Cathadh

## Overview

"*I’m fortunate to be driving probably the baddest spinner in the event. It’s fierce.*"
— Michael ‘Fuzzy’ Mauldin
**Cathadh** was a robot which represented the United States of America during *Robot Wars: World Series*, part of the tenth series of *Robot Wars*. Despite the powerful spinner captaining Team Rest of the World in its episode, the team could not prevail over Team UK, with Cathadh being defeated by Eruption in the final battle to air on *Robot Wars*.

Cathadh was entered by Team Toad, who were known for competing in *BattleBots* and the US live circuit, with their active machine at the time being Polar Vortex. Cathadh was a loanerbot built by Robo Challenge, which had a previous identity as Arena Cleaner.

## Design

Cathadh was an invertible robot armed with a horizontal spinning bar, weighing 20kg with one tipped blade on each end. A small rubber mount also holds the front end of the robot up. Cathadh used 3mm of HARDOX armour, and the weapon was particularly powerful, but its two-wheel drive system was completely exposed, including part of its NPC-T64 motors.

"*We were given a horizontal spinner that had previously competed in celebrity specials, called "Arena Cleaner". A respectable robot in its own right, I still wanted to add some Team Toad touches to [show] we weren't just driving someone else's robot.*"
— Michael Mauldin
The robot had previously competed as Arena Cleaner in *Robot Wars: Battle of the Stars*, and thus reuses many of the stock components used by the other loanerbots built by Robo Challenge. It differs from Arena Cleaner in using new wheels, tyres and electronics - including a new transmitter - all supplied and installed by Michael Mauldin. To accommodate the new additions, various weight savings were made to Arena Cleaner's chassis and armour, primarily through smoothing off the sides and cutting holes through the top and bottom of its weapon mount. Cathadh was also repainted into the signature orange-and-black colour scheme used by other robots built by Team Toad, an alteration requested by Mauldin and approved by Robo Challenge.

Cathadh's weight is currently unclear - the TV show reported that it weighed 103kg, but this is the same weight that Arena Cleaner reportedly weighed in *Battle of the Stars*, which roboteers have disputed, claiming that Arena Cleaner was over the heavyweight limit. Cathadh is known to be within the legal weight limit, but is more likely to weigh around 110kg.

Before filming of the *World Series* began, Michael Mauldin built a scaled-down model of Cathadh, **Cathadh Prime**, which was used to test the robot's internals and tyres ahead of its appearance.

### Etymology

The name Cathadh is Gaelic for "blizzard", continuing Team Toad's theme of naming their robots after cold weather conditions, such as FrostBite and Polar Vortex.

The pronunciation of Cathadh's name is a source of contention. Although Michael Mauldin originally had an understanding of how to pronounce his robot's name, he claimed to have been corrected by the producers into speaking its name as "Cath-Ard", which was used on television. Some Gaelic speakers would later refute the way Cathadh was pronounced on the show.

## The Team

Cathadh was entered by Team Toad, captained by Michael "Fuzzy" Mauldin, alongside his wife Debbie Mauldin. Michael Mauldin designed the electronics of Cathadh, and was the robot's drive in battle, also leading its repairs. As the captain of Team Rest of the World, Mauldin would also encourage his fellow international teammates to win their battles in the *World Series* and offer them tactics and advice to help with this.

Team Toad entered the *World Series* as newcomers to *Robot Wars*, but had years of experience competing on the US show *BattleBots*, and the American robotic combat live circuit. Team Toad had also previously applied for Series 8 and 9 of *Robot Wars*, but their robot was not selected to compete.

Outside of robotics, Michael Mauldin is a farmer, owning the Lazy Toad Ranch. He had previously invented and served as a chief scientist for the Lycos internet search engine, which he initiated as a university project. As owner of the Lazy Toad Ranch, Mauldin also briefly operated the Robot Club & Grille, a restaurant which also included a Robot Fighting League-compliant arena for live events. The restaurant operated between December 2002 and the end of May 2003, after which it closed due to a lack of customers on non-event days. A segment on the Robot Club & Grille was featured as part of Episode 2 of the *World Series*.

## Robot History

### UK Robot Wars Series 10

"*As team captain for Team Rest of the World, I want to make sure that we bring a variety of weapons to the fight, so that no matter which kind of opponent we’re facing, we have its Kryptonite sitting there in the corner, waiting to go.*"
— Michael Mauldin
Cathadh represented the United States of America during the 5th World Championship. Also in the episode was the reigning UK champion Eruption, alongside Big Nipper, Concussion and Thor, and the Rest of the World representatives Terror Turtle, THE BASH and Weber.

**Michael Mauldin**: "*Okay, Team Rest of the World, we’re cleaning up. We’re the second Tag Team. John, I want you to go in first with Terror Turtle.*"
**John Frizell**: "*Okay.*"
**Michael Mauldin**: "*We’re gonna tag about every 30 to 40 seconds. I want to make sure everybody drives two times, and the most important thing is… play fair, but do what you have to do to win. Are you ready?*"
**John Frizell**: "*Yep.*"
**Michael Mauldin**: "*Okay everybody, hands in here! Team Rest of the World, yes!*"
— Team Rest of the World discuss their Tag Team tactics
In the Tag Team round, Cathadh was paired with Canadian representative Terror Turtle; together, they faced seasoned UK Series competitors Thor and Concussion.

Following an inter-team discussion, Terror Turtle fought first, with Cathadh staying out of the action until the former was flipped and immobilised by Concussion. Having spun its weapon up in the meantime, Cathadh slowly drove out of its corner and into an approaching Thor; the impact deflected it away from Thor, leaving Cathadh vulnerable to an axe blow from the Series 8 Grand Finalist. Cathadh’s spinner caught one of the steel cables attached to Thor’s front, ripping the cables and causing its weapon belt to slip. The robot sustained another side-on slam from Thor which stunned it – seconds later, Concussion left its corner to throw Cathadh over and into Shunt. By this point, Cathadh’s mobility was severely limited – Shunt pushed it into the centre of the arena, where it was left struggling to drive around upside-down.

**Michael Mauldin**: "*I’m dead.*"
**Debbie Mauldin**: "*You’re dead? No, no, no, you can push, you can push. Come on. Oh my God, you’re dead? You can’t push!*"
**Michael Mauldin**: "*No.*"
**Debbie Mauldin**: "*Oh! What the hell?*"
— Team Toad report Cathadh’s immobility
Cathadh was briefly pushed aside again by Thor and Shunt, and was left completely immobilised seconds before the klaxon sounded. Although both of the Rest of the World machines had been counted out, Michael Mauldin objected to the attack made by Concussion, which was considered to be illegal under the Tag Team rules.

**Dara Ó Briain**: "*Is this an official objection? Is this some controversy?*"
**Michael Mauldin**: "*Actually no, I'm seriously, yes! I was double-teamed. In a Tag Team match, you are not allowed to have two opponents attack at the same time!*"
— Michael Mauldin raises an official objection against Team UK’s combined attack
When Mauldin’s objection was upheld by Dara Ó Briain and Angela Scanlon, Michael Oates of Team UK agreed to forfeit Thor and Concussion’s victory, with three points being awarded to the Rest of the World team as a result.

**Dara Ó Briain**: "*And now the decision has been made by the powers-to-be, i.e. me, that you deserve those points cos they were robbed from you, it’s actually quite an even battle and this is a robot they’re scared of.*"
**Michael Mauldin**: "*And rightly so – I did a little bit of damage. I wish I’d gotten a chance to hit Concussion, but I won’t get that chance this year.*"
— After the decision is made to award Team Rest of the World the Tag Team victory
Cathadh would not fight again until the last Head-to-Head of this episode, where it faced Eruption. By this stage, the Rest of the World team had incurred three consecutive losses, resulting in them losing the episode to Team UK before the battle had begun. Nevertheless, Michael Mauldin was adamant that he would try his best against the recently-crowned Series 10 champion.

"*Well, this is coming down to Britain versus the Rest of the World, and the British dominant robot is the flipper. And in America, at least, the dominant robot is usually the spinner. So this is going to come down to a spinner/flipper battle and I hope to smack the heck out of my opponent.*"
— Michael Mauldin
In an attempt to gain an advantage over Eruption, Cathadh was positioned sideways on its starting spot, with the intention of turning and hitting Eruption with the spinner as it came near. However, Team Toad’s plan unravelled in the opening seconds, as the spinner failed to start before Eruption drove towards it due to the damage caused by Concussion in the Tag Team stage. Cathadh darted away over the spark jets, but was constantly bumped, pushed and chased around the arena by Eruption, eventually hitting the Arena Tyre. In doing so, it triggered ‘Rogue House Robot’ – Shunt momentarily drove after and into Cathadh, but Cathadh escaped by reversing and bumping into the Tyre. Despite sustaining another few bumps and shoves from Eruption and Shunt, it continued driving through an empty CPZ, even proceeding to drive into the side of Shunt as the House Robot chased after Eruption.

"*When you start [Cathadh], the weapon force turns the robot 90 degrees to the right. So, if the weapon had worked, I would have wound up pointing in the right direction.*"
— Michael Mauldin explains his starting position after the battle
With its bar spinner still not functioning, Cathadh bumped and lured Eruption across the arena, before pushing the latter back and forcing it to flip itself over. It retreated into the corner just as ‘Fog of War’ was enabled, before driving into Eruption just as the fog cleared. After some time trying to lure Eruption around again, Cathadh was flipped twice by Michael Oates’ machine; the second flip resulted in Cathadh landing upside-down after its rear clipped the wall. Spinning in circles, Cathadh was thrown into the wall twice more by Eruption, only for its bar spinner to suddenly start rotating. With this, it reversed, sparks flying as it hit Eruption’s flipper. Cathadh continued to damage Eruption while being simultaneously pushed into the corner – however, the sustained impacts caused the weapon belt to slip off.

"*Well, it worked for a while.*"
— Michael Mauldin as Cathadh’s spinner briefly works
Weaponless once again, Cathadh was thrown violently against the wall by Eruption, reversing and spinning away to escape. However, its right tyre sheared off its axle as it was thrown upside-down again, leaving it immobile on one side as Eruption continued to flip it alongside the wall. As in its previous battle, Cathadh was counted out, before Matilda pushed and threw it in the pit.

"*Great battling from Cathadh, but it wasn’t enough. Victory for the UK team captain – victory for the UK. The USA beaten.*"
— Jonathan Pearce after Cathadh is pitted
With this, the Rest of the World team finally lost the second *World Series* episode to Team UK; after the battle, Michael Mauldin apologised to Michael Oates for Cathadh’s performance, while later praising the efforts of his international teammates.

## Results

* Wins: 0
* Losses: 2

*NOTE: Although Cathadh initially lost its first battle by knockout, it was awarded the points of a victory due to a post-match forfeit.*

## References

1. ↑ http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b09m5yq0