Wins/Losses[]
- Wins: 3
- Losses: 3
Ramon Ebert with Malvolio at Season 4.0
| Competition | Wins | Losses |
|---|---|---|
| Season 3.0 | None | Iron Soldier |
| Season 4.0 | Phoenix | Bad Attitude |
| Season 5.0 | None | Pokey |
Mark Beiro Introductions[]
"He'll make this 3 minutes seem longer than an episode of Dharma and Greg. Introducing MALVOLIO!" (Malvolio vs. Bad Attitude)
Trivia[]
- Both of Malvolio's judge decision losses were 41-4 decisions for the other robot.
Outside BattleBots[]
Malvolio at Steel Conflict 2002
A revamped Malvolio in the Southwest Division Championships as Ze Uber Wedge.
After BattleBots ended, Malvolio competed in the first two Steel Conflict events, having no success in either of them. A few years later, it came back with numerous revisions to compete in the Southwest Division Championships as Ze Uber Wedge, where it put up the best tournament run of its career, making it to the semi-finals in a jam-packed middleweight bracket before losing to Nasty Attitude via judges' decision in a rematch to Season 4.0. Malvolio’s last known appearance was in an unspecified show that same year, where it was shown to have dueled against VD5 under its original name.