Tripulta Raptor was a superheavyweight (later heavyweight) robot built by Team Raptor which competed in three seasons of Comedy Central BattleBots.
It entered as a four-wheeled superheavyweight in its debut season, before being downsized to the heavyweight class for the latter seasons. Tripulta Raptor originally used wheels for locomotion, but switched to tracks in its redesign between Season 2.0 and Season 3.0. Tripulta Raptor was silver in color, built by Robert "Bob" Pitzer and armed with two large crushing and lifting jaws. The robot was sluggish, however, and only won two career matches, one of which was by forfeit.
Tripulta Raptor itself would not compete in Season 5.0, though Bob Pitzer was still present at filming to air his grievances concerning the lawsuit.[1] Ultimately, the lawsuit was later dismissed in a June 2004 court case, which ruled that 'RoboBash' was a general 'fair use' parody of robot combat shows.[2]
Outside BattleBots[]
A robot largely based on Tripulta Raptor's design, Inflictor, was also created by Team Raptor for the 2002 Bud Light Super Bowl commercial 'RoboBash'. In a general parody of BattleBots and other robot combat shows, Inflictor was humorously shown to fight and be defeated by an innocuous-looking MiniFridge.[3][4] As Inflictor shared many design similarities with Tripulta Raptor, BattleBots sued Anheuser-Busch - owners of the Bud Light brand - over exclusivity rights to the latter's likeness.[5]
Tripulta Raptor was rebuilt and given the name Preda Raptor for events after BattleBots. It first fought in 2010 and went 2-2, picking up wins over Smash & Wrecker and Vlad the Impaler II but losing to Touro Maximus and SJ.
Returning to RoboGames in 2011, Preda Raptor lost a real fight against a combat ready mini-fridge at RoboGames 2011 after losing its ability to drive. This overshadowed its two wins over Pump and Gruff, which were followed by a second loss to Son of Ziggy.
Preda Raptor last fought two years later at RoboGames 2013, where it went 1-2 after defeating Prometheus but losing out to Sewer Snake and Brutality.
The jaw assembly of Tripulta Raptor would be brought to Opensauce in 2023 along with Ghost Raptor.
Robot History[]
Season 2.0[] |
|---|
Tripulta Raptor vs. Liquid Lunch (Forfeit) Tripulta Raptor was scheduled to fight Liquid Lunch, but Liquid Lunch had technical issues and was forced to forfeit. This win put Tripulta Raptor in the Round of 16, where it faced Toro. |
Tripulta Raptor vs. Toro   Tripulta Raptor is flipped by Toro. As both robots approached each other, Toro moves to the side of Tripulta Raptor in an attempt to flip it. Toro misses and got underneath the side of Tripulta Raptor again. Tripulta Raptor was then flipped by Toro and was pushed towards the pulverizer. Tripulta Raptor was being counted out and Toro won by KO. This meant that Tripulta Raptor was eliminated from the tournament. |
Season 3.0[] |
Tripulta Raptor vs. Orion Now in the heavyweight division, Tripulta Raptor's first match was against Orion. Tripulta Raptor won by knockout and advanced to the TV rounds, where it faced KillerB. |
Tripulta Raptor vs. KillerB   Tripulta Raptor is pushed towards the pulverizer. Tripulta Raptor was pushed by KillerB into the pulverizer, and the first hit knocked one of Tripulta Raptor's tracks clean off as a bad weld in the tracks gave way. Tripulta Raptor was now being counted out under the pulverizer and KillerB won by KO. This meant that Tripulta Raptor was eliminated from the tournament again. |
Season 4.0[] |
Tripulta Raptor vs. Agitator Returning in the heavyweight division, Tripulta Raptor first fought Agitator. The spinner's weapon hit Tripulta Raptor's jaws a few time, but caused little to no damage early on. Tripulta Raptor was able to stop the spin, but unable to get a bite before Agitator escaped. The next time it tried to lift its opponent, Tripulta Raptor became unbalanced and lifted its back end off the BattleBox floor. Later in the fight, Agitator dragged Tripulta Raptor alongside the arena wall and up onto the spikestrip, flipping Pitzer's bot onto its side. Agitator took full advantage of the situation, honing in on Tripulta Raptor's exposed hydraulic lines which caused liquid to pool on the steel floor. Tripulta Raptor was counted out and Agitator won by knockout, eliminating Tripulta Raptor once again. |
Wins/Losses[]
- Wins: 2
- Losses: 3
| Competition | Wins | Losses |
|---|---|---|
| Season 2.0 | Liquid Lunch (Forfeit) | Toro |
| Season 3.0 | Orion | KillerB |
| Season 4.0 | None | Agitator |
Mark Beiro Introductions[]
"He'll make you extinct in the blink of an eye. He's TRIPULTA RAPTOR!"
Merchandise[]
References[]
- ↑ ibid, p.276
- ↑ 'Lawsuit Over Bud Light Ad Dismissed' Los Angeles Times, July 13, 2004
- ↑ https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oJvsWvaTr4w
- ↑ http://web.archive.org/web/20021010020948/http://www.raptorrobotics.com/superbowl_ad.html
- ↑ Brad Stone (2003) Gearheads: The Turbulent Rise of Robotic Sports, pp.275-277
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