Team Bigger Brother, also known as Team Big Brother, are a team from the United Kingdom who have competed in both the original Comedy Central seasons of BattleBots, as well as multiple series since its return to television in 2015, on ABC and Discovery.
The team ahead of World Championship IV filming.
They are best known in BattleBots for their pneumatic flipper Little Sister, an alternative incarnation of their second Robot Wars competitor Bigger Brother which also competed prior to naming rights being isolated to either Robot Wars or BattleBots. According to Ian Watts, these were actually different robots.[1] Whereas Bigger Brother referenced team captain Ian Watt's older child Joe, Little Sister referenced his younger daughter Ellie. Ian Watts' younger son Sam joined the team ahead of the debut of Creepy Crawlies and its successor, The Four Horsemen.
Little Sister proved to be the most successful of Team Bigger Brother's BattleBots entries, twice reaching the Round of 32 and winning several end-of-season rumbles throughout its career.
Outside BattleBots[]
Team Bigger Brother during Series 5 of Robot Wars.
Team Bigger Brother previously competed in the third series of Robot Wars with Big Brother, before debuting Bigger Brother a year later. Though it failed to escape its heat, the upgraded Bigger Brother which became Little Sister in BattleBots made it all the way to the Grand Final battle of Series 5 of Robot Wars, only stopped by Razer after ending the winning streak of two-time champions Chaos 2. Certifying its status as an all-star from that point on, Bigger Brother made the semi-finals in the following series before suffering a shock exit in its final Robot Wars competition. Ian Watts returned to Robot Wars with its revival in 2016, but lost in the first round with Or Te and was subsequently eliminated. His team suffered the same fate in Series 10 with multibot The Swarm.
The Watts family have also competed in numerous other events, notably the Chinese show King of Bots with another multibot entry known as The Grubs, as well as its successor This Is Fighting Robots with Eater. They also entered the British show TechoGames with Big Bro and Jake The Peg.
Team Members[]
Ian Watts[]
Father to Joe, Ellie and Sam Watts, Ian Watts drove each of the team's robots throughout BattleBots. He works at the University of Brighton as a lecturer.
Kelly Smith[]
Joining ahead of the 2016 BattleBots season, Kelly Smith was appointed captain of Creepy Crawlies.
Joe & Ellie Watts[]
Joe and Ellie Watts are Ian's eldest children and were present for each of Bigger Brother and Little Sister's battles.
Whereas Bigger Brother was named after the elder child Joe Watts, Little Sister was named after Ellie Watts. Neither returned to the team as Ian Watts returned to BattleBots in 2016.
Sam Watts[]
The youngest of Ian's sons to compete in a televised season, Sam Watts joined his father's team in 2016 as one of their drivers, and remained through their two seasons with The Four Horsemen.
Robots[]
| Robot | Weight Class | Season |
|---|---|---|
| Bigger Brother | Heavyweight | Season 2.0 |
| Little Sister | Heavyweight | Season 3.0 Season 4.0 Season 5.0 |
| Bull Dog | Heavyweight | World Championship I (Reserve) World Championship II (Not selected) |
| Creepy Crawlies | Heavyweight | World Championship II |
| The Four Horsemen | Heavyweight | World Championship III World Championship IV |
Wins/Losses[]
- Wins: 5
- Losses: 5
See Also[]
- Team Big Brother (Robot Wars)
- Bigger Brother (Robot Wars)
- Big Brother (Robot Wars)
- Or Te (Robot Wars)
- The Swarm (Robot Wars)
- The Grubs (King of Bots)
- Eater (This Is Fighting Robots)