Tough as Nails was a heavyweight robot built by Team KODOX which was entered into BattleBots World Championship III.
It was a two-wheel drive, invertible robot whose primary weapon was a full-body horizontal crusher with much of its electronics enclosed within its jaws. The crushing mechanism worked in such a way that the main ram was housed along its axle, which became longer or shorter as the crusher activated and retracted.
According to Jeroen Van Lieverloo, Tough as Nails was submitted to BattleBots ahead of the 2018 season, but ultimately competed with Reality instead.[1]
Outside BattleBots[]
Tough as Nails was originally built for the second series of the Dutch Robot Wars spin-off, where it lost its first and only battle to Scrap-2-Saur.
Following this, Tough as Nails won a major heavyweight competition in its native country, giving it pedigree ahead of its appearance in Series 7 of the UK Robot Wars. In its first round qualifier, Tough as Nails was able to control each of its opponents, eventually carrying all three into the pit hazard. In Round 2, Tough as Nails sparked a surprise by defeating former champion Panic Attack before beating Robochicken in the heat final to secure a place in the series semi-finals. Continuing on as a heat winner, Tough as Nails took Bulldog Breed to a judges' decision but was eliminated at this stage. During the series, Tough as Nails defeated Gravity and Scraptosaur, avenging its previous loss against the latter, in an all-Dutch qualifier for the Third World Championship special. In the tournament itself, Tough as Nails pitted Swedish representative Rawbot, but fell in the final four to Storm 2.
With the return of Robot Wars in 2016, an upgraded Tough as Nails entered Series 8. However, it lost in Round 1 to Thor and Shockwave and was eliminated.
Although Tough as Nails would not compete in another UK Championship, it represented The Netherlands one final time during the Robot Wars: World Series specials as an emergency replacement for THE BASH. There, it suffered a second loss to UK representative Thor and played no further part in the special.
