Rainbow

Rainbow
Participation Information
Reboot Seasons	World Championship IV
Other Names	Pinkie Pie (Original name)
Team Information
Team	Team Unicorn
Team Members	Petr Kravchenko (Captain) Karina Khatkevich Daria Antipova
From	St. Petersburg, Russia
Robot Statistics
Weapons	Horizontal bar spinner
Statistics correct as of its most recent appearance on the show, or if not applicable, qualification attempt.

Rainbow was a heavyweight robot built by Russia's Team Unicorn, which competed in BattleBots World Championship IV.

The robot was heart-shaped, two-wheel drive and invertible, armed with a rainbow-colored horizontal spinning bar, driven by a large brushless motor and belt drive. Although the primary weapon could reach a deadly speed, it struggled to cause damage to well-armored machines, largely due to its weapon belt being too tight and suffering issues with their speed controllers. Debuting in the fourth season of the show, Rainbow won two matches, including a rumble and a knockout win over Nelly The Ellybot, but failed to make the Top 16 following a convincing loss at the hands of Yeti.

Rainbow revealed to Facebook Supporters as Pinkie Pie in 2019.

Rainbow was originally called Pinkie Pie (Russian: Пинки пай) featuring characters from the TV show My Little Pony on the top armor panel, which were hand-painted by the team. Despite competing under this guise in Russia and India, due to copyright issues, the name and top panel artwork had to be changed to fit the new name. As such, Rainbow was weighed ahead of filming without its Team Rainbow artwork, which was applied by Karina Khatkevich and Daria Antipova ahead of their official photos. The original version of the robot weighed just 198lbs, but was upgraded to fit the 250lb limit ahead of BattleBots.

Rainbow was originally supposed to be the first HyperShock Approved team, but this team sponsorship fell through due to issues relating to shipping parts to Moscow.

"Technically Rainbow was the first team we tried to sponsor. Didn't quite work out. Turns out you can't ship industrial hardware into Moscow...we tried to ship them a box of stuff and it got stuck in customs in France."

— Kyle Awner on HyperShock's attempts to sponsor Team Rainbow

• Rainbow competing as Pinkie Pie.
• Team Rainbow painting the top panel of their robot.
• An inside look at Rainbow.

1/3

The team have not returned to BattleBots after World Championship IV, with the COVID-19 pandemic impacting almost every international team in the fifth and sixth reboot seasons. Despite this, the team have remained active within the Russian scene.

Outside BattleBots

Energy Bomb during Clash Bots.

Rainbow as Iron Wind.

Under the team name Energy Robo, they also entered the Chinese robot combat show Clash Bots with a rear-hinged flipper called Energy Bomb.

Rainbow returned in October 2023 under an all-female team called Energy Girls, for the Russian live event Bitva Robotov. This team consisted of captain Zoya Sudakova, Valeria Orlova, Alina Bektasheva and Sasha Kravchenko. The robot was subsequently renamed Iron Wind.

Robot History

World Championship IV
Rainbow vs. Nelly The Ellybot Rainbow delivers a brutal blow to the face of Nelly. Rainbow's KO hit. Rainbow's first match was against fellow newcomer Nelly The Ellybot. When the match began, Rainbow's weapon got up to speed and began to attack Nelly's wedge, causing minor damage. Rainbow continued to attack and tore into the face of Nelly, leaving Nelly's left googly eye inoperable and sending one of Nelly's ears flying. Rainbow continued its assault and tore off Nelly's right eye completely. Nelly was still mobile, so Rainbow went after the other eye, ripping it off and damaging the face further. Nelly showed very limited movement after this attack, so Rainbow delivered a final hit which also dislodged its own weapon belt. Nelly The Ellybot was counted out, giving Rainbow the win by KO after 1:05.
Rainbow vs. Extinguisher vs. Double Jeopardy Rainbow hits Extinguisher's wedge. Rainbow's second match came in a rumble against Double Jeopardy and Extinguisher. When the fight began, Rainbow was able to spin up their weapon and damage Extinguisher while also avoiding the latter's hammer. After a hit, Rainbow's weapon struggled to get up to top speed, but was able to cause minor damage. While Extinguisher and Double Jeopardy were losing mobility, Rainbow mostly stayed away, trying to get their weapon going again. Time ran out with only Rainbow showing true translational movement, so the judges awarded Rainbow a unanimous 3-0 decision.
Rainbow vs. Yeti Rainbow is sent flying by Yeti. The aftermath of Yeti's KO shot. Rainbow's next opponent was Greg Gibson and Yeti. Unfortunately, the team was unable to repair its weapon in time, forcing Rainbow to fight with its bar barely functioning. As the match began, Rainbow was immediately on the retreat, trying to spin up its bar weaponry. Rainbow took a big hit from Yeti which cracked part of their rear armor, dislodged their top plate, and flipped the robot over. Rainbow started smoking heavily as a result from its batteries being ruptured inside. Despite being invertible, Rainbow was no longer moving and was counted out, giving Yeti the win by KO in under a minute. Despite a positive 2-1 record, Rainbow was not selected to advance to the knockout tournament.

Results

Wins/Losses

• Wins: 2
• Losses: 1

Competition	Wins	Losses
World Championship IV	Nelly The Ellybot (Undercard Match) Extinguisher & Double Jeopardy (Undercard Rumble)	Yeti (Undercard Match)

Faruq Tauheed Introductions

"From Russia, meet the new kid on the eastern block. It's a borscht of nature and you're about to get beat. But hey, vhat can you do? It's RAINBOW!"

"From Russia, It'll send you to space like a dog, yo. Hits you harder than Ivon Drago. You are not Rocky, you're Bullwinkle, and frankly you bore us. She's about to ne-squash-a. RAINBOW!"

"From Russia, here to put on the iron hurtin, the crème de la crème'-in. It's RAINBOW!"

Trivia

• In order to fund Rainbow ahead of World Championship IV, the team organised a fundraiser, which raised over 200,000₽ (approximately $2750).
• Team Rainbow introduced HyperShock captain Will Bales to pryanik - spiced cookies made from honey which are native to Russia. In turn, Team HyperShock gifted Rainbow an inflatable ride-on unicorn.
• Rainbow was the first Russian team to compete in BattleBots, and the second team to represent Russia in a televised show after Weber Robotics fought in the World Series special of Robot Wars.
• The team behind Rainbow uploaded several videos of their backstage preparations for their robot during the course of World Championship IV, which can be found on YouTube.
• In one of Faruq Tauheed's introductions for Rainbow, he references fictional Soviet-Russian boxer Ivon Drago from the Rocky film franchise.
  • In the same introduction, he makes reference to long-standing animated television series The Adventures of Rocky and Bullwinkle and Friends, which was rebooted in the same year as World Championship IV of BattleBots.

See Also

• Energy Bomb (Clash Bots)