The Disk O' Inferno

The Disk O'Inferno
Participation Information
Reboot Seasons	World Championship II
Other Names	Disk O' Inferno
Team Information
Team	The Infernolab
Team Members	Jason Bardis (Captain) Richard Loehnig Byron Bardis Mark Liu Ross Hironaka
From	Irvine, CA
Other Entries	Dr. Inferno Jr., Towering Inferno, Hot Air, The Missing Link
Associated Robots	Slugger (Jason Bardis) Gigabyte (Richard Loehnig, Mark Liu)
Robot Statistics
Weight	250lbs
Power	20Ah LiPo battery pack
Drive	4x Ampflow A28-150G brushed motors
Weapons	Horizontal flywheel Rear-mounted flipper
Statistics correct as of its most recent appearance on the show, or if not applicable, qualification attempt.

"The Disk O' Inferno. The heaviest, strongest, fastest, most complicated, most ambitious, most deadly, and definitely the most expensive fighting robot that I've ever made."

— Jason Bardis speaking about The Disk O' Inferno in 2016

The Disk O' Inferno, also simply referred to on-screen as Disk O' Inferno, was a robot which competed exclusively in BattleBots World Championship II. It was built by Jason Bardis of The Infernolab, who had previously competed in the Comedy Central era of BattleBots with Dr. Inferno Jr. and Towering Inferno.

It was armed with a 48lb horizontally-mounted spinning flywheel on the front made from tool steel, and a chain-driven lifting arm at the rear which could double up as a self-righting mechanism. Kenny Florian referred to the latter onscreen as a 'flipping device', which could operate similarly to conventional front and rear-hinged flippers or lifters.

The Disk O' Inferno was armored in high-strength aerospace-grade aluminum, while its weaponry and overall appearance gave it a passing resemblance to three-time UK Robot Wars Grand Finalist Hypno-Disc. In its only televised season, The Disk O' Inferno struggled to get far into the main competition, losing out on a controversial judges' decision against Zoe Stephenson's Chomp in the qualifying rounds. It also lost a three-way rumble against ROTATOR under similar circumstances, after sustaining damage to its spinner and eventually being left with mobility issues. Jason Bardis would become a full-time BattleBots judge for every season since World Championship IV, joined by former competitors Lisa Winter and Derek Young, who had also competed in both eras of the show. Team members Richard Loehnig and Mark Liu would both later join up with Robotic Death Company and Gigabyte for later seasons of BattleBots.

Due to this, The Disk O' Inferno would not return to BattleBots after World Championship II, but has since been a display piece at various events, along with many of the team's other machines. According to Jason Bardis, parts from The Disk O' Inferno were ultimately reused in a number of future competitors.

"I sold Disk O' Inferno's parts that went into Whiplash, Mad Catter, Bale Spear, & Warhawk (pretty sure)"

— Jason's comment on The Disk O' Inferno's retirement

The Disk O' Inferno was ultimately sold to BattleBots collector Lars Bakker in late 2022, and remains in his possession.

The Disk O' Inferno in April 2023, under new ownership.

The Disk O' Inferno after the 2016 season.

The Disk O' Inferno during World Championship II.

The Disk O' Inferno in The Pits during World Championship II.

The Disk O' Inferno in The Pits during World Championship II.

A render of The Disk O' Inferno, with its lifter retracted.

CAD of The Disk O' Inferno.

Outside BattleBots

The Disk O' Inferno was not a new design for Jason Bardis, as he competed with a middleweight version of the design back in 2005. This version of The Disk O' Inferno, named Disko Inferno, also competed in RoboGames 2005. Jason Bardis teased Disko Inferno as early as April 2004.

After receiving a Round 1 bye, Disko Inferno defeated CRAP in its first fight. It then backed this up with a win over Botfly, but lost consecutive fights against eventual Gold medalist Nasty Attitude and in the loser's bracket, Doom On You!, resulting in its elimination.

Disko Inferno during RoboGames 2005.

Disko Inferno with its lifter down.

Robot History

World Championship II
The Disk O' Inferno vs. Chomp The Disk O' Inferno's BattleBots debut came against Chomp. Chomp becomes unbalanced. Early in the fight, Chomp kept its front pointed at The Disk O' Inferno as the horizontal spinner looked for an opening. As The Disk O' Inferno dashed into Chomp's danger zone, Zoe Stephenson's robot fired its hammer but struck the arena floor instead of its opponent. The Disk O' Inferno swung around to face Chomp again, keeping its rear flipper retracted to protect its disk from overhead attacks. The Disk O' Inferno strikes the underbelly of Chomp. Chomp then swung its hammer again, narrowly missing and throwing itself over in the process. The Disk O' Inferno sought to capitalize, backing into its opponent and using its flipper as a shield to push Chomp back towards the pulverizer. The disk of Jason Bardis' robot then struck the underside of Chomp as it eventually recovered. The Disk O' Inferno's blade hit the side of Chomp, but its single-toothed weapon failed to cause visible damage before slowing to a halt. Chomp lands a hit on The Disk O' Inferno. The Disk O' Inferno was taken to the screws sat behind the red starting square, becoming entangled momentarily before self-righting. As Jason Bardis' robot lay stationary in front of both teams, this gave Chomp the opportunity to land its first hits of the fight. Chomp twice hammered The Disk O' Inferno's top panel before it sluggishly escaped further attacks. However, Chomp was able to cut down the angle and landed a third successive hit to the top of The Disk O' Inferno - this time coupling the attack with a burst of flame. "OHH! There's the flame that we've been waiting for!" — Chris Rose on Chomp opting to use its flamethrower Chomp is taken to the screws. A fourth hit caused Chomp to jump into the air, landing on top of its opponent and toppling onto its right side. The Disk O' Inferno again managed to drive around Chomp and used its flipping panel to keep its opponent at bay. Leading with its back end, The Disk O' Inferno continued to try and unbalance its opponent, but Chomp remained upright as it landed a glancing shot accompanied by another flash of fire. Chris Rose: "[The] Disk O' Inferno has managed to score despite what looks like the loss of its primary weapon... Jason Bardis has really been controlling the pace of this fight." Kenny Florian: "Yeah, but you gotta wonder whether those giant shots by Chomp are gonna leave the bigger impression on the judges." — Chris and Kenny on who had the upper hand with under a minute to go Chomp's late flurry of attacks. Chomp dished out a number of attacks in the closing seconds with mixed success on hitting its opponent as time ran out. The judges awarded a close 2-1 decision in Chomp's favor. The Disk O' Inferno was not chosen to be a wildcard, meaning it was eliminated from the tournament.
The Disk O' Inferno vs. Splatter vs. ROTATOR (Exhibition) The Disk O' Inferno also participated in a three-way rumble alongside Splatter and ROTATOR. The Disk O' Inferno slams ROTATOR into the screws. The Disk O' Inferno was unable to cause damage with its horizontal disk early on, but managed to use its rear-mounted flipper to slam ROTATOR into the screws. The Disk O' Inferno then tried to shove ROTATOR as it adopted a sit-and-spin technique. The Disk O' Inferno collides with ROTATOR. However, this proved to be a mistake as the impact caused ROTATOR to land with its remaining spinning disk into The Disk O' Inferno's blade, taking a chunk out of The Disk O' Inferno's main weapon, forcing Jason Bardis to power down the weapon. The Disk O' Inferno manages to right itself off the wall. Now without its primary weapon, The Disk O' Inferno was attacked by Splatter and flipped over. The Disk O' Inferno struggled to self-right and managed to do so with a little help from Splatter. However, its flywheel had been disabled, so The Disk O' Inferno tried to make use of its rear-mounted self-righting arm to little success, until its motor burnt out. The Disk O' Inferno is hit on its side. At one point, The Disk O' Inferno was struck by ROTATOR on the underside, causing part of it to peel down and partially high center the horizontal spinner. The Disk O' Inferno continued to crab-walk without doing much of anything to the other opponents until the time ran out. ROTATOR was declared the winner of the rumble after a unanimous judges' decision, and this proved to be The Disk O' Inferno's final BattleBots fight.

Results

Competitive Wins/Losses

• Wins: 0
• Losses: 1

Exhibition Wins/Losses

• Wins: 0
• Losses: 1

Total Wins/Losses

• Wins: 0
• Losses: 2

Competition	Wins	Losses
World Championship II	None	Chomp ROTATOR

Faruq Tauheed Introductions

"It’s got a case of Saturday fight fever. Every day he’s hustling. It’s THE DISK O' INFERNO!"

"If it takes a swing at you, you'd better disco duck. Get ready for death by THE DISK O' INFERNO!"

See Also

• Disko Inferno (RoboGames)

Trivia

• In World Championship II, all three robots The Disk O' Inferno fought had a dual weapon system. Chomp had a hammer and a flamethrower, Splatter had a lifting arm and a vertical spinning disk, and ROTATOR had two horizontal spinning disk.

• 11 years before its heavyweight incarnation entered BattleBots, Disko Inferno competed in RoboGames 2005, winning two fights before losing to eventual gold medalist Nasty Attitude. The middleweight was retired and disassembled not long after, and did not return to RoboGames.
• The Disk O' Inferno was largely made up of four large billet CNC-machined parts, including the flywheel weapon itself.
• After World Championship II, The Disk O' Inferno was in storage at the NTMA machining school to inspire students.
• The Disk O' Inferno also featured in an episode of YouTube comedy series Good Mythical Morning before it returned to Jason's home.