Abrasion

## Overview

**Abrasion** is a heavyweight robot built by the United Kingdom's **Team Immersion**, which applied for Discovery Seasons 5 and 6 of the *BattleBots* reboot, as well as *BattleBots* World Championship VII.

The robot is heavily based on the 2019 build of the team's self-titled heavyweight **Immersion**, a design Abrasion became a more refined version of. Abrasion is armored in 15mm HARDOX steel and 150mm HDPE around a machined aluminium core. Despite being two-wheel drive, each wheel is powered by two 5HP brushless motors on each side. Its primary weapon is a front-hinged flipper and an optional hammer saw which could be paired together to form a "flippersaw"*.* This means that Abrasion is able to comfortably throw 250lb opponents while embedding it's discs into the vulnerable undersides.

Team Immersion applied for Discovery Season 5 of *BattleBots* in late 2019, and received confirmation of their acceptance in December that year as part of the original roster for the 2020 season. However, filming was delayed due to the COVID-19 pandemic. With the international travel bans imposed as a result, Team Immersion were forced to withdraw from the competition, as were many other international *BattleBots* teams.

The team reapplied for Discovery Season 6 with a similarly-designed build of Abrasion, however it was only taken as a reserve. It later withdrew for the second time due to issues concerning UK teams' NIE Visas being turned down by the state department. This was an issue which affected various international competitors ahead of the 2021 season. Even some which were still able to compete were compromised by this, as several European and American members of teams were unaffected but other team members were.

Despite this setback, Abrasion remained in a working state and the applied for a third time ahead of the seventh reboot season. Despite a multitude featuring a new and unique flippersaw weapon system, Abrasion was rejected for a second time due to limited spaces for international competitors.

Outside of *BattleBots*, Team Immersion are an established combat robotics team in the UK live scene. Notably, Adam Hamilton, Emma Jones and Thomas Long entered Vulture into Series 10 of *Robot Wars* after not being selected for previous series. Team captain Adam Hamilton also competed in the unaired pilot for the show with Tanto, loaned by Team Danby. Vulture was dismantled and sold in 2018.

The team built **Immersion** for a presumed Series 11 of *Robot Wars*, but following its cancellation, instead fought with it in various UK live events. Billed at 200lbs, Immersion was relatively light compared to fellow heavyweights, but served as a test bed for electronics that would be used for future iterations - Abrasion included. A second version of Immersion was completed in December 2019 and won the *Mechatrons* *Irish championship* in January 2020, held in Dublin, Ireland. This version bore a greater resemblance to Abrasion and served as its prototype, according to team captain Adam Hamilton.

An upgraded version of Vulture called Bonfire competed in Chinese show *This is Fighting Robots*, painted red and black for the competition. Team Immersion's Adam Hamilton and Thomas Long were joined by former *Robot Wars* competitors Gareth Anstee and Andy Russell, the latter of which attempted to compete in *BattleBots* with Jäger alongside Ed Hodges, but was unable to travel.

The original basis for Abrasion and Immersion comes from team captain, Adam Hamilton and his 30lb, Amnesia. Featuring the same composite billet construction and the electric front hinge flipper. Despite entering very few competitions compared to most, Amnesia has a high success rate, becoming the *King of Bots UK* and *Fighting Robots Association International* champion in 2018, winning the *King of Bots II Opening Battle* event and *RoboDojo Sportsman Championship* in 2019 and more recently, becoming the *FightFest 'Battle Of The Isles'* and '*UK Pro Cup'* champion in 2021 and 2022.

Team members Ed Hodges, Brooke Reay, Thomas Long and Isaac Sharp are also established roboteers in their own right, fighting in lower weight class events such as *FightFest* and *Robodojo.* Isaac's **Euphoria**, became the champion of the latter in 2020 then placed 3rd in the *FightFest Annihilator* and main championship in 2021. Similarly, Ed's tracked undercutter, **Kakute** has only competed in one event to date but placed 4th overall.

Team Immersion also built a second heavyweight called **Ember**, which appeared as a static display for *RoboNerd* in September 2021, an annual event hosted in Wolverhampton, England. It is aesthetically similar to Abrasion, but features a stronger plow at the front and a black and red color scheme, hence its name. The robot is owned and captained by Ed Hodges, though it remains part of Team Immersion's fleet of robots.

For more on **Team Immersion**'s work outside of *BattleBots*, see their dedicated page on the Robot Wars Wiki.

## See also

* Abrasion (*BattleBots*)
* Vulture (*Robot Wars*)
* Bonfire (*King of Bots/This is Fighting Robots*)
* Amnesia (*King of Bots*)

## Trivia

* Team Immersion's name, as well as several robots made by members not necessarily associated with Abrasion, is inspired by the third album from Australian drum and bass group *Pendulum* of the same name.
	+ Though 'Abrasion' deviates from this theme, it was still entered under Team Immersion.
* Away from their own creations, Team Immersion produce commissions of featherweight robots. One of these is **Little Dill**, a 30lb version of Emmanuel Carrillo's Big Dill.
	+ Adam Hamilton would later design the 2021 season build of heavyweight Big Dill itself.
* If accepted, Abrasion would have been the lightest 2020 season competitor in the field at 205lbs (93kg) in its main configuration, roughly a pound lighter than Perfect Phoenix.

## References

1. ↑ Correspondence between SFCJack and Team Abrasion member ToastUltimatum in September 2022
2. ↑ https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qHbumskFpsI