Vault

Vault
Participation Information
Unaired Events	Pro Championship 2009
Team Information
Team	Team UI
Team Members	Marc DeVidts Victor Soto Alex Espinosa
From	San Mateo, CA
Other Entries	Edge, Icewave
Associated Robots	ROTATOR (Victor Soto, Marc DeVidts) Blue Flame, Nightstalker, The Revenant, Against All Odds, UM Spin EM, panDEMONium, Category 5, Fuchsia Fusion (Victor Soto) Afterburner, Surgeon General (Alex Espinosa)
Robot Statistics
Weight	220lbs
Weapons	Four-bar flipper
Statistics correct as of its most recent appearance on the show, or if not applicable, qualification attempt.

Vault was a heavyweight robot built by Team UI which competed in the BattleBots Pro Championship in 2009.

Built primarily by Marc DeVidts and Victor Soto, it was a black and silver, four-wheel drive robot inspired by superheavyweight competitor Ziggy. Like Ziggy, its primary weapon was a pneumatic four-bar flipper, capable of throwing over 200lbs with ease, as demonstrated in various testing videos.

Despite its powerful armament - crucial to a dominant first victory over Hugs & Kisses - Vault was severely damaged by Tombstone at an early stage of the Pro Championship. The damage proved significant enough for it to forfeit its loser's bracket match against Warrior, eliminating it from the tournament entirely. Upon the event's conclusion, Vault was effectively retired and scrapped after its remains were left in a dumpster in Mare Island.^Citation?

Both of Vault's main builders are experienced competitors in their own right. Marc DeVidts previously competed in Season 5.0 of Comedy Central BattleBots with middleweight Edge, before building middleweight and heavyweight versions of horizontal spinner Icewave for BattleBots IQ and reboot-era competitions.

Likewise, Victor Soto fought in the inaugural BattleBots IQ event with Nightstalker. He then entered the 2004 NPC Charity Open event with middleweight Blue Flame, before entering into the 2011 BotsIQ National Championships with more success. He would later enter 250lb heavyweight ROTATOR into televised BattleBots seasons.

CAD of Vault, circa 2009.

Robot History

Pro Championship 2009
Vault vs. Hugs & Kisses After receiving a bye from the first round of the main Winner's Bracket, Vault made its 2009 Pro Championship debut in the second round, where it faced the dual vertical spinners of Hugs & Kisses. This was the only match of its campaign to have footage publicly released, with a large portion of the fight being uploaded by the Autodesk Inventor YouTube channel. Vault started tentatively from the red square, initially approaching then turning away from The Bot Dudes' machine as it tried to find the right angle to attack. After keeping its distance, Vault charged under the left drive pod of Hugs & Kisses, only to be briefly pushed back by Hugs & Kisses before reversing quickly away. Again, it drove tentatively around Hugs & Kisses, but had its ground clearance temporarily breached upon sliding into Hugs & Kisses' right-front corner. Vault bumped Hugs & Kisses from the same side seconds later, though this again allowed Hugs & Kisses to get underneath and bring its right-most disk into contact with Vault's front. The Team UI machine, however, was able to escape as both competitors briefly locked together. Following another pushing match, Vault reversed and maneuvered away from Hugs & Kisses. Quickly, it drove back into Hugs & Kisses and threw it on top of the screws. The footage ended with Vault retracting its flipper and driving towards the now-stranded Hugs & Kisses, though official BattleBots records confirm it would win by knockout after one minute and 35 seconds.
Vault vs. Tombstone Damage to Vault from Tombstone. Vault next fought another future ABC/Discovery mainstay in the form of Ray Billings, Hardcore Robotics and their horizontal spinner Tombstone. BattleBots records document Vault as having lost by knockout after 43 seconds, with a photo from the event also suggesting that Tombstone inflicted severe damage to the front of its chassis.
Vault vs. Warrior Now consigned to the losers' bracket, Vault was set to face the SKF incarnation of Team Whyachi's Warrior. However, BattleBots records indicate that it forfeited, likely suggesting that the damage dealt by Tombstone was too great for it to be repaired in time. Thus, Vault was eliminated from the 2009 Pro Championship.

Results

Wins/Losses

• Wins: 1
• Losses: 2

Competition	Wins	Losses
Pro Championship 2009	Hugs & Kisses	Tombstone Warrior (Forfeit)

Trivia

• Ironically, builders Victor Soto and Marc DeVidts would meet in BattleBots World Championship III as ROTATOR defeated Icewave.