Clawed Hopper

**Clawed Hopper** was a walker robot that competed in Series 4-5 of Robot Wars. It was painted yellow in Series 4 and painted green in Series 5. Its walking mechanism was a rectangular frame that moved in an ellipse pattern, with spikes on the underside providing the grip to propel it. The entire body was made from steel and aluminium along with other scrap materials and mounted on a spinning turntable, allowing Clawed Hopper to turn swiftly with no turning circle. Its main weapon was a pair of steel claws that moved up and down as the robot walked. In Series 5, a spinning drum was added to each side, along with a pair of rollbars. Clawed Hopper's mobility was not great; its speed never went beyond 3mph.

In its first appearance, Bigger Brother flipped it over. However, it was the first heavyweight walker robot to ever win a battle in the main competition, against the experienced Twister in Series 5, before losing to the number 2 seed Pussycat in the second round.

Its name was most likely a pun on the word Clodhopper, referring to both a type of heavy shoe, and a type of Canadian candy. Its Techno Games appearance as Clod Hopper is a more direct pun.

## Robot History

### Series 4

Clawed Hopper participated in Heat J of the Fourth Wars for its first televised appearance. In the first round melee, Clawed Hopper was placed up against fellow newcomers Hammer & Tong and the number 14 seeds Bigger Brother. In the battle, Clawed Hopper took a side-on attack from Bigger Brother, and nearly toppled over. Clawed Hopper landed on its feet and went after Hammer and Tong, getting under it but not causing any damage. Bigger Brother flipped Clawed Hopper onto its side, but Clawed Hopper again fell back onto its feet. However, on its third attempt, Bigger Brother successfully flipped Clawed Hopper onto its back, taking Clawed Hopper out of the competition; this allowed Dead Metal to come in and put it on the arena floor flipper, where due to its weight it didn't go very far, but it still didn't land the right way up.

### Series 5

A larger, more robust, heavier but slower Clawed Hopper participated in the final Heat of the Fifth Wars. In the first round, Clawed Hopper was placed up against the experienced Team Berserk with their new machine Twister. In the battle, despite its slow, sluggish movement, Clawed Hopper eventually met Twister near the centre of the arena, where one nudge from the hefty Clawed Hopper saw Twister break down immediately. Twister was soon subsequently counted out by Refbot and then Clawed Hopper (very slowly) pushed Twister towards the open pit of oblivion, and eventually got the former Heat Finalists down it. For the first time in Robot Wars, a walker was through to the second round of the main competition.

However, in the second round of the Heat, Clawed Hopper stood very little chance, fighting the number two seeds Pussycat. In this battle, although Clawed Hopper was clearly trying its very best, Pussycat buried its blade into Clawed Hopper's spinning flail several times, eventually causing it to break off. Clawed Hopper was falling to pieces when cease was called, but to everyone's amazement survived to a judges' decision. However, Pussycat was unsurprisingly the winner of the battle, eliminating Clawed Hopper from the competition.

## Wins/Losses

* Wins: 1
* Losses: 2