Undercutters are a variation of horizontal spinners where the spinning mass is positioned as low to the BattleBox floor as possible without compromising the robot's ability to drive.
Design and History[]
Valkyrie's weapon breaks against Lock-Jaw.
The idea behind undercutters is to hit as low as possible on an opponent, potentially targeting tires on robots with a particularly high ground clearance. This was first seen on Team Loki's heavyweight Surgeon General.
A disadvantage of undercutters, as is the case with many horizontal spinners, is that the robot will suddenly become unbalanced if the disc or bar is broken, as was seen in Valkyrie's 2018 season loss to Lock-Jaw.
ROTATOR attacks Kraken high up.
Robots with undercutters are typically also able to run inverted so they can attack higher up on opponents when flipped, to add more unpredictability to their attacks. Notably, Surgeon General began the Season 2.0 Heavyweight Consolation Rumble inverted, allowing it to hit higher up on opponents from the get-go. It repeated this for numerous other battles across its BattleBots career.
In more recent years, Victor Soto's ROTATOR has taken advantage of this since its debut, initially dual-wielding disc spinners at the front and back, having one undercutter and one "overcutter" before focusing on a single undercutting disc. ROTATOR became particularly effective at hitting high up on robots when turned over, notably causing visible destruction to Icewave and Kraken, among others. Valkyrie and HiJinx are two other undercutters which debuted in the 2018 and 2020 seasons respectively. Both are invertible by design and able to operate with an "overcutter" if deemed necessary. Although the team do not always opt to use it, the modular Ribbot featured an undercutting disc in the official shot for its first four seasons.
Advantages & Disadvantages[]
Advantages[]
- They find it easy to be invertible, and just about every undercutter is (except Retrograde).
- They have the best chance of damaging underneath the targets. Code:BLACK was able to take out Ziggo's wheels without touching the shell.
- They can be deadly (as Valkyrie proved on SubZero and ROTATOR).
- They are perfect against anyone with ramps, like Flippers who often have Wedges as undercutters can repel or slide under them.
- They're just as effective overhead as they are on the ground: ROTATOR has discs positioned both on the ground and above itself.
Disadvantages[]
- Like all horizontal spinners, an undercutter that breaks will make the owner gyrate out of control (Valkyrie suffered this in 2018's Desperado tournament, and it lost to Lock-Jaw because of it.)
- Regardless if the undercutter is a disc or bar, it can be heavy and require weight loss to gain participation.
- They are vulnerable to impacts with walls or an opponent with a durable ground-scraping plow, which can break the undercutter to pieces or off completely (as Lock-Jaw proved on Valkyrie.)
- Like wedges, undercutters are susceptible to digging into seams in the floor, where the owners can be snared or bounce off uncontrollably.
- Unless the user is invertible and got flipped over, undercutters won't protect from overhead attacks like Hammers.
Notable Competitors[]
| Robot | Seasons | Image |
|---|---|---|
| HiJinx | World Championship V - Present |  |
| Ribbot | World Championship IV - Present |  |
| ROTATOR | World Championship II - Present |  |
| Roundhouse | BattleBots Proving Ground |  |
| Samurai | World Championship VII (Exhibition only) |  |
| SMEEEEEEEEEEEEE | World Championship V - BattleBots: Champions I |  |
| Surgeon General | Season 2.0 - Season 5.0 |  |
| Texas Twister | World Championship IV |  |
| Valkyrie | World Championship III - Present |  |
Trivia[]
- Team Toad captain Fuzzy Mauldin credited Team Loki's Surgeon General as being his main inspiration for building Texas Twister ahead of the 2019 BattleBots season.
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