Last Rites

**Last Rites** is bar spinner from Team **Hardcore Robotics**. It was the 2008 and 2012 ComBots Champion, and is one of the "Big Three" in US combat robotics, alongside **Sewer Snake**, and **Original Sin** . Last Rites first competed at the 2005 ComBots Cup, where it went 2-2.

Team Hardcore Robotics competed in BattleBots 2015-2021 with Tombstone, a similar version to Last Rites. It had outstanding success, as it was the Season 1 runner-up, Season 2 champion, and Season 4 semi-finalist.

## Design and Build

Last Rites' frame is made from 1 inch Chrome Moly Tubing chromium-molybdenum alloy tubing used where light strong structural tubing is needed for example aircraft . The completed frame is around 18% of the total weight of the robot, and needs to be replaced roughly every 2 events.
The robot is driven by two NPC T-64s DC electric motors at 33v and the weapon motor is an ME0708 (also known as the Etek-R) running at 58V.
Last Rights has a variety of weapon bars of various lengths, and therefore, different tip speeds, weights, and densities.

## Event History

### ComBots Cup I

Last Rites first faced **Sewer Snake**. This match started with Last Rites spinning up to full-speed. Sewer Snake charged at Last Rites, causing sparks to fly, and Last Rites to fly through the air and land upside down. Now with Last Rites up to speed again, Sewer Snake slammed into it again, causing parts to come flying out of Last Rites, and Last Rites tapped out. This put Last Rites in the loser’s bracket, where it faced **Pump**. However, Pump had issues and was forced to forfeit. Last Rites then advanced to the next round, where it faced **Body Slam**.

This fight started with Last Rites spinning up to speed, and making contact with Body Slam’s wedge, sending pieces flying everywhere. Pieces of Body Slam's lifter were everywhere on the floor. Last Rites' blade eventually stopped spinning. However, as Body Slam drove Last Rites into the wall, its lifter was too badly damaged to do anything to Last Rites, and drove into the wall where on half of its drive failed. Last Rites' blade then started working again, and it hit Body Slam, completely destroying the robot, causing it to tap out. Last Rites won by knockout. Last Rites' next opponent was **Brutality**.

Both robots spun up their weapons, and Brutality got to the backside of Last Rites and tore a huge gash in it, and then sent one of Last Rites' tires flying. Brutality tore another gash in the rear of Last Rites, which disables Last Rites' bar. Last Rites started smoking, and Brutality hit the bar of Last Rites with its bar, sending Last Rites into the wall and stopping Brutality's blade from spinning. Last Rites' spinner bracket was all bent up and twisted. The rest of the fight consisted of Brutality pushing Last Rites around while Last Rites tried to drive on one tire before time ran out. Obviously, the judge's ruled this fight in favor of Brutality, and Last Rites was eliminated from the competition.

### RoboGames 2006

Last Rites' first fight was against **Devil's Plunger**, Devil's Plunger got underneath Last Rites with its wedge, and rammed Last Rites into the wall, despite losing a tire in the process. Last Rites was immobile, however, and it was counted out. This put Last Rites into the loser's bracket against **SJ**. Last Rites took many shots from SJ's wedge, and then got slammed into the corner of the arena. Last Rites stopped moving and was counted out, eliminating Last Rites from the tournament.

### ComBots Cup II

Last Rites went up against a wedge bot **LNW** in it's first fight. LNW sent Last Rites flying across the arena with that wedge many times throughout the fight. However, Last Rites eventually managed to hit LNW on the side, immobilizing it. LNW tapped out, and Last Rites won. **Brutality** was Last Rites' next opponent. Brutality hit Last Rites with it's blade a couple times, causing Last Rites to go unbalanced. Last Rites was now upside down where the two spinners could now collide. Last Rites hit the arena wall a couple times before the two weapons collided, tearing off half of Brutality's blade. Brutality's spinner was unbalanced and sent itself flying in the air, and tapped out. However, they later announced Brutality as the winner because Last Rites wasn't moving at all after that hit because of an internal failure. Brutality was still moving, so it was declared the winner. This put Last Rites into the loser's bracket, where it faced **SJ**. Not much is known about this fight, except that SJ won which eliminated Last Rites from the tournament.

### RoboGames 2007

Last Rites had much more success the following year at Robogames 2007 beating Eugene, Brutality, Sir Loin, and returning champion Original Sin, before losing in the finals to Sewer Snake.
**Eugene** was KO'd in 27 seconds after taking a huge hit to the side that knocked something loose.  then, Last Rites was against **Brutality**, who was armed with a flamethrower and a wedge (and no spinning bar). Brutality charged at Last Rites, who launched Brutality across the arena a few times, damaging Brutality's top armor. However, Brutality retaliated and managed to pull off one of Last Rites' tires. However, with one wheel remaining, Last Rites managed to crawl towards Brutality and tear off a big chunk of it's top armor. Brutality tapped out, and Last Rights was the winner .
**Sir Loin** was Last Rites' next opponent. Sir Loin. The first 30 seconds of this fight consisted of Sir Loin driving in circles, and Last Rites positioning itself for an attack. Then, the two weapons collided, and shrapnel was sent all over the arena from both bots, which destroyed the arena lights and sent shards of glass everywhere. Last Rites hit Sir Loin so hard, that it's own weapon axle came loose. Last Rites was starting to self-destruct as it's blade was spinning loosely on its axle, about to fall out of the robot. Sir Loin's left front side was torn to shreds, causing Sir Loin's weapon to start spinning loosely, as belts and bits of pieces of Sir Loin's weapon motor went flying. The two robots collided again and this time, Sir Loin's weapon was torn completely off, and half of Last Rites' bar was sent flying to the other side of the arena. Both robots were weaponless, and completely destroyed. However, Last Rites was the one still moving, so it got the win . **Original Sin** was next. After Last Rites tore off three of Original Sin's tires within 20 seconds of this fight, Original Sin survived a total of 80 seconds and put up a decent fight. However, the last tire was eventually torn off and Original Sin tapped out . Last Rites was now in the finals against **Sewer Snake** who removed two of their six wheels to make weight available for a heavier scoop. During the fight, Sewer Snake upended Last Rites and wheel and motor unit detached from Last Rites. Struggling with mobility Last Rites survived 1 minute 10 seconds before Sewer Snake pinned them on their side, against the arena wall . Last Rites was counted out, and Sewer Snake was the champion of RoboGames 2007.

### RoboGames 2016

Last Rites first fight at this event was against a lifting wedge called **Foxic**. Last Rites hit Foxic's front plow several times, and Foxic never got a good lift. Foxic eventually stopped moving and was counted out.

Last Rites was then put against the deadly drum spinner of **Touro Maximus** (minotaur)

After the first few weapon to weapon collisions, Touro Maximus sent a chunk of Last Rites' blade flying into the Lexan wall, causing Last Rites to become unbalanced. Last Rites' spinner stopped working, and Touro Maximus hit Last Rites a couple times, dealing more damage. However, one of those hits caused Touro Maximus to stop moving, and they were counted out. Last Rites was the winner.

Last Rites was now up against it's arch nemesis **Original Sin**, who attached a big yellow plow to absorb the blows from Last Rites.

Original Sin charged right at Last Rites, and removed one of Last Rites' wheels immediately. That sent Last Rites into a corner of the arena. Original Sin then charged at Last Rites again, sending Last Rites flying into another side of the arena which completely immobilized it. Last Rites was counted out, and Original Sin won.

Last Rites was now in the loser's bracket, where it faced the 4-wheeled wedge, **Ragin Scotsman**

Last Rites took a couple hits from Ragin Scotsman's big wedge before Last Rites ripped off three tires. Ragin Scotsman was struggling to move after that but still managed to get underneath Last Rites a few more times before Last Rites ripped off the final tire and advanced.

Last Rites advanced to the next round, where it faced **Touro Maximus** again.

The 2 robots collided a few times and Touro Maximus's drum went up in smoke and was no longer working. Last Rites hit Touro Maximus hard a couple times with it's blade. However, Last Rites lost a side of drive and was near the arena wall. Touro Maximus went in and rammed Last Rites' blade against the wall which sent Last Rites spinning away. That appeared to have damaged Last Rites internally, as it struggled to move. Last Rites then stopped moving, and a beaten up Touro Maximus took the win. Last Rites was eliminated from the tournament.

### RoboGames 2017

After getting a bye in the first round, Last Rites' first fight in RoboGames 2017 was against **Sabre-X**, this match started with Sabre-X going in wedge first, but moving sluggishly. Last Rites took advantage of this, and ripped off one of Sabre-X's wheel-guards as well as a wheel. Last Rites then delivered one more hit to Sabre-X who quit moving, and was counted out.

This put Last Rites in the quarterfinals, where it faced **Whoops!**.

The match started off decently for Last Rites as it attacked Whoops!'s plow for a bit, before being pushed into the wall bar first by Whoops! After Whoops! backed off, Last Rites chased after him, hitting him a couple of times, but the only real damage caused was the paint being chipped. After a little bit of moving around for a good hit, Last Rites finally went in and hit Whoops! making Whoops! pop into the air a bit. Whoops! came back though, and pushed Last Rites into the wall once again, this time stopping the blade entirely. After getting away from the wall momentarily, Last Rites turned and was able to get past the plow and hit both of Whoops!'s right wheels. After spinning, Whoops! ran into the bar, sending Last Rites flipping wildly for a while, before eventually landing. After 2 more small hits, Last Rites would hit Whoops! plow, sending them both spinning.

## Combat Record

### Wins/Losses

* **Wins:** 49
* **Losses:** 31

## Trivia

* Last Rites has the highest number of rematches on record: it fought Original Sin twenty-one times, Sewer Snake fourteen times, Brutality, Vlad the Impaler, Touro Maximus and SJ four times, Sir Loin and Breaker Box three times, and Eugene, Megalodon, Electric Boogaloo and Ragin Scotsman twice, which in total make sixty-nine rematches.

## Reference

1. ↑ http://www.hardcorerobotics.com/lastrites.html
2. ↑ http://www.hardcorerobotics.com/lr1.html
3. ↑ http://members.toast.net/joerger/whowon/RG07.html
4. ↑ https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5ZmPj5wAygI
5. ↑ https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UAx9iawgD5Q
6. ↑ https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3uds60YKEz0
7. ↑ https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RKUZTPLdix0
8. ↑ https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rhoimDPvcp0