Big Brother (UK)

**Big Brother** was a conventional wedge shape robot with a 'morning star' flailing mace weapon. It usually used its wedge shape to overturn its opponents but also had spikes at the back, mild steel armour and ran on tractor wheels. It reached the semi-finals of Series 3 after it lost the Heat Final, with the Ultor team awarding the place in the semi-finals to it in their place. It was named after the team captain, Joe Watts, who is a big brother to his little sisters. The name also makes reference to the antagonist of the novel Nineteen Eighty-Four, by George Orwell.

Big Brother briefly appeared at the Model World 2000 in Brighton, where it defeated all other competitors in the Tug of War, including Mortis.

## Robot History

The robot defeated Grim Reaper on a judges' decision in its first round. Grim Reaper had a faster start in Big Brother's first battle, but the more powerful Big Brother pushed it back into Sergeant Bash. After spinning around each other for a while, Big Brother got underneath Grim Reaper and tried to direct it towards the pit, nearly falling in itself. Both robots escaped, and Grim Reaper came in on another charge, crashing over the top of Big Brother. After lining up another charge, Grim Reaper attacked, but the force of the impact meant its wheel fell off; however, Big Brother was also in trouble, only able to move in circles before stopping altogether. Sir Killalot then ran over Big Brother, and overturned Grim Reaper. The fight had to be decided by the judges, and Big Brother was awarded the victory on damage and aggression. This was notably the only time Team Big Brother ever won a judges' decision in UK Robot Wars.

In the second round, Big Brother faced Sir Chromalot. The two robots charged at each other from the start, and bounced off each other. The battle was tentative for a while after this, Sir Chromalot pushed Big Brother into Shunt, but Big Brother retaliated, turning over Sir Chromalot after a few seconds of sheepish pushing. Shunt and Dead Metal attacked the 'Class Act', whilst Big Brother spun around, however, Big Brother was pressurised by Shunt and Dead Metal.

Ultor was Big Brother's opponent for a semi-final slot, and the battle began strongly for Big Brother, who pushed against Ultor, and dodged the axe blow. For the first time in the heat, Big Brother's 'morning star' weapon was seen in action, although it got wedged on the axe of Ultor, who used this to drag Big Brother very nearly up and over. Big Brother again pushed Ultor around the arena, however the flail fell off whilst it was doing so. Big Brother got underneath Ultor again, lifting it up onto its side, but failing to overturn it. Ultor meanwhile, was in trouble from the arena spikes, which caused trouble for other robots. The battle ended with Big Brother on another charge against Ultor, but the damage to Big Brother was a deciding factor in the judge's voting in favour of Ultor, much to Joe Watts' disappointment. However, the Ultor team disagreed with the judges, and handed the victory to Big Brother instead.

Big Brother fought Mace 2 in the semi-finals, and it was immediately under pressure from Mace 2, lifting Big Brother up, but it escaped. After pushing against Mace 2, Big Brother was lifted up again, but again it bounced down and survived. Big Brother's turns to attack came soon, however, and it pushed Mace 2 towards the top of the arena, and then back again. However, the third flip from Mace 2 was sufficient to flip Big Brother onto its back. The House Robots then came in, and Big Brother was scratched by the saw of Dead Metal.

## Results

 Semi-Final
 Final
 Semi-Final 1

## Wins/Losses

* Wins: 2
* Losses: 2