Saturn

**Saturn** (Chinese: **土星人**, romanized as **Tǔxīng rén**) was a robot from West Yorkshire in the United Kingdom, which competed in the 2018 series *This is Fighting Robots*. It was built by Team Titanium, who entered the show with considerable experience in UK robot combat events, including recurring appearances on *Robot Wars* and two FRA UK Heavyweight Championship victories.

Saturn was selected by Zhang Yishan after an impressive performance in its preliminary group battle, competing in the main competition as part of the Blue team. However, it did not enjoy much success, suffering two immobilizations against Megabyte in Freestyle Combat, and Red River Hong in the Alliance War 2v2 rounds. The latter - which resulted in Saturn being split in half - eliminated the British entry from the competition.

## Design

Saturn is a circular-shaped, four-wheel drive robot inspired by the planet of the same name. Its body is surrounded by an angled rim spinner, representing the rings of Saturn, which is balanced by solid blocks travelling around the outer rim of the machine. The outer rim weighs a total of 85lbs (39kg), with a spinning speed of 1500rpm. Saturn also uses an electrically driven axe weapon on top, which provides the robot's self-righting mechanism. The robot's entire base was made out of a single 7075 billet, with a diameter of only 500mm.

## Robot History

### This is Fighting Robots (Season 1.5)

Saturn was not chosen by any celebrity team managers during the initial 'blind selection' process. It was therefore required to enter a four-way group battle against 008, Ninja and Xiake in the hope of being selected for one of their teams.

Brief highlights of the battle itself were shown as part of Episode 2; a notable moment saw Saturn rip one of 008's wheels off and strike its side armor, causing sparks to fly and the wheel to bounce across the arena. In doing so, Saturn eliminated 008 from the battle via knockout. However, it was then flipped violently by Xiake's drum and momentarily drove up Ninja's wedge, dodging a swing from the latter's blade in the process. Saturn recovered to hit one of Xiake's side panels, destroying the panel and impressing Blue team captain Zhang Yishan in the process. Yishan selected Saturn to join his team as a result, securing its place in the main competition.

Saturn's first fight in this capacity was a Freestyle Combat melee against Megabyte (Zheng Shuang, Green) and Golden Hoops (Sa Beining, Yellow).

Saturn spun up its rings and tentatively started moving towards its two equally spinning opponents, neither initially making any attempt to hit the other. This stalemate lasted for a few seconds more after which Saturn made the first move by smashing into Megabyte, sending both machines flying into opposite walls. Landing on the spinning side-wall bars, Saturn bounced around uncontrollably for a few seconds before suddenly stopping. While both the axe and the rings was still undoubtedly working, the robot itself was unable to move due to a wire coming loose, and Saturn was subsequently declared to have been knocked out.

Saturn was chosen again by Yishan for a 2v2 Alliance War match, where it was paired with Sa Beining's Slash Boy. Together, they fought fellow British compatriot Tungsten (Shuang, Green) and the camouflage pink drum spinner Red River Hong (Chun, Red).

Initially, Saturn retreated towards the wall spikes in order to get its spinner up to speed, but was quickly rammed by an approaching Red River Hong. This attack launched Saturn into the air, causing it to shed pieces of debris and be flipped upside-down. It spent several seconds trying to self-right, eventually succeeding after encountering issues with its axe mechanism. Saturn responded by bumping into and attempting to axe Red River Hong, but without success, and was soon flipped again by the latter.

After finally striking the Chinese drum spinner’s top, Saturn was thrown several more times by Red River Hong, the top shell gradually detaching from the robot's base as it absorbed each attack. One final flip from Red River Hong resulted in Saturn’s shell separating completely, severing most of its electronics. As a result, it was left immobile on the arena floor, even as it used its axe to self-right again.

"*Not all the wires have gone. Well, [the axe] is still goin’!*"
— Mark Lumb as a dismembered Saturn fires its axe in vain

Saturn was eliminated from the battle via knockout, with Slash Boy also becoming immobilized later on by Tungsten. Both robots were therefore eliminated from the competition; after the battle, Team Titanium apologized to Zhang Yishan, while promising a potential return.

"*We think, ‘aw, we’re going home now’, and we were very disappointed.*"
— Mark Lumb comments on Saturn’s elimination

## Results

### Wins/Losses

* Wins: 0
* Losses: 2

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

## Outside King of Bots

After *This is Fighting Robots* was filmed, Saturn essentially retired, with the team confirming that they did not apply for *King of Bots II*. It did appear at the *Robonerd* static exhibition in August 2019, alongside the team's more famous heavyweight machine.

Team Titanium's signature heavyweight is **Big Nipper**, which has remained active since 2001. It debuted in Series 5 of *Robot Wars*, sporting horizontally crushing claws attached to a lifting arm, but lost to the eventual champion Razer in the first round. It returned to Series 7 using titanium armour and found more success, reaching the third round before falling to The Grimreaper. Over the hiatus of televised *Robot Wars*, this version of Big Nipper gained Magmotors for drive, and later an entirely brushless drive. Due to its continuous improvement, Big Nipper became the UK heavyweight champion in 2007 and 2012, also managing to finish third in the 2004, 2006 and 2008 FRA UK Heavyweight Championships, and fourth place in 2014. Big Nipper was able to return to televised *Robot Wars* in 2016, also sporting an interchangeable spinning disc alongside its claws. Big Nipper finished in third place in its heat during Series 8, before repeating the same feat in Series 10 while collecting notable wins along the way, also representing the United Kingdom in *Robot Wars: World Series* without losing a battle.

Team Titanium have also built and competed in live events with the following featherweight robots:

* **Little Flipper 2**: A wedge bot armed with a flipper, featuring a crescent moon painted on one side.
* **Little Flipper 3**: A low wedge-shaped robot armed with a flipper, which won the 2011 UK Featherweight Championships.
* **Little Hitter 1**: Formerly known as **Blue**, a box-shaped robot with a front wedge and an axe, which won the 2004 UK Featherweight Championships.
* **Little Hitter 2**: A wedged box-shaped robot armed with a axe, which won the 2004 UK Championships.
* **Little Hitter 3**: Another wedged box armed with a axe, with a more angled body.
* **Little Spinner 2**: Also known as **Buzzbar**, a invertible blue T-shaped robot armed with a yellow undercutting blade.
* **Little Spinner 3**: A blue circular-shaped full-body spinner with yellow side stripes.
* **Little Spinner 4**: A silver circular full-body spinner with large silver blades.
* **Little Nipper**: A four-wheel drive vertical crusher which competed in the 2015 World Championships.

## Trivia

* Despite Team Titanium competing on the heavyweight circuit since 2001, Saturn is only the team's second heavyweight.
* For Saturn's appearance, Team Titanium also a mascot to filming, a plush *E.T.*.

## References

1. ↑ https://www.reddit.com/r/battlebots/comments/8d38ip/this\_is\_fighting\_robots\_episode\_2\_discussion/dxoqudi/?context=3
2. ↑ https://www.reddit.com/r/battlebots/comments/8eqy2r/this\_is\_fighting\_robots\_episode\_3\_discussion/dy1uo3k/