Shatter!

Shatter!
Participation Information
Reboot Seasons	Discovery Season 4 Discovery Season 5 Discovery Season 6
Other Names	SHATTER! Shatter
Team Information
Team	Bots FC
Team Members	Adam Wrigley Eric Wrigley Mary Chimenti Paul Gancitano Adrian “Bunny” Sauriol (Discovery S4) Matt Bores (Discovery S4)
From	Brooklyn, NY
Other Entries	Emulsifier, Doomba and Friends, Bliss 2 (Not selected)
Associated Robots	Wrecks, Malice (Adrian “Bunny” Sauriol)
Robot Statistics
Weight	250lbs
Power	MaxAmps LiPo batteries
Drive	4x Castle 2028 brushless motors
Weapons	Hammer
Statistics correct as of its most recent appearance on the show, or if not applicable, qualification attempt.

Shatter! is a heavyweight robot built by New York based Bots FC, which competed in every season of the BattleBots reboot since its debut in Discovery Season 4.

It is the most recent of a series of hammer bots designed by Bots FC, which stems back to the team's time in US and Chinese events. Shatter! is driven by four mecanum wheels, each of which is independently powered by a brushless motor. The wheels themselves include diagonally-mounted rollers in place of a tire, and enables Shatter! to strafe sideways across the BattleBox, and keep its primary weapon facing its opposition. Shatter!'s name derives from its powerful hammer, its ablative armor and the overall aesthetic of the robot.

Shatter! showing off its unique drive versus Witch Doctor in Season 4.

Despite its unique design, it underperformed in the 2018 season, going 2-2 in Fight Night and losing its exhibition match that year. All three of its losses involved the loss of its primary weapon and lacking the traction needed to win a pushing and shoving match, which is a typical weakness for many robots utilizing this style of locomotion.

For Discovery Season 5, Shatter! sported a new chassis made from a solid billet, as well as new front forks, and a colorful, stained glass appearance for its ablative armor. It did far much better than in its debut season, reaching the quarter-finals before being beaten by eventual champion End Game.

Shatter! returned for Discovery Season 6 and though the full extent of Shatter!'s upgrades is unknown, the team appear to have ditched the ablative armor either side of the hammer, but have added some to protect the mechanism powering it. The team teased two new weapon attachments ahead of the season. One is called the Mary Special, essentially a double-ended hammer with a serrated saw-like edge to snag opponents. This weapon was first seen in their Fight Night matchup against Blacksmith. The second is called New Rusty, which is an alternative option when facing spinners and debuted in their tournament fight versus Riptide.

"New Rusty is 5-axis waterjet hardox that is shock mounted to the hammer arm, which allows us to fire directly into a spinner with less risk of shearing the bolts/fingers that hold the hammerhead on."

— Bots FC explain their most recent hammer configuration for Discovery Season 6.

Shatter!'s first fight of the 2021 season came in the second YouTube exclusive battle against SubZero, which they won after landing repeated shots to the flipping arm of its opponent. After taking the win, Shatter! backed this up with a victory by unanimous judges' decision against Blacksmith. However, its run fell ultimately short in the Round of 32, being decimated by surprising rookie Riptide.

Bots FC also submitted a tracked vertical spinner called Emulsifier, based on the team's 30lb bot of the same name, for the 2020 and 2021 seasons of the show. It was originally accepted for Discovery Season 5 but was later forced to withdraw. Due to time constraints ahead of the rescheduled filming dates, Bots FC opted to prioritize Shatter! and postpone progress of Emulsifier. The team reapplied for Discovery Season 6 with Emulsifier, with its 30lb version gaining notoriety on the US live scene, but it was rejected ahead of filming. As such, they again fought exclusively with Shatter!.

The team reapplied with Emulsifier ahead of the 2022 season, and are expected to enter Shatter! again too.

Outside of BattleBots, the Bots FC team initially fought with Shatter!'s predecessor in the 2016 Orlando Maker Faire event, competing under the name Mega Melvin. A year later, Adam Wrigley applied for Series 9 and 10 of Robot Wars with Mega Melvin, but was not selected on either occasion.

The team also competed in Chinese shows King of Bots and This Is Fighting Robots with a repainted Mega Melvin, going under the name Blue. This name was selected by a Reddit competition as juxtaposition to it actually being painted pink. Despite finishing 2-1 in Season 1 of King of Bots and going undefeated in This Is Fighting Robots, Blue did not return for King of Bots II.

Mega Melvin also competed in the 2017 edition of RoboGames, but suffered from a tough draw, losing to Fuzzy Mauldin's Polar Vortex before dying prematurely to a robot called Megalodon. Bots FC later entered Doomba into RoboGames 2018, who had previously been unsuccessful in qualifying for Discovery Season 3 as Doomba and Friends, as well as five-part multibot Cluster Flock.

Robot History

Discovery Season 4
Shatter! vs. Witch Doctor Shatter! gets pieces of its armor torn off by Witch Doctor. Shatter! started off the 2019 BattleBots season with a match against the seasoned vet and eventual runner-up, Witch Doctor. For this fight, Shatter! went with its steel hammer dubbed "Ole Rusty." Things were not going well for Shatter! as they started to take damage from Witch Doctor that tore off not only chunks of the armor panels, but also the actual armor panels themselves. Shatter! tried to attack with the axe, but it missed twice. After the third failed attempt, Shatter took a hit to its hammer head and lost the head completely as the bolts holding the head to the arm were not long enough, leaving Shatter with little to do but try and break Witch Doctor's weapon or perhaps flip it over. As the match progressed, things seemed to be looking up for Shatter! as Witch Doctor started smoking and was losing drive on its left side. Shatter! in a pushing match against Witch Doctor. Unfortunately, Shatter! had no way to take advantage of this as two wires for their weapon speed controller shorted, causing a failure of the controller and preventing the axe from firing but Witch Doctor eventually stopped moving. In the closing moments, however, Witch Doctor got going again, albeit only on one side. This was enough to take the match to the judges, who awarded Witch Doctor a unanimous 3-0 decision.
Shatter! vs. Wan Hoo Shatter! deals the final blows as the time runs out. Shatter!'s next opponent was against newcomer Wan Hoo from China. Shatter! went into the fight relatively unchanged, apart from tweaks to its weapon system to hopefully get in more hits with the hammer. As the match got underway, Shatter! was looking for an opening to fire the hammer and ended up taking hits instead. Soon, Shatter! found openings and began to fire the weapon repeatedly onto Wan Hoo's special top armor. None of this seemed to affect Wan Hoo, but Shatter! kept attacking anyway and eventually gained the upper hand when Wan Hoo's weapon stopped working. Shatter continued to attack with its weapon, even as time ran out. The judges awarded Shatter! a unanimous 3-0 decision.
Shatter! vs. Kingpin Shatter! continues to attack the immobile Kingpin. In Shatter!'s next match, it faced the bowling-themed newcomer, Kingpin. Before the match, Shatter! made some changes by switching to a thicker front wedge and their titanium hammer dubbed 'Titan'. The reason why, was to handle the hits from Kingpin's spinner, and their titanium arm was thicker than their steel one. Shatter! also opted for a tactic of hitting with the opposite end it normally hits with. As tge fight commenced, Kingpin quickly immobilized itself after turning into the screws with its weapon due to a setscrew failure. The drivers of Shatter! opted to keep the match going and continued fighting to give a good show. Shatter! promptly avoided Kingpin's weapon, which was still functional despite the bot itself being unable to drive, and attacked their top armor. However, Shatter! then struck Kingpin again right on their spinner, which knocked off one wheel and spun them under the Pulverizer. Kingpin was immobilized and began to heavily smoke as it was being counted out, giving Shatter! a comfortable KO win.
Shatter! vs. Minotaur Shatter! and Minotaur come to blows. Shatter! was next against Team RioBotz and former runner-up, Minotaur. The match started off pretty evenly for Shatter! as they could not cause any major damage to Minotaur and did not take any major damage from their opponent. Shatter! continued to fight, losing only sparks while attacking with its hammer. Shatter! tried to keep attacking, but it was revealed Minotaur managed to break one of Shatter's weapon chains. Every time Shatter! fired its hammer, the friction system within only had the one chain now, forcing a lot more heat into the only working hammer system, causing it to slow down severely after each use. Shatter! attacked again and was shoved into the arena barrier before delivering light hammer blows to Minotaur. Shatter! then took a big hit from Minotaur that sent it flying onto its back where it could not self-right due to the weapon finally building up too much heat and the slip discs burning up. Shatter! was counted out, giving Minotaur the win by KO.
Shatter! vs. Kraken Shatter! fighting Kraken. However, Shatter! still took part in an exhibition match against Kraken. Shatter! was off to a good start as they were able to land repeated blows on Kraken's head, causing cosmetic damage. Shatter! circled around a bit and was then taken to the pulverizer, suffering equally minor damage. Shatter! was then flipped over but quickly righted itself, only to briefly get hung up with Kraken's nose. Shatter! escaped and was then brought to the screws, which caused Shatter! to lose a piece and the function of its weapon. Shatter! was then left defenseless for the rest of the fight, but had only taken minor damage as the time ran out. The judges awarded Kraken the win.
Discovery Season 5
Shatter! vs. Ghost Raptor Pieces fly off Shatter! as it swings its hammer. Shatter!'s first fight of the season was against the rebuilt former semi-finalist, Ghost Raptor. Before the match, the team added two extra pieces of the plastic to their rails holding the hammer, to prevent Ghost Raptor from hitting them if the weapon adjusts. However, in their pre-fight checks, they lost some of their ablative armor as the plastic wasn't sticking well to the armor. Still, this did not change Shatter!'s plan much as they quickly got out and attacked Ghost Raptor's top, bending the bearing and causing Ghost Raptor's weapon to spin down. This also cost Shatter! more of its ablative armor, but despite being pushed around, Shatter! continued to land the blows, costing it some top armor from the left-rear corner. Both robots ended up near the pulverizer before smoke began pouring out of Ghost Raptor. As Ghost Raptor's problem escalated, Shatter! was also briefly motionless, having lost rear wheel drive earlier and worked quickly using the hammer to try and get off its opponent, striking and breaking the arena screw it was near in the process. The match was paused due to both robots being stuck and were separated offscreen. When the match resumed, Shatter! was able to drive away, leaving Ghost Raptor to get counted out. As a result, Shatter! won by KO.
Shatter! vs. Malice Shatter! disables Malice's weapon and breaks its own hammerhead Shatter!'s second fight was against former teammate Bunny Sauriol and her new robot for the season, Malice. Shatter! started well as the only damage they took was cosmetic, with the ablative armor coming away. Shatter! then attacked Malice and took out their opponent's weapon belt, leaving their opponent without their spinning drum. However, this impact had also cost Shatter! their weapon's head and part of the mechanism too. Shatter! continued to attack Malice with its weapon arm, but none of these hits caused any major damage. When the fight was over, the judges awarded a close and controversial 2-1 decision to Malice.
Shatter! vs. Captain Shrederator Shatter! takes a glancing shot from Captain Shrederator. Shatter!'s third and final battle of Fight Night was against Brian Nave and Captain Shrederator. Shatter! opted not go in with its ablative armor, fearing it would cost them damage points if the fight went to the judges. Shatter! held up well against Captain Shrederator's attacks, mostly losing sparks and/or bits of armor. Shatter! kept on its opponent using its omni wheel drive before being tossed upside down but quickly righted itself. Luckily for Shatter! Captain Shrederator drove into the screws and eventually started smoking, leaving them weaponless. Shatter! took full advantage with multiple blows to Captain Shrederator's top and began to control the fight with pushing as well. Shatter brought Captain Shrederator under the pulverizer, where it and the arena hazard took turns landing blows. Captain Shrederator escaped but not before time ran out. The judges awarded Shatter! a unanimous 3-0 decision.
Shatter! vs. Lock-Jaw Shatter! lands a blow on top of Lock-Jaw. Shatter! made it into the Round of 32 as the No.19 seed and went up against the No.14 seed Lock-Jaw. Shatter! waited patiently as Lock-Jaw looked for an opening. Shatter! then missed with its weapon and lost pieces of its ablative armor. Shatter! was then briefly pushed but was able to escape after Lock-Jaw's move was interrupted by the killsaw slots. Shatter! then delivered a direct hit to Lock-Jaw's newly added top armor, sending shrapnel flying. Lock-Jaw seemed unfazed by this so Shatter! delivered another hit, this time more towards Lock-Jaw's left side drive. Shatter! then got Lock-Jaw to the pulverizer and lost sparks from Lock-Jaw's weapon before Lock-Jaw unwittingly flipped itself over using its weapon's gyroscopic forces. Smoke began to pour out of Lock-Jaw as the robot came to a halt so Shatter! delivered a final hit before Lock-Jaw was counted out, giving Shatter! the win by KO and a spot in the Top 16.
Shatter! vs. Mammoth Shatter! lands a blow on top of Lock-Jaw. Next up, Shatter! faced No.30 seed and surprise package for the season, Mammoth. Despite Shatter!'s attempts to attack early on, Mammoth remained in the middle of the box and swatted Shatter! away with its weapon, ultimately flipping it over. Shatter! then attempted to swing at Mammoth, but caught the weapon and flung itself over instead. This allowed Mammoth to capitalise and smother Adam Wrigley's machine with its frame. Shatter! recovered however, even managing to hit Mammoth's exposed chain and disabling their primary weapon. Both robots showed that they were able to push the other around the box, and Shatter! landed an axe blow on the protective cover of Mammoth's wheel. This proved costly for Mammoth, as their left wheel visibly fell off as the clock hit zero. This left a lasting impression on the judges, who awarded a split decision in Shatter!'s favor.
Shatter! vs. End Game Shatter! and End Game square off. Shatter! moved on to face New Zealand's End Game in the quarter-finals. The fight started with Shatter! driving the length of the box to meet End Game, but the vertical spinner quickly got to work, taking apart the ablative pieces of armor. End Game had Shatter! pinned, and was able to deliver a brutal hit to its underside. With pieces strewn over the box floor and its left side fork bent outwards, Shatter! tried to push back and fired the axe, hitting but leaving itself vulnerable. End Game manoeuvred to the rear of Shatter!, delivering a hit which sent it flying into the timer. Shatter! self-righted, but had now lost its right-side fork and was visibly hurt. End Game maintained its spinning speed, waiting for Shatter! to drift out of the corner and return to the center of the box. The next impact decapitated Shatter!, but it still tried to attack with what remained of its axe. Unnerved by Shatter!'s swings, End Game kept attacking until Shatter! was no longer moving. The count started, and Shatter! was eliminated from the competition.
Discovery Season 6
Shatter! vs. SubZero Shatter! and SubZero face off in the BattleBox. SubZero finds itself caught between a rock and a hard place. Shatter! lands a brutal shot to SubZero's battery. Shatter! returned for the 2021 season, and to open their campaign, faced SubZero. The battle began with SubZero circling Shatter! as it looked to flip with its primary weapon. As Shatter! landed the first shot with its hammer, SubZero got under the side of Shatter! and shoved it into the screws, right in front of judge Jason Bardis. Shatter! landed two glancing blows on SubZero's flipping arm, before it became stuck under the pulverizer and was double-teamed by the arena hazard and Shatter!'s menacing hammer. This caused a front panel of SubZero's flipper to peel away as Logan Davis' bot escaped to the opposite end of the BattleBox. SubZero returned to get under Shatter! again, but did not use their primary weapon as fears emerged that it was not working for this battle. The loose flipper panel came off in this exchange, which was the first visible damage of the fight. Shatter! continued to attack, removing another flipper panel and landing a handful more attacks to the front of SubZero. With more than half the fight gone, SubZero was still yet to use its primary weapon, but again managed to coerce Shatter! into the corner, but cause no further damage from there. SubZero drove into the killsaws as Shatter! flailed its hammer, eventually landing a critical shot to SubZero's battery, which saw smoke emit from it in the closing moments. With one second to go, SubZero landed a feeble flip, its first of the fight, before time ran out. The judges ruled unanimously in favor of Shatter!, putting them 1-0 for the season.
Shatter! vs. Blacksmith Shatter! and Blacksmith meet in the BattleBox. Shatter! hits Blacksmith with the back of the Mary Special. Blacksmith rams Shatter across the arena. Shatter!'s second fight as well as its first televised match of the 2021 season came against Al Kindle and Blacksmith. For this fight, Shatter! went with the Mary Special weapon attachment, which shares a name with team member Mary Chimenti. It also sported "social distancing forks", which were their longest options and featured a 90 degree section in the middle to allow them to keep Blacksmith away from the front of their robot. Shatter! was able to get its special weapon into play from the opening seconds, landing a strike to the top of Al Kindle's bot. Blacksmith retaliated as its hammer saw struck the weapon of Shatter! before it had a chance to retract, visibly bending the weapon to one side. Shatter! looked to strike back and caught the belt for Blacksmith's spinning disc in the next attack, rendering part of their primary weapon useless for the remainder of the fight. Blacksmith attempted to outdrive Shatter! for much of the fight, but Bots FC were able to strafe and keep their front forks pointed at their opponent. However, Shatter!'s forks soon proved to work against them, becoming stuck in the killsaw slots on more than one occasion. This allowed for Blacksmith to first drive Shatter! into the Upper Deck, and later threaten a free hit to their opponent's rear. Shatter! was able to use the reach of its new weapon to even land shots with the pointed back side of the Mary Special. Shatter! remained aggressive and caught Blacksmith under the pulverizer as the fight wore on, continuing to rain down on its top armor with its own hammer too. Blacksmith was still able to control Shatter! at times during the closing stages, but the fight went the distance and the judges rules unanimously in favor of Shatter!, putting them to 2-0 for the season.
Shatter! vs. Riptide Shatter! is caught in the short corner. Bots FC try everything to get Shatter running. Shatter! was not offered a third Fight Night battle, and advanced to the Round of 32 seeded No.12. Its next opponent camed in the form of No.21 seed Riptide. For this must-win fight, Shatter! was fitted with New Rusty - a hammerhead designed to be fired into opponents with spinning weaponry. Riptide opted against the box rush this time as Shatter! strafed around it before taking a small hit from Riptide's eggbeater. This was enough to damage Shatter! however, as parts flew off the bot. Riptide coerced its opponent against the screws of the Upper Deck before throwing Shatter! on top of the BattleBox hazard. Adam Wrigley's bot was able to drive its way off, but was now deep in the short corner facing Riptide with its eggbeater back up to speed. Shatter! missed with their hammer shot and Riptide took advantage, punching Shatter! into the wall as it landed upside down. Shatter! was righted with help from its opponent, but Riptide backed up to deliver another hit which appeared to immobilize Shatter! completely. The hammer was able to land a blow on top of Riptide as the rookie team closed in again, but this caused them no issues as Shatter! was now smoking on the right side and unable to move. With less than a minute gone, Shatter! was counted out and fell at the Top 32 stage.

Results

Wins/Losses

• Wins: 8
• Losses: 6

Competition	Wins	Losses
Discovery Season 4	Wan Hoo (Undercard Match) Kingpin (Undercard Match)	Witch Doctor (Undercard Match) Minotaur (Undercard Match) Kraken (Exhibition Match)
Discovery Season 5	Ghost Raptor (Undercard Match) Captain Shrederator (Undercard Match) Lock-Jaw Mammoth	Malice (Undercard Match) End Game
Discovery Season 6	SubZero (Untelevised Undercard Match) Blacksmith (Undercard Match)	Riptide

Faruq Tauheed Introductions

"This bot hails from Brooklyn, so it's going to beat you with all local organic ingredients. Hotter than an L train in July. You better be like Biggie, ready to die. It's SHATTER!"

"This bot will break you like Bernie Madoff. It brings more hurt than ripping a band-aid off. If it were a cocktail, it would be a Molotov. Your parts are gonna scatter, it's SHATTER!"

"This next bot is taking over like Oprah, because you get a killing, and you get a killing, AND YOU GET A KILLING, EVERYBODY GETS A KILLING! It's SHATTER!"

"Mirror, mirror on this bot, who's the deadliest of the lot? With an axe to grind and omni-drive, you'll be lucky to leave the box alive. Here to leave you in tatters, SHATTER!"

"When I say Olly Olly Oxen Free, you can all scatter. It still won't matter. It's Brooklyn's own SHATTER!"

"This bot is from Brooklyn, home of the Jigga Baby and his hammer will drop beats like his name was Jay-Z. Hammer, axe, spike, whatever you're calling them, you've got ninety-nine problems, and this bot is all of them. It's SHATTER!"

"From Brooklyn, New York, the brawler from BK, SHATTER!"

"This disco ball bot looks like it listens to ABBA, but with its powerful axe, it’s more of a stabber. The box is his dancefloor and he’s ready to drive and when he comes for you, you won’t be Stayin’ Alive. Giving other bots a case of the heebie-Bee Gees, it’s SHATTER!"

"This beastly bot's from Brooklyn and you don't get no sleep when your dreams are haunted by fear. So whatcha... whatcha want, mercy? Not likely. You better ride away like Paul Revere. Other bots crash so fast, it feels like sabotage. You'll fight for your right to get dropped. He's a sure shot whose rep is intergalactic and you're about to be mmm dropped. It's SHATTER!"

Trivia

• Shatter! was the first robot of the modern BattleBots era to utilize omniwheels for locomotion.
  • Each of Shatter!'s omniwheels contained 115 individual parts for its debut season.
• Shatter! is one of two BattleBots competitors apply but not be selected for Robot Wars, as well as Double Jeopardy.
  • Fuzzy Mauldin of Hypothermia and Texas Twister also applied for Series 9 of the UK show with Polar Vortex, but withdrew due to travel issues.

External Links

• Blue (King Of Bots)
• Mega Melvin (Robot Wars)