Weber

**Weber** (Chinese: **空间站**, romanized as **Kōngjiānzhàn**, translating to **Space Station**) was the eponymous competitor robot built by the Russian Weber Robotics team, which competed in the one-off 2018 series *This is Fighting Robots*. It was the successor to Stingray, which the team previously entered into Season 1 of *King of Bots*.

Though not initially selected to compete, Weber fought in the first battle of the series, also becoming the first robot to be chosen by a celebrity team manager in combat. Its self-righting ability impressed Zhang Yishan enough for him to select it to join the Blue team during its preliminary group battle. Under Yishan's captaincy, Weber won a further four-way rumble against Red River Hong, 008 and Cat King in the Freestyle Combat stages, as well as a head-to-head battle against the latter while being driven by Yishan. Weber was finally eliminated after losing a close Judges' decision to Tánshè.

## Design

Weber uses a steep wedge design constructed from thick steel. It was armed with a full-pressure flipper for weaponry, and the top of the flipper was grated, in reference to the skeletal design Weber previously used on the live circuit. Weber's flipper is hinged at the rear, and is powered by CO2, allowing the robot to self-right by throwing it into the air. Blades were also placed on the side of the robot's armor, which is shaped in a way that Weber can roll over when flipped sideways. Weber was resistant to spinners, but struggled to self-right when it had run low on gas.

## Robot History

### This is Fighting Robots (Season 1.5)

Weber was not chosen by any celebrity team managers in the initial selection process, so Weber Robotics were required to compete in a four-way group battle against Bonesaw, Green Agate and Mr Hippo.

Immediately, the American spinner of Bonesaw suffered from stability issues, so Weber made face-to-face contact, and both robots were thrown over. Bonesaw was unable to self-right, meaning that Weber had immobilized it. Weber itself was able to self-right comfortably, throwing itself into the air. This action impressed Zhang Yishan immensely, and Weber became the first robot in the battle to be selected for a celebrity team.

Weber was slammed by Mr Hippo, which was not currently using its drum spinner, and in panic, Weber Robotics threw their own robot over, forcing Weber to self-right. After getting its drum up to speed, Mr Hippo charged into the back of Weber, throwing it into the air powerfully, but Weber self-righted again. Finally, Green Agate made another glancing impact with Weber, the former having suffered drive chain issues preventing it from displaying much movement throughout the battle. Time expired on the match, and Weber fired its weapon while spinning on its hind wheels, celebrating its selection which allowed it to advance to the main bracket, alongside Mr Hippo and Green Agate.

"*He picked us, yeah, it was a good choice!*"
— Alan Gubiev before his machine's Freestyle battle

After Zheng Shuang chose Cat King for the fifth Freestyle Combat battle (aired in Episode 3, Zhang Yishan responded by selecting Weber, confirming its place in a four-way rumble also featuring 008 (Sa Beining) and Red River Hong (Wu Chun).

Weber was the most aggressive of the quartet in the opening stages, driving straight under Cat King to throw it over, as the American machine rebounded into a Grinder. Weber then chased Red River Hong, but could not catch it, and drove over the floor flipper which overturned Weber, forcing it to self-right. When pressured by 008, Weber threw itself over, despite not making contact with the spinner. It self-righted straight into the spikes on the arena wall, but freed itself. Weber was also rammed a weaponless Cat King, which tipped Weber over.

Over the course of the battle, Weber lost the use of a wheel, limiting its movement. This allowed Red River Hong to drift across the arena and slam into Weber. The Russian machine was also briefly stranded over the flame jets. In spite of its limited movement, Weber sensed an opportunity when Red River Hong drove up its wedge, and Weber threw the robot directly onto its side, where it became balanced, immobilized. None of the three remaining robots retained full movement, but Weber edged towards 008 and flipped it, before time expired on the match. The battle was sent to a Judges' decision, who declared Weber the winner.

"*Zhang Yishan selecting us was very wise, and we're really happy.*"
— Alan Gubiev

Following its initial victory, Weber would eventually be selected again for a head-to-head battle against Cat King of the Green team – the second time in which both robots fought each other. For this fight, Zhang Yishan was given full control of the robot; while practicing in the arena before the battle, Yishan initially encountered difficulties with getting Weber to flip a tire over. Eventually, he successfully allowed Weber to get underneath, push and throw the tire several feet into the air towards the bulletproof screen. Another flip from Weber resulted in the tire being catapulted towards the arena ceiling.

In the battle that ensued, Weber initially dodged an approaching Cat King, and attempted to drive into the side of the American machine in response. However, it slammed into the wall spikes instead, and threw itself onto its back while driving behind and attempting to flip Cat King over. Weber tried to self-right, only to land on Cat King and be tipped upside-down. Immediately, the Russian machine self-righted successfully, and tried to drive behind Cat King again. After dodging one of the grinders, Weber darted across the arena and into the front of Cat King, only to be lifted by the latter. The two competitors drove far from each other and maneuvered across the arena again, with Weber once again being lifted from the rear by Cat King. Weber attempted to ram Cat King from the side, but again slammed into the spikes. Dodging the grinder once again, it bumped into the front of Cat King and circled around its opponent. As it did so, Weber inadvertently drove into the spikes once more, this time resulting in it getting stuck for several seconds.

Zhang Yishan fired Weber’s flipper, freeing it from the spikes and throwing it forwards onto its back. The Russian robot self-righted quickly, only to be quickly rammed and clamped against the same set of spikes by Cat King. Weber threw itself forwards to escape; after self-righting, it charged towards and tried to flip Cat King over, but missed, causing it to throw itself over. However, the momentum in Weber’s charge allowed it to slide and roll back onto its wheels without needing to fire the flipper again. The two robots circled round each other for some time after. Eventually, Weber managed to corner Cat King against the wall spikes and flip it over, just before time ran out – in the process, it also flipped itself over again. Both robots survived to a Judges’ decision, which went in favor of Weber and Zhang Yishan.

In the head-to-head rounds, Weber was the first robot to be selected, and both Great White and Tánshè were chosen as potential opponents for Weber. Zhang Yishan chose for Weber to fight Tánshè.

Both robots met face-to-face, and Weber was able to breach the wedge of Tánshè and flip it over. Tánshè landed on its wheels, but Weber followed this up with another thrust, which blasted Tánshè backwards, although the British machine still landed on its wheels again. Zhang Yishan also activated the smokescreen in front of Team Legion, restricting their vision. Tánshè was able to drive under Weber, but as the team could not see clearly, Tánshè missed with its flip, with Weber also flipping at thin air. Tánshè also drove over the floor flipper, which toppled the robot. Tánshè fired its flipper to self-right, but Weber flipped the somersaulting machine, and ensured that it landed inverted once again. Tánshè's flipper had locked, and it lacked the power to self-right, so the referee started to count Tánshè out of the battle, while Tánshè laid, seemingly motionless. However, when the referee reached the number nine, Tánshè fired its flipper, and self-righted powerfully, putting it back in the battle at the last second. Tánshè then drove Weber in circles, missing with its flip, but still tricked Weber into firing its own weapon. Tánshè then flicked Weber over, against the arena wall, and pinned it in place to prevent Weber from self-righting properly. Weber was eventually able to self-right, but the quicker Tánshè machine caught up to the fleeing Weber, and threw it into a different arena wall, almost out of the arena entirely.

"*Come on, go, go, fire!*"
— Zhang Yishan encourages Weber to self-right

Weber self-righted, but was stuck on the spikes at the side of the arena, and in the final ten seconds of the fight, Tánshè carried Weber over to the corner of the arena where robots could be flipped out for an immediate knockout, and managed to throw Weber onto the lip of this wall, but did not manage to flip it out. As a result, the battle between Weber and Tánshè was sent to a Judges' decision, and the Judges edged in favour of Tánshè, eliminating Weber from the competition.

"*We were, of course we were sad. But on the other hand, we were happy, because Tanshe was really powerful enemy, and you know, it's very good to fight.*"
— Alan Gubiev of Weber's team

## Results

### Wins/Losses

* Wins: 2
* Losses: 1

*NOTE: Weber's group battle is not considered to be a win or a loss.*

## Outside King of Bots

Prior to competing in *King of Bots*, Weber used a much more skeletal design, and weighed only 70-90kg. It debuted at the Perm 2016 Championship in Russia, and won its first group battle by knockout, flipping one robot out of the arena. In its second fight, Weber snapped its bungee cords and could not retract its flipper, but utilised the arena hazards to win. In its third round battle, Weber fought **Nan** and **Pve**, and stranded one on the wall, but Weber and the invertible spikebot became locked together, and had to rematch later into the event, where Weber threw it out of the arena. In the final, Weber fought **Energy** and **Solarbot**, where the bungee controlling its flipper once again snapped. Regardless, Weber threw Energy of the arena after the opponent flipped Weber’s weapon back into place. The snapped bungee cord proved costly when Solarbot stranded Weber on its side, pushed it over, and eventually threw it out of the arena, resulting in a second-place finish for Weber Robotics.

Weber then appeared on *Robot Wars*, where it represented Russia in the *World Series*. In its first battle, it partnered with the Dutch representative THE BASH, and fought a British team of the reigning UK champion Eruption as well as Big Nipper. Weber fought well initially, but THE BASH quickly became immobile, and Weber eventually could not self-right after being flipped over by Eruption. In Weber's other battle, it fought Concussion, but after achieving a flip, Weber's wheel was removed by Sir Killalot, and Weber lost the battle by knockout.

At *Bronebots* in 2017, Weber fought Ripper, Solarbot and Thor, surviving the latter's attacks well, but lost when its flipper jammed open, and Weber could not self-right without assistance, and it was eventually pitted. Weber also fought The Saint after creating defensive wheelguards for the battle. This was Weber's last competition before its redesign in *This is Fighting Robots*.

The version of Weber seen during *This is Fighting Robots* attended the WorldSkills Hi-Tech 2018 championship, held in Russia in October 2018.

Weber Robotics also participated in several live events in domestic Russia, such as *Bronebots*, with a variety of robots and with considerable success. These have included:

* **Dolf I**, a top-mounted bar spinner which won the Championship of Armored Light 2015.
* **Piramida**, a pyramid-shaped robot with a unique shock pneumatic weapon system.
* **Dolf II**, the team’s first flipper robot, which finished third at the Battle of Armorbot 2016.
* **Rake**, an invertible robot with a 360-degree lifter.

## Trivia

* Weber is the only robot to compete on the show having previously competed on another televised show with the same name.
* At various moments in the lead-up to its preliminary battle in Episode 1, Weber was incorrectly shown with the UK Union Jack flag instead of its native Russian flag.