Concussion

**Concussion** was a drum spinner antweight that appeared in AWS 57 where it performed reasonably. The robot was built by Dorset Roboteering Team and was a smaller version of their heavyweight of the same name which competed in the reboot of Robot Wars.

## Robot History

### AWS 57

In the first round, Concussion faced Rented For The Roboteer's Pleasure. The fight started with Rented For The Roboteer's Pleasure landing a few shots on Concussion before Concussion shot it up high. Rented For The Roboteer's Pleasure recovered and Concussion stayed on it. The two got near one of the pits, and Concussion shot Rented For The Roboteer's Pleasure away from the pit before accidentally driving in.

In the loser's bracket, second round, Concussion faced We need to think of a Firestorm pun Barry? The fight started with both bots squaring up before Concussion got under We need to think of a Firestorm pun Barry? and dumped it into the pit.

In the loser's bracket third round, Concussion faced Flipsome. The fight started with Concussion bullying Flipsome around the arena before flipping it. Flipsome couldn't self right and was counted out, giving the win to Concussion.

In the loser's bracket fourth round, Concussion faced Valkyrie. The fight started with a weapon to weapon hit before Valkyrie drove into the pit.

In the fifth round, Concussion faced Rented For The Roboteer's Pleasure again. The fight started with a hit from Concussion before it violently ejected its weapon. It then ran around for a bit before Rented For The Roboteer's Pleasure eliminated Concussion from the competition by pushing it in the pit.

## Wins/Losses

* Wins: 3
* Losses: 2

## Outside AWS

The heavyweight Concussion fought in the Ninth and Tenth series of Robot Wars, getting to the Grand Final in Series 9 while in the Heat Final in Series 10. It also fought in the World Series. Since then the heavyweight has been on display at various events such as Robonerd and Extreme Robots.

Tim Rackley and Sam Griffon joined up with Team Tauron and compete in BattleBots with Monsoon, which appears alongside Tauron in various UK Live Events.

Ahead of the Robo Challenge Championship at Insomnia 61, Dorset Roboteering Team began building Migraine, a scaled down version of Concussion, although this ultimately did not compete. Tim Rackley instead competed with Spank the Monkey, a tall fur-coated robot with two swinging arms. Notably, it was equipped with an inflatable banana in a battle with drum spinner Equinox, and the banana was absorbed by the drum spinner, disabling it.

As the captain of the Smushed Banana team, Tim Rackley built a new featherweight in 2018, to enter the featherweight championship held by King of Bots at Insomnia 63. His new robot was named Furious George. Armed with a vertical spinner designed to look like an opened banana, Furious George won its first qualification battle after pitting Nelly the Ellybot, before comfortably defeating Utopia and Meow in its next melee, although Furious George would lose its final qualification round against Cobalt, after getting wedged against the wall. Furious George qualified for the Top 20, but was stranded on its side against the arena wall by Aegis, and lost the battle. Furious George had one last chance in the five-way losers' melee, but it was immobilised by DB12, eliminating Furious George at this stage. Both Furious George and Spank the Monkey competed in a six-way animal-themed melee named "Farmageddon", where Spank the Monkey was quickly immobilised by Nelly the Ellybot, while Furious George immobilised all of the remaining machines except for Meow. However, for hitting the immobile Hedgebot at its builder's request, Furious George was stripped of its victory for unsportsmanlike behaviour, as the judges were unaware of Hedgebot's request. Spank the Monkey entered a three-way whiteboard battle between prominent members of the Robot Wars Shuntposting Facebook group, placing it against Nelly the Ellybot and Straddle 2, and was quickly overturned by Nelly the Ellybot. Finally, Spank the Monkey was retired in a demonstration of the heavyweight robot Vulcan, which destroyed the featherweight machine in front of the audience.

Tim Rackley collaborated with Jason Marston to enter the Chinese TV show Clash Bots, filmed in 2018. They did so with AU Thumper, a golden robot armed with a steep wedge and an electrically driven axe, capitalising on Marston's success for Thor. The robot ultimately finished in third place.

Tim Rackley would go on to feature as a referee for the beetleweight combat web series Bugglebots in 2018. At the end of the first series, he also took part in the 'Ref Rumble', taking control of The Berg in a one-on-one battle against Saw Loser and fellow referee Shane Lale. Despite encountering intermittent drive issues, he commanded The Berg to a dominant knockout victory, repeatedly hitting and flipping Saw Loser until it became immobilised.

Sam Griffin would also go on to build a beetleweight horizontal spinner called Night Fury, where it won the Chatham Challenge Belt in July 2021, beating Jack Tweedy's Toxin in the final.