G.B.H. (stylised as GBH on the robot) was a competitor in Series 2 of Robot Wars, entered by Team Joint Effort.
The original G.B.H. was a red and silver bubble-shaped robot with a lifting scoop capable of lifting 12 stone. The machine also featured 4 7' identical circular saws, though these were hardly ever seen in action. It was made from the modified chassis of Team Joint Effort's previous entry Scrapper, but the electronics were moved to a small box at the back and featured pneumatic air cylinders to drive the ramp and DC servo motors for the main drive. The lifting ramp was capable of lifting 76 kilograms. Unusually, G.B.H. used a gearbox instead of speed controllers. The gears had a ration of 44:1, giving enormous torque, enough to pull a Mini Metro. The robot's shell was made by Mike Rickard with an underskin of perforated seel mesh overlaid with three layers of fibreglass. This robot reached the series Semi-finals in Series 2, eventually losing in the pinball trial.
GBH 2 was a brand new machine that competed in Series 6. It was a box-wedge robot with two concealed flippers, modelled on an endurance race-car. This may explain why its original name was The Mulsanne Monster, after the famous long straight on the Le Mans circuit. The first flipper was a front-hinged one at the front that could be used for self-righting, whilst the other was a lifting scoop at the rear. It was fast and manoeuvrable, but had weak armour. Although the robot was impressive, it lost in the first round on a very close judges' decision.
Although a few suggestions were made (the most common being Grievous Bot Harm, which is a pun on Grievous Bodily Harm), it was never made completely clear what the letters in G.B.H.'s name stood for.
Robot History[]
Series 2[]
G.B.H. in Series 2
G.B.H. took on the middle route in The Gauntlet. It pushed past the breeze block wall with little effort, carrying one with it on its back, then went over the ramp. However, it was assaulted by Shunt and Dead Metal and pushed back.
Part of G.B.H.'s scoop was peeled back by Dead Metal's saw, but it forced back, despite the damage. Thanks to this spark of effort, G.B.H. managed reach the end zone. In the Tug of War trial, G.B.H. had some low spikes added to dig into the floor.
These spikes proved effective, but it couldn't gain much ground and was inevitably pulled into the pit with a time of 20.03 seconds. Despite being a below average time, it was enough to proceed to Round 3. In the heat semi-final, it faced the box-shaped Talos. For this, the Talos team had added a large front lance to keep G.B.H. away from its front end. Unfazed by this, G.B.H bumped into Talos' lance, whilst its opponent spun on the spot. G.B.H. manoeuvred around to the side of Talos and lifted it up momentarily. G.B.H. let it down, Talos tried to escape, but G.B.H quickly followed up that attack with another lift, this one flipping its foe onto its back.
In the heat final, G.B.H. was drawn against Ivanhoe. Ivanhoe got the first attack, ramming G.B.H. with its spear and pushing them across the arena, but G.B.H. soon broke free. G.B.H. suffered a small blow from Ivanhoe's axe, but then counter-attacked and flipped Ivanhoe. Although the Ivanhoe team claimed to have a rollover design, it was perched motionless on its side. G.B.H. was through to the semis. As the credits rolled, G.B.H. was seen shoving Ivanhoe down the pit.
G.B.H. competed in the second semi-final, where it came second in the Gauntlet. The run ended rather quickly, due to it driving slowly into the pit after breaking down the brick wall, carrying one of the bricks with it. However, G.B.H. still managed a run of 6.6 metres, enough to put in second on the leaderboard, easily going through.
The run of G.B.H. ended at the pinball stage. It was able to hit some bricks and barrels early on, and was also able to get the Sphere into one of the Pits before being trapped in the corner after getting perched on some fallen bricks. Sir Killalot then came in and seized G.B.H. with its claw, causing damage to its chassis in the process. The House Robot then effortlessly carried G.B.H. across the Ramp, before lowering into a nearby Pit. It had only scored 145 points, which eliminated the team from the competition. G.B.H. wasn't awarded the fifteen points for going over the ramp as it had been carried over the ramp by Sir Killalot, but ironically, if it had, it would have made G.B.H. level with Haardvark.
Series 6[]
Returning 3 series later, GBH 2 had a very impressive start to Series 6 against fellow returning robots Sir Chromalot, The Alien and newcomers ICU. GBH 2 evaded trouble at first, but was caught side-on by The Alien's spinning hammer, which flipped them over. Despite this, it self-righted in spectacular fashion very soon afterwards. GBH 2 was cornered by The Alien and ICU , but escaped and slammed ICU onto the pit button, turning it over with its scoop. GBH lifted The Alien briefly, but The Alien fought back soon after and GBH was pushed away. It suffered a flip from Sir Chromalot, again self-righting spectacularly as ICU was counted out. After nudging and slamming both of its opponents for a while, it powered into Sir Chromalot, lifting it over at the same time. The dead ICU was then thrown by the floor flipper as GBH 2 pinned both of its opponents against the side wall in a CPZ as the clock ticked down to zero. It was a very close judges' decision, but GBH 2 was eliminated on it, leaving The Alien and Sir Chromalot to go through. This was GBH's and Team Joint Effort's last appearance in Robot Wars.
Results[]
| Series | Event | Round | Opponent(s) | Results |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| UK Robot Wars Series 2 | Heat J | Gauntlet | N/A | Completed (2nd) Qualified |
| Tug of War | Matilda | 20.03 Seconds (4th) Qualified | ||
| Semi-Final | Talos | Won | ||
| Final | Ivanhoe | Won | ||
| Semi-Final 2 | Gauntlet | N/A | 6.6m (2nd) Qualified | |
| Pinball | N/A | 145 Points (5th) Eliminated | ||
| UK Robot Wars Series 6 | Heat D | Eliminator | Sir Chromalot ICU The Alien |
Lost |
Wins/Losses[]
- Wins: 5
- Losses: 2
[]
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