Spartacus, also known as Spartacus III, Spartacus 3.0[1] and more recently, Snapper, is a heavyweight robot built by Jim Rowland of Sinclair Robotics for BattleBots World Championship VIII.[2] The team were supposedly interested in building for Proving Ground, but have not been scheduled for any fights and no updates have been posted since mid-2023.[3]
It is a long, four-wheeled robot armed with a front-mounted, hydraulic pincer to grip and damage opponents boasting 20,000lbs of force at its tip. Spartacus features a strong Roman theme, evident by its name and gladiator helmet. Spartacus is armored in ½" thick AR500 steel.
The team, whose name derives from Sinclair University College in Dayton, Ohio, where earlier combat robots were built, have teased plans on a rebranded Spartacus under the name Snapper. Despite having teased a working CAD and a BuildersDB profile, no further information have come about this redesign and it has yet to compete anywhere.[4]
Outside BattleBots[]
Although the team have never competed in any televised BattleBots seasons, Jim Rowland originally entered Spartacus into the first season of Robot Wars: Extreme Warriors. There, it fought in a six-way qualifying battle against General Chompsalot, Drillzilla, Cyclone, Panzer Mk 2 and Run Away. The comparatively small Spartacus was teamed up on by three of its opponents, playing a small part in the battle as Panzer Mk 2 was declared the winner.
The team rebuilt Spartacus, but it would not compete again in the US spin-off. Instead, Spartacus II represented the United States of America in the qualifying battles for the Third World Championship. Spartacus II defeated fellow US representative Flippa and qualified for the competition. However, it was comfortably beaten in its opening three-way battle involving Belgium's Hard, who was also eliminated, and Sri Lankan entry Supernova.
Spartacus was registered to compete in the 2004 FRA World Championship event held in the United Kingdom. It was billed to fight a robot called The Wall, but the event would ultimately be canceled.[5]
Both retired builds of Spartacus still reside with captain Jim Rowland.
See Also[]
References[]
- ↑ https://www.reddit.com/r/battlebots/comments/131ql3s/anyone_interested_in_seeing_spartacus_30_in/
- ↑ https://www.reddit.com/r/battlebots/comments/131ql3s/comment/ji2u0ss/?utm_source=share&utm_medium=web2x&context=3
- ↑ Correspondence between SFCJack and Mark Elam, formerly of Twister Robotics
- ↑ https://www.buildersdb.com/robots/16062
- ↑ Proposed FRA World Championship 2005 bracket