Shatter!

Shatter! is a heavyweight robot built by Bots FC from Brooklyn, New York, which competed in the fourth season of the BattleBots reboot on Discovery and Science. The robot is essentially a better armored version of Bots FC's heavyweight, Mega Melvin, featuring improvements to the chassis, electronics and hammer weapon. The team also entered KOB with a pink version called Blue. Shatter! gets its name from its powerful hammer, its gem-like appearing armor and the armor's ability to come off piece by piece during a match.

Shatter! is driven by four Mecanum wheels. Each wheel is powered by a brushless motor, and features several rollers which allow the robot to drive forwards, backwards and sideways. This enables Shatter! to 'coast' across the BattleBox in a controlled manner which allows it to always face opponents head-on. The hammer itself is electric and is extremely powerful, practically throwing the robot up when it hits something and allows it to self-right quickly.

Robot History

Discovery Season 4

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 "Ol' 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. 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. As the last 10 seconds of the match came, Witch Doctor got going again, albeit only on one side but brought the match to the judges. The judges awarded Witch Doctor a unanimous 3-0 decision.

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! also fought a match against the bowling-themed newcomer, Kingpin. Before the match, Shatter! actually 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. Luckily, Shatter! didn't really need much of its strategy as Kingpin quickly immobilized itself after turning into the screws with its weapon due to a setscrew failure. Shatter! promptly avoided Kingpin's still functioning weapon and attacked their top armor, leaving a few holes and dents. 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 beginning to smoke and as it was being counted out, the smoke grew thicker and Shatter! the won by KO. What wasn't show was the biggest fire within the whole event that erupted from Kingpin.

Shatter! was next against Team Riobotz and former runner-up, Minotaur. The match started off pretty evenly for Shatter! as they couldn't cause any major damage to Minotaur and didn't 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 couldn't 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.

Unfortunately, Shatter! wasn't selected by the judges as an automatic seed, or have it participate for the play-offs to earn a spot in the Round of 16, meaning Shatter! was eliminated from the main competition.

Wins/Losses

• Wins: 2
• Losses: 2

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 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!"

Trivia

• Shatter!, under its previous name of Blue, is at least one of five robots that competed at the 2018 Orlando Maker Faire. The other known ones are Kraken, Mammoth, Extinguisher, and HyperShock.

External Links

• Blue (King Of Bots)
• Mega Melvin