Front-Hinged Flippers are a variation of flipper weaponry where the hinge is located towards the front end of the robot. They are considerably less common than their rear-hinged counterparts in BattleBots competitors.
Design and History[]
Strange Brew taking on Psychotron.
The concept of a front-hinged flipper was scarcely seen in the United States and even less so in early BattleBots events, likely due to the surge in flipping weaponry coming from Inertia Labs and their rear-hinged flipper designs. Middleweight competitor Strange Brew featured a front-hinged flipper in both its Season 4.0 and Season 5.0 appearances, but never escaped the preliminary rounds. Speed Bump used the concept to incorporate a flipping arm into the robot's top panel, albeit positioned so it would flip from the side. However, Speed Bump's flipper functionality was near-identical to front-hinged flippers which existed in the United Kingdom at that point, notably Robot Wars competitors Firestorm, Cassius and Gravedigger.
Stinger uses its front-hinged flipper to overturn Warhead.
Some robots, such as Stinger: The Killer Bee, utilized front-hinged flipping mechanisms alongside more passive weaponry such as a lifting wedge or forks to gain further control over their opponent. This was previously used to great effect with Team PlumbCrazy's heavyweight Sewer Snake, which largely competed outside of BattleBots events. Stinger: The Killer Bee could also be fitted with other lifting weaponry, as seen in its official photos.
P1 stacks SMEEEEEEEEEEEEE against the wall.
However, by far the most notable front-hinged flipper in BattleBots to date was P1, which competed in three televised seasons from 2019 until 2021, breaking into the Top 32 bracket in its final season before retirement.
British competitor Abrasion was also set to enter BattleBots with a similar weapon to Team PlumbCrazy's entries. But despite being originally accepted for the 2020 season, were forced to withdraw due to international travel bans enforced by the COVID-19 pandemic. Team Immersion reapplied the following year, only to be granted reserve status. Although this did not necessarily mean they had been rejected, issues concerning NIE Visas for some international teams prevented all teams from the United Kingdom from competing in World Championship VI, Abrasion included. The team again applied in 2022 with a unique design combining their front-hinged flipping mechanism with a hammer saw design, but were not selected to compete.
Advantages & Disadvantages[]
Advantages[]
- They can end a fight quickly if the opponent is neither invertible nor can self-right.
- Even while open, the flipper can still function as a shield.
- Like the rear-hinged flipper, the front-hinged flipper can provide self-righting.
- Although it is not impossible to include them in invertible driving (as shown by P1).
- They have the best chance at flipping even the heaviest opponents, such as Walkerbots which tend to be heavier than normal.
Disadvantages[]
- Front-hinged flippers need to get fully under a target to flip them.
- Additionally, they finding it harder to boot a robot from the arena during a fight (and P1 had trouble getting the spinner-member of Jäger onto the upper deck).
- Like with rear-hinged flippers, front-hinged ones often lack a layer of skin underneath themselves, making them susceptible to overhead attacks like Hammers and vertical crushers.
- Another weakness shared with rear-hinged flippers is that many front-hinged flippers choose to be gas-powered, meaning they have a limited supply of ammunition.
- They find it harder to inflict damage than rear-hinged flippers as they don't toss a target upward and have them fall.
Notable Competitors[]
| Robot | Seasons | Image |
|---|---|---|
| P1 | World Championship IV World Championship V World Championship VI |
 |
| Sewer Snake | JavaOne 2007 |  |
| Stinger: The Killer Bee | World Championship I World Championship II |
 |
| Speed Bump | Season 3.0 - Season 5.0 2004 NPC Charity Open |
 |
| Speed Bump XL | Season 4.0 - Season 5.0 2004 NPC Charity Open |
 |
| Strange Brew | Season 4.0 - Season 5.0 |  |
[]
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