Winston Churchkill, later known as SLAMbulance, was a heavyweight robot designed by Team Ballistix which applied for BattleBots World Championship V and VI under different guises.
It was a two-wheel drive, invertible robot armed with a vertical spinning bar styled to look like a lit cigar, as well as a hat, eyes, and arm for decoration. Its name and design was a clear homage to former British prime minister Winston Churchill, reinforced by the aesthetic details such as its right arm giving the "V for Victory" gesture. The robot also sported a feeder wedge leading to the bar spinner, and a protrusion from the top allowing it to still use its primary weapon when inverted. Winston Churchkill was originally accepted for the 2020 season of BattleBots, announced to Facebook Supporters in February 2020. However, filming for the season was ultimately postponed due to the COVID-19 pandemic. With travel restrictions enforced when the season's filming could resume, Team Ballistix announced through their Facebook page that they had little choice but to withdraw their application, despite James Davies stating the bot was fully built and ready to compete.
Team Ballistix applied for World Championship VI with a repainted version of the Winston Churchkill called SLAMbulance, in reference to James Davies and much of his team working within the NHS, the United Kingdom's publicly-funded health service. However, they were not selected to compete in World Championship VI.[1]
Outside BattleBots[]
Outside of BattleBots, Team Ballistix are well-known for designing robots based on real-life politicians as a form of satire, and make them the center of their theme. The team competed in Series 10 of Robot Wars with the similarly-designed Donald Thump, an obvious nod to former President of the United States, Donald Trump.
The team also built a featherweight spinner called Nigel Barrage, based on British politician Nigel Farage. In May 2019, the team also created Theresa Mayhem, designed to resemble the former Prime Minister Theresa May. It was revealed in June 2024 to be part of the sportsman heavyweight event MechMania.
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