Rear-Hinged Flippers are a variation of flipping weaponry where the hinge for the flipper is at the back end of the robot. Although not necessarily built to damage opponents, they are able to score knockout wins by flipping opponents over or throwing them into areas of the BattleBox that they cannot escape from.
Design and History[]
They are often powered by compressed gas such as nitrogen due to design rules enforced by BattleBots which outlaw carbon dioxide (a common feature in British flippers, and carbon dioxide was not forbidden at first).[1] In traditional rear-hinged flippers, pressurised gas held within a tank would be released in bursts, causing a pneumatic ram to fire against a specially-designed arm designed to get in underneath another robot.
Bronco and Hydra, two rear-hinged flippers, face off.
The rear-hinged flipper design was introduced during the Comedy Central seasons of BattleBots. Inertia Labs are the team most commonly credited with pioneering the weapon type in the United States as a more powerful version of the functionally-similar lifter weapon, with robots such as Toro, T-Minus and later, Bronco. Whereas lifters simply aimed to get underneath and raise an opponent off the floor, sometimes overturning it for a knockout when self-righting mechanisms were not so common, Inertia Labs' revolutionary flipper designs aimed to throw robots several feet into the air.
Due to their power, rear-hinged flippers also became a popular method of self-righting. As the weapon was typically powerful enough to flip the robot's own weight to function as an offensive weapon, it was therefore also able to flip the robot's own weight and get it back on its wheels to continue a fight.
Types of Rear-Hinged Flippers[]
Hydraulic Flippers[]
In 2019, veterans Team Whyachi entered a brand new robot named Hydra. Its name paid homage to its unique flipping mechanism which utilized compressed hydraulic fluid as opposed to power a long flipping arm. As such, the Ewert family claim it can flip in excess of 450lbs. Hydra quickly became a fan favorite, picking up the Founder's Award in its debut season, and has landed some of the biggest flips in the show's history.
Flywheel Flippers[]
Following the conclusion of Comedy Central BattleBots, Team Whyachi entered a flywheel-powered flipper called Warrior SKF. This worked by spinning a ring spinner at the rear of the robot which engaged with a clutch to power its flipper at the front. It later returned to BattleBots as part of the team's multibot entry, Warrior Clan.
Ahead of World Championship VI, Tantrum builder Aren Hill built a flywheel flipper named Blip, where the energy behind the flipping panel was stored in a vertically-spinning, 9000rpm flywheel inside the robot. As the clutch engaged, the 16lb flywheel twisted a cord which pulled the weapon frame and activated the flipper. Its innovative design won Blip the Grant Imahara Award for Best Design in its debut season.
Another flywheel flipper called Warthog originally applied for World Championship VI but would not end up competing. It instead debuted at BattleBots Proving Ground and later fought at FaceOffs.
Notable Competitors[]
| Robot | Image | Weight Class | Seasons |
|---|---|---|---|
| Blip |  |
Heavyweight | World Championship VI re:MARS 2022 World Championship VII BattleBots: Champions II |
| Bronco |  |
Heavyweight | World Championship I World Championship II World Championship III World Championship IV re:MARS all:STARS 2019 BattleBots: Bounty Hunters BattleBots: Destruct-A-Thon |
| HexaDecimator |  |
Heavyweight | Season 3.0 Season 4.0 Season 5.0 |
| Hydra |  |
Heavyweight | World Championship IV World Championship V World Championship VI re:MARS 2022 World Championship VII BattleBots: Destruct-A-Thon |
| Little Sister |  |
Heavyweight | Season 3.0 Season 4.0 Season 5.0 |
| Spitfire |  |
Heavyweight | Season 5.0 |
| SubZero |  |
Middleweight | NPC Charity Open 2004 Rochester R3 2005 2006 Cisco Party JavaOne 2007 2009 Pro Championship |
 |
Heavyweight | World Championship II World Championship III World Championship IV World Championship V BattleBots: Bounty Hunters World Championship VI BattleBots: Champions I | |
| The Matador |  |
Heavyweight | Season 4.0 Season 5.0 |
| T-Minus |  |
Middleweight | Season 3.0 Season 4.0 Season 5.0 |
| Toro |  |
Superheavyweight | Season 2.0
Season 3.0 |
| More... | |||
References[]
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