Cherub

**Cherub** is a robot which competed in the Series 9 of *Robot Wars*, built by Team Saint, who used the name Team Cherub for television. Keeping in line with Team Saint’s naming theme, Cherub is named after the angelic being that attend to God, according to Christian faith.

Craig Colliass revealed at a *Robot Wars* Live Event that Cherub was not designed for combat – rather, Colliass wanted to build a robot which was capable of performing ‘handstands’. Based on this principle, Cherub uses its two small lifting forks to not only lift other robots, but also itself, as Cherub is well balanced enough to stand on its weapons, and its forks can rotate a full 360 degrees.
Cherub is painted completely white, and features two decorative wings on top, to give the robot a biblical theme in every sense. It is invertible, although the wings – which are not present in live event appearances – handicap Cherub’s ability to drive when flipped. Cherub’s ground clearance is extremely low, and its forks can expertly breach ground clearances, but the robot suffers from having exposed wheels, comparatively light weight, and a lack of damage output.

## Team

Cherub was built by Craig Colliass, who had previously entered Gabriel into the Series 8. He was noticeably absent from Cherub’s team, as he has reportedly submitted an application to enter with Gabriel for a second series in a row.

Cherub’s team still features two members of Team Saint who had competed in the last series – Zack Colliass, who keeps Cherub in fighting condition, and Craig’s youngest son Toby, who drove Gabriel in a whiteboard match against Behemoth previously. The rest of the team is made up of Sarah and another young girl, giving Cherub a team consisting almost entirely of young children – this is fitting, as cherubs are typically depicted as young children in artwork.

## Robot History

### Live Events

Cherub has been competing at *Robot Wars* Live Events over the three years they were active. In Newport, it fought robots including Manta, Terminal Ferocity, and Behemoth.

In the 2014 Championships it fought Eruption. Cherub and Eruption charge at one another which causes Cherub to fall over without Eruption needing to use its flipper. Cherub begins running away from Eruption, who just chases after it. After a few seconds of playing cat and mouse Eruption gives a final charge and proceeds to flip Cherub out of the arena.

Cherub had a successful run at the *Robot Wars* World Championship 2015, held in Colchester. It narrowly escaped the first round despite being thrown out of the arena by Eruption, as Behemoth had luckily been thrown out beforehand, and TMHWK lost drive on one side, despite it staying in the arena for longer than Cherub. Cherub was thrown out of the arena again in the second round, this time by Toxic 2, but once again, Brutus had already been thrown out first. In its third battle, Cherub earned its own win by flipping over the immobile Apex. Cherub fell in the quarter-finals, where it was once again thrown out of the arena by eventual champion Toxic 2.

Cherub’s 2016 debut was in Manchester, where it fought a Tag Team battle, partnered with Ceros. Iron-Awe 7 broke down after throwing Ceros out of the arena, so Cherub fought a head-to-head battle with Crushtacean. Although Cherub was held in Crushtacean’s claws for most of the match, it won the battle via adjudication when Crushtacean broke down. At the Portsmouth event in 2016, Cherub fought against Thorak, Luzifer and Bullfrog, and later fought Bullfrog again in a melee with Behemoth and Rattler, but Cherub was thrown out of the arena. In another fight, it was immobilised by Stinger.

Away from *Robot Wars*, Cherub also competes at *Robots Live!* events, and other touring shows, although Team Saint are far more successful with Gabriel. In 2013, Cherub competed in the European Championship, where it survived until a Judges’ decision against Tornado and Alien Destructor.

### Robot Wars Series 9

Cherub competed in Episode 2, where it fought three veteran teams from the previous series - Draven, PP3D and Team S.Tek's new robot Push to Exit. Cherub started the battle evasively, avoiding the other robots until it drove over Push to Exit's wedge, narrowly avoiding a flip. After being charged by Draven, Cherub drove directly into PP3D's disc, throwing it into the air, and also bending Cherub's lifters. Team Cherub showed no fear of PP3D's blade, and drove into it again, avoiding the powerful weapon, and escaping to battle Push to Exit individually. At this stage, two successive attacks from PP3D immobilised both Draven and Push to Exit, so Cherub qualified for the head-to-heads. Cherub attempted to celebrate with a handstand, but its buckled lifters prevented this.

In the first battle of Round 2, Cherub was once again drawn against PP3D. The team were aware of an exploitable weakness in PP3D's exposed tyres, so they sharpened the lifters of Cherub, intending to pierce the wheels of the opposition. Cherub chased PP3D after when the battle opened, although PP3D evaded the attack, and hit Cherub side-on. Cherub was not greatly damaged, and drove head-first into PP3D's disc, catapulting it into the air, and pushing it onto the fire. Cherub edged PP3D backwards, but sustained another hit, and was thrown into the Arena Tyre, unleashing Rogue House Robot. Cherub reversed into Dead Metal's claws where it was held, and was sliced by the circular saw. During this time, PP3D's disc had reached maximum speed, and when Cherub escaped from Dead Metal's claws a titanic hit from PP3D sent Cherub careening into the arena wall, and over. The impact of Cherub slamming into the wall tore a panel away from the arena, and the battle had to be temporarily halted in order to make repairs. The arena was repaired, although neither competing team could operate or repair their robot during this time, so they did not know whether the robots would function in the restarted battle. PP3D's wheels were turning, but it could not gain traction on the arena floor, while Cherub's wheels were also turning, but it could not self-right, having been flipped over, and its bent chassis stopped the lifters from rotating fully. Cherub was pushed over the flame pit by Dead Metal, and 'cease' was called once again. Cherub and PP3D were both deemed to have been immobilised at the same time, and the battle was sent to a Judges' decision, based upon the entire fight, before and after the breakage of the arena wall. The unanimous Judges' decision was ruled in favour of Cherub, which was awarded 2 points for its victory. It would next be drawn against full-pressure flipper Eruption, although the robot's chassis and lifters required extensive repairs.

However, when Cherub was loaded into the arena, it became apparent that Cherub could not gain sufficient traction on the arena floor to drive freely, and it would effectively be immobile from the very beginning. Regardless, the match started, and Cherub merely lifted itself from the arena floor, and Eruption launched it towards the arena wall. Cherub's wheels were not turning, and Eruption threw Cherub high into the air, and over. Cherub used its lifting forks to attempt to self-right, but took so long in doing so that Eruption could spin it towards the arena wall, slip under its raised body, and throw it out of the arena.

Cherub's last fight in the Head-to-Head stage was against Behemoth, so Cherub needed to replace its faulty drive motor, and straighten its lifters that were damaged upon landing. Toby and Sarah admitted they were fearful of their experienced opponent. Based on Cherub's small size, Team Make Robotics elected to trial-run a new pincer-type weapon to grab Cherub with. However, this weapon's combined scoop wedge was not low enough to the ground, and Behemoth simply rode over the side of Cherub, which pushed Behemoth around. Behemoth retaliated, but drove onto Cherub's lifter which raised Behemoth up, and then it used the wedge to push Behemoth into Dead Metal. When Behemoth escaped, it caught Cherub side--on, pushed it over the fire, and towards the floor flipper, which fired prematurely, and Cherub fell below its surface, and the flipper trapped Cherub in place. This was not considered to be a legal KO on Cherub, and the battle had to be restarted. The position of the two robots was reset, and the battle restarted with two minutes left on the timer. Behemoth caught Cherub side-on again, and pushed it into the Arena Tyre, once again unleashing Dead Metal onto Cherub via Rogue House Robot. After breaking free, Cherub waited in the centre of the arena, and the attacking Behemoth rode straight onto Cherub's wedge, and was manoeuvred into the arena wall. Even Cherub's tyre was able to lift Behemoth from the arena floor, and although Behemoth pushed back, Cherub was maintaining a slight lead. Cherub's wedge again breached Behemoth, although Behemoth drove it and Cherub into the way of Dead Metal. Cherub lowered its forks to pressure Behemoth, which took damage from Dead Metal, but Cherub's lifter was also sliced by the saw blade. Time expired, and 'cease' was called, sending Cherub to another Judges' decision. Neither team could tell if they had won, but Cherub performed its signature handstand regardless.

The Judges' decision was made, and for the second time, Cherub was awarded the unanimous victory, allowing it to progress to the Heat Final with a total of four points, where this time, a fully mobile Cherub earned a fair fight with Eruption. The team wrote 'Don't flip me!' onto masking tape attached to their robot, in advance of the battle. However, despite Cherub being fully mobile as it drove up Eruption's wedge, this proved to be the fastest battle in Robot Wars history, as Eruption threw Cherub out of the arena in less than six seconds.

## Wins/Losses

* Wins: 9
* Losses: 5