Coyote

**Coyote** is a heavyweight robot which competed Series 9 and 10 of Robot Wars. It was built by Jamie McHarg, previously a member of PP3D Robotics. It is named after the small North American canid.

Coyote is driven by two wheels with large tyres. At the front, it is equipped with an overhead clamp with orange LED 'eyes', which works in conjunction with two lifting jaws, flush to the ground. This large weapon takes up half of the robot's entire weight.

At the back of the robot is a chainsaw, making Coyote the first UK competitor to use the weaponry since Series 4. This weapon is driven by a Scorpion 4025-1100kV electric brushless motor running at 22.2V, giving the chainsaw a top speed of 3000rpm. Like Matilda, Coyote's chainsaw tail can also move up and down. Coyote's back panel is also inspired by Dead Metal.

## Robot History

### Series 9

   Coyote competed in Episode 5, where it faced newcomers Rusty and Ms Nightshade, along with the reigning champion Apollo in its first battle. Coyote immediately made its way over to Ms Nightshade and tried in vain to push it backwards, before Apollo came in and hurled Ms Nightshade skyward, with it landing on top of Coyote. Coyote was then pursued by Apollo, which only managed to flick Coyote up slightly. After nudging Rusty, Coyote was once again in the sight of Apollo, which rolled it through the air and into the CPZ with a flip. After this, Coyote remained in the CPZ for a period, capable of only spinning in circles. Coyote was thrown once more before Rusty was declared immobile, which confirmed Coyote's progress to the Head-to-Heads with Apollo.

Before Coyote's first Head-to-Head battle against Crackers 'n' Smash, the team made the decision to remove their chainsaw for future fights due to damage the weapon sustained in its Group Battle. Coyote moved to its left to clamp down onto Smash and drove it into the arena side gate, before turning and moving it into the claws of Dead Metal. After taking damage from the House Robot, Smash came in with a ram on Coyote and attempted to force it into Dead Metal, although Coyote spun away and Smash was caught once again. Coyote then decided to activate the Arena Tyre, which called Dead Metal into the action, and Smash was placed onto the Flame Pit. Smash then moved away and drove over the top of its teammate, Crackers, which finally got involved and slipped underneath the side of Coyote. Smash took its turn at pressing the Arena Tyre, which signaled Rogue House Robot mode again. This time, it was the turn of Matilda to attack, and Coyote was forced to weather a hit from the House Robot's flywheel on its jaws. After this, Coyote struggled for movement on its right-hand side, and a flurry of bumps and rams from Crackers 'n' Smash left Coyote motionless in the CPZ. Suddenly, Smash drove itself over the Flame Pit, where it failed to move away from, with Crackers left as the only mobile robot at the end of the countdown. With Coyote's immobilisation confirmed, it ended its first Head-to-Head battle with a loss.

Post-fight, Jamie McHarg noticed the damage inflicted by Matilda, with focus also turning towards Coyote's second Head-to-Head battle against reigning champions, Apollo. Unable to flatten their jaws in time for the fight, the team instead sharpened the jaws to inflict ramming damage. Coyote failed to move out of the starting gates and spun around until Apollo engaged with it, where a flip sent Coyote onto its back and into Sir Killalot's CPZ. Coyote was shunted out of the danger area by the House Robot, but once again was only able to move inside its own circumference. Another Apollo flip saw Coyote land right-side up, but its top jaw was snapped in the process. Coyote found itself stuck between Apollo and Sir Killalot for a period, before it was stacked up against the arena gate, and with Coyote unable to move, Apollo followed up with another flip, which sent Coyote over the arena wall and down into the trench.

Pointless after two Head-to-Head battles, Coyote was already eliminated, but it still had one final battle against Series 8 runners up Carbide. With Coyote's jaw repaired from its previous fight, Team Coyote entered the arena in hope of ending their Head-to-Head campaign with some points on the board. Coyote charged across the arena floor straight away but shot past Carbide in doing so. After turning around, Coyote was met with a head-on blow from Carbide which sent it reeling towards Sir Killalot. As Coyote attempted to escape the CPZ, Carbide came in with another attack, which allowed Sir Killalot to pick Coyote up and hold it over the Flame Pit. Coyote twitched after being dropped down onto the arena floor before being met with another scintillating Carbide slam which ripped one of Coyote's wheel off. Coyote was now left motionless, but this did nothing to halt the Carbide assault, as further damage was carried out while Coyote was being counted down. Coyote was then thrown by the Floor Flipper before finally being put out of its misery by the sounding of cease. This saw Coyote end its Head-to-Head campaign bottom of the table with zero points.

### Series 10

A rebuilt Coyote returned in Heat 5 of Series 10 as a reserve, filling in for Deadlock, which withdrew due to being incomplete at the time of recording. In its Group Battle, it fought fellow Series 9 returnee Expulsion and Series 8 Grand Finalist Thor. It entered the arena equipped with its lifting forks, and rear chainsaw. Immediately, Coyote charged into Expulsion, knocking the latter off its wheels and pushing it into the wall. This left Expulsion stranded on its side; however, Coyote was caught by Dead Metal as a result, the House Robot spinning and pushing it onto the Flame Pit before slicing through its outer pipework. Coyote backed away as soon as it was released, only to get itself stuck on the partially-opened pit. The pit was soon raised to let it escape, but with Thor activating ‘Rogue House Robot’, Dead Metal spun Coyote round as she left her CPZ to attack the competitors. Coyote was then pushed into the wall by Thor, but drove away, dodging Thor before driving head-on into the latter and sustaining an axe blow to its top jaw. It spun away to escape, but was repeatedly rammed and pushed around by Thor, sustaining more damage from Thor’s axe. Eventually, Coyote spun round and pinned Thor against the wall, grabbing its front wedge and dragging it back while losing one of its own pipe sections. The two competitors separated, with Coyote hesitating before Thor again pushed and axed it twice more. Each time, Coyote swerved out of the way; it eventually slammed head-on into Thor, and pushed the latter over the Flame Pit after getting scooped up by its wedge. It proceeded to push Thor towards the Arena Tyre – triggering ‘Rogue House Robot’ again – and grab one of Dead Metal’s pincers in response to her attacks. Both competitors soon resumed their attacks; a head-on slam broke Coyote’s top jaw, with Thor proceeding to push Coyote over the Flame Pit before Coyote pushed it back. Coyote was almost thrown onto its side by the Floor Flipper as it retreated, and sustained more axe blows from Thor while driving itself into an arena spike. Coyote backed away from the spikes and weathered a few more rams from Thor to survive for the full duration. The battle went to a Judges’ decision, which went in favour of Thor. With this, Coyote was consigned to the Robot Redemption stage, where it faced Hobgoblin for a chance to stay in contention. For this battle, the team opted to use their minibot Roadrunner for the first time, while removing the chainsaw from the main robot. Being friends with each other, Team Coyote and Team Hobgoblin wished each other good luck before the start of the battle.

In the battle itself, Coyote began by ramming straight into Hobgoblin, withstanding a collision with the latter’s ‘egg beater’ spinner, before pushing it around the arena. It and Roadrunner drove around Hobgoblin for some time, before Coyote briefly lifted Hobgoblin onto one side and attempted to push it numerous times, gradually causing Hobgoblin's drive belt to slip. In the meantime, Roadrunner pressed the Arena Tyre, opening the pit in doing so. Coyote resumed its attacks on Hobgoblin, bumping, pushing and manoeuvring the latter around the arena. Eventually, it got its lower jaws underneath Hobgoblin, pushing and dragging it back. Coyote drove into Hobgoblin again, then Roadrunner, losing a small chunk of its pipework in the process, before pushing Hobgoblin into Sir Killalot. The latter attack fully dislodged one of Hobgoblin’s drive belts, which Coyote dragged and dropped on the arena floor as the two competitors separated. With Hobgoblin struggling for mobility, Coyote pushed it into the CPZ as Sir Killalot vacated it, leaving Shunt to come in and attack Hobgoblin as it fully lost drive. After ‘cease’ was called, it proceeded to attack and chase Shunt towards an entry gate, before being rammed into the wall by the House Robot. Nevertheless, Coyote emerged victorious, and progressed to the Heat Semi-Finals.

There, it faced Thor for the second time, equipped with the lifting scoop instead of its lower jaws, and with most of its external pipework removed. Coyote dodged Thor several times in the opening moments, only to drive up Thor’s wedge and sustain an axe blow from the latter. It was pushed onto the spark jets by Thor, before being axed, chased and pushed into the wall by the latter. Coyote sustained a few more axe blows in the process, but recovered to ram Thor head-on and press the Arena Tyre after Thor axed it again and got caught in Dead Metal’s pincers. As a result, ‘Rogue House Robot’ was enabled, with Coyote driving underneath Thor as it self-righted after getting thrown by the Floor Flipper. It retreated to an empty CPZ as Matilda damaged Thor’s CO2 system, before the two competitors drove into each other again. Coyote was constantly manoeuvred around the arena by the now-weaponless Thor, almost getting thrown by Matilda’s tusks and the Floor Flipper in the process. At one point, Coyote got underneath Thor with its scoop, but was unable to lift it effectively. It resorted to ramming Thor again, only to lose more parts of its pipework as Thor rammed it into an entry gate in response. Coyote drove over the lip of the Floor Flipper and near the arena spikes, nearly getting flipped over by each hazard in the process. The two robots circled round and rammed each other once more, with Coyote getting pushed round a few more times before ‘cease’ was called. The battle went to a Judges’ decision, which unanimously ruled against Coyote as a result of it being unable to use its weapons effectively throughout.

Following its loss, Coyote fought Expulsion again in the Third Place Playoff, for a chance to qualify for the 10 Robot Rumble, and maintained its anti-spinner wedge. This time, Coyote started more tentatively, following Expulsion around as the latter drove over the spark jets. Coyote sustained a hit from Expulsion’s tool spinner, which tore part of one of its pipes off, before briefly pinning it against an entry gate. It bumped into the gate itself as Expulsion drove free, and momentarily stopped moving after turning away from the gate. Coyote pursued Expulsion again as the latter drove into Matilda and the walls, before slamming and pushing it across the arena. As it turned away from a fleeing Expulsion, Coyote suddenly stopped again, lifting both of its weapons up – it shuffled back and forth, but soon lost drive completely in the centre of the arena. While Expulsion proceeded to attack – and was flipped by – Matilda, Coyote was counted out, and lost the playoff. As a result, it finished fourth in its heat, and was eliminated from Series 10.

## Results

Ms Nightshade
Rusty
 Head to Heads
 Apollo
 Carbide

## Wins/Losses

* Wins: 2
* Losses: 6