Punjar

Punjar was a heavyweight robot built by Ramiro Mallari. It was originally a flat wedge shape and a spinning chain flail in its first appearance in Robot Wars 1996, as a heavyweight. After doing well there, this version was improved for the next heavyweight tournament by having a bigger scoop, but ended up being destroyed by Blendo in the 1997 Robot Wars Event. After the 1997 Robot Wars event, Punjar was rebuilt into the form that entered BattleBots. Punjar participated in the first five BattleBots competitions before retiring after Season 3.0 (Punjar was registered for 4.0, but dropped out before the event) . Mallari's great driving combined with Punjar's pushing power earned them a great number of victories along the way, and Punjar was ranked 4th when it retired.

Robot History

Robot Wars 1996

The original version of Punjar that competed in Robot Wars 1996 was a fairly slow-moving flat wedge with a spinning flail weapon.

Punjar's first match was against Red Scorpion. Punjar was easily able to scoop under Red Scorpion and pin it against the side of the arena. Red Scorpion struck Punjar repeatedly with its hydraulic tail, but this did no damage.

Punjar's second match was against Munch. As in its first match, Punjar was able to easily scoop under Munch and pin it against the wall to win.

Punjar's third match was against Vlad the Impaler. In a very short fight, Vlad got its lifting forks under Punjar and flipped it onto its back, and then rammed it to flip it over completely. Punjar had no self-righting mechanism and was counted out at this point.

Robot Wars 1997

The 1997 version of Punjar ditched the spinning flail weapon, and put a larger wedge scoop on the front. The drive train was redesigned to be much faster, resulting in a robot capable of moving at high speed.

Punjar's first fight was against Gut Rip. Punjar was able to push Gut Rip around easily, but it would occasionally end up on top of Gut Rip when trying to ram it. When this happened the match would have to be paused to separate them, since Punjar couldn't get off of Gut Rip by itself, and Gut Rip's drive wasn't strong enough for it to move with another robot on top of it. Just before the end of the match Punjar tried to ram Gut Rip, but ramped off it and ended up high-centered on one of the arena paddles. The match ended before it could be counted out, and the judges awarded the match to Punjar.

Punjar's second match was against Blendo. Punjar attempted to box-rush Blendo at the start of the match, but Blendo was already running at full speed when they hit as the competition rules at the time permitted spinners to spin up before the start of the match. The resulting impact threw Blendo halfway across the arena into the wall, and also caused massive structural and electrical damage to Punjar. Punjar lost the match and was unable to return for the rumbles because of the damage suffered in that one hit.

Long Beach 1999

Punjar's first match was against Namreko 3000. Punjar won by KO and advanced to the next round, where it faced KillerHurtz. KillerHurtz won by crowd vote and Punjar was now in the loser's bracket, where it faced The Mauler.

Punjar won by crowd vote and advanced to the next round, where it faced frenZy. Punjar won by crowd vote and advanced to the next round, where it faced Ronin. Punjar won on a judge's decision and advanced to the next round, where it faced Nightmare. Punjar sent Nightmare flying 6 feet through the air (because the disc was running backwards) during the fight. Because of this, Punjar won by crowd vote and advanced to the next round, where it faced Tazbot. Tazbot won on a judge's decision and Punjar was eliminated from the tournament.

Punjar wasn't finished, however, as it participated the gigabot royal rumble at the end of the tournament but lost out to Razer.

Las Vegas 1999

Punjar was scheduled to fight Tatar first, but Tatar had technical issues and was forced to forfeit. Punjar won by default and advanced to the round of 16, where it faced Blendo. Punjar spent the match charging at Blendo, which stopped Blendo from spinning quickly enough to cause any damage and sent it flying across the BattleBox. After continuing to attack Blendo, Punjar knocked it into the wall of the BattleBox, incapacitating it and securing the win. This KO put Punjar in the quarterfinals, where it faced KillerHurtz again.

KillerHurtz drove straight at Punjar and fired its axe, but it bounced off Punjar's wedge and send careening away. Punjar attempted to get underneath KillerHurtz and push it, but KillerHurtz drove out of the way before being slammed against the arena wall. There, it managed to axe Punjar, but failed to cause any damage. Punjar managed to stay on top of the fight, pushing KillerHurtz around into walls and hazards, occasionally flipping it up. In the end, Punjar won on a unanimous 9-0 judge's decision and advanced to the semifinals, where it faced Voltarc.

Both robots went straight at each other and Punjar pushed Voltarc against the spikestrip. Punjar then drove itself onto the wedge of Voltarc. Punjar was freed and Voltarc got caught on the arena spikes. Voltarc got underneath Punjar and dragged it towards the killsaws. Voltarc didn't let go of Punjar before the time ran out. Voltarc won on a unanimous 9-0 judge's decision and Punjar was eliminated.

Season 1.0

Punjar was scheduled to fight Mr. Bonestripper first, but Mr. Bonestripper had technical issues and was forced to forfeit. Punjar won by default and advanced to the round of 16, where it faced Kill-O-Amp. After getting underneath the rear of Kill-O-Amp and then pushed it against the arena wall, the match ended and Punjar won on a close 5-4 judge's decision. This win put Punjar to the heavyweight quarterfinals, where it faced Gammatron.

In the match, Gammatron got a few hits on Punjar with its axe, but Punjar mostly maneuvered Gammatron's blows and started pushing Gammatron against the arena walls and the killsaws. The match lasted the whole three minutes and it came to a judges decision. Punjar won on a 7-2 decision and advanced to the heavyweight semifinals, where it faced the defending champion Vlad the Impaler.

Both robots drove slowly and cautiously to each other, not landing any hits until the 20th second, where Vlad the Impaler attempted to ram Punjar, but lifted the forks too early to get underneath. Punjar then turned around and got Vlad in its scoop, which allowed it to push Vlad the Impaler across the arena. Vlad managed to escape before Punjar pushed it into an arena hazard, however, so the fight continued with no decisive hits. Both robots then attempted to charge at each other, but the killsaws were activated at just the right moment to send Vlad the Impaler flying backwards across the arena. Vlad then got stuck on a section of the BattleBox's floor, but managed to free itself and charged once more at Punjar, nearly getting underneath but Punjar slid out of the attack and pushed Vlad again. The fight looked one-sided at this moment, until Vlad the Impaler charged across the arena at top speed, got its left fork successfully underneath Punjar, and rammed it into the spikes, which got Punjar on top of Vlad the Impaler. Vlad then reversed Punjar into the pulverizer, which caused a few dents in Punjar's armor. Eventually, Punjar was let free, and drove itself over the killsaws. Vlad then got underneath Punjar again, and nearly flipped it onto its side. Vlad the Impaler continued ramming Punjar, and pushed it into the pulverizer once more, and then ran over the killsaws, which tore up some of Punjar's armor. Punjar returned the favor by pushing Vlad over the killsaws. One last ram across the arena impaled Punjar into the wall on its side, before the fight ended. Vlad won on a 8-1 judge's decision and Punjar was eliminated.

Punjar wasn't finished, however, as it participated the heavyweight royal rumble at the end of the tournament. It was one of few robots still moving in the end, but lost overall to BioHazard.

Season 2.0

Punjar's first and only match in Season 2.0 was against FrostBite. Both robots met in the middle of the arena and it became a pushing match. After Punjar got caught on the killsaws, FrostBite went straight at Punjar, but gets caught up the sloped front of Punjar, who drives FrostBite into the arena wall. Frostbite escapes and pushes Punjar into the killsaws. The shoving match continues, and although both can push about equally, the speedier FrostBite gets more good shoves of Punjar into the killsaws and the pulverizer. The match ends with more shoving of both robots while time runs out. FrostBite won on a 30-15 judge's decision and Punjar was eliminated from the tournament.

Punjar wasn't finished, however, as it participated the heavyweight consolation rumble at the end of the tournament. In the end, Punjar and OverKill won the consolation rumble and both robots came back for the heavyweight royal rumble. Despite getting flipped by BioHazard, it got back onto its feet and survived the rumble. Tazbot won the rumble overall and Punjar lost.

Season 3.0

Due to previously competing in Season 2.0, Punjar was allowed to skip the preliminary rounds of Season 3.0, where it eventually fought Sharkbyte. In the match, Punjar suddenly stopped moving and Sharkbyte pushed it on the killsaws before it was counted out. Sharkbtye won by KO at 1:08 and Punjar was eliminated from the tournament.

Punjar wasn't finished, however, as it participated the heavyweight consolation rumble at the end of the tournament. Unfortunately about five seconds into the rumble, Punjar stopped moving immediately and was hit by Greenspan. It was later pushed against the spikestrip and was almost flipped by Little Sister at one point. In the end, Little Sister and Kill-O-Amp won the consolation rumble and Punjar retired after this.

Season 4.0

Not Selected.

Results

Series	Event	Round	Opponent(s)	Result
US Robot Wars 1996	Heavyweight Division	1	Red Scorpion	Won
		2	Munch	Won
		3	Vlad the Impaler	Lost
	Heavyweight Melee	Rumble	Killborg Nemesis South Bay Mauler	Draw
		Final	DooMore Gut Rip Killborg La Machine Nemesis Marvin Merrimac Red Scorpion South Bay Mauler Tazz	Lost
US Robot Wars 1997	Heavyweight Division	1	Gut Rip	Won
		2	Blendo	Lost
BattleBots Long Beach 1999	Heavyweight Division	Round of 32	Namriko 3000	Won
		Round of 16	Killerhurtz	Lost
		Loser's Bracket Round 1	The Mauler	Won
		Loser's Bracket Round 2	FrenZy	Won
		Loser's Bracket Round 3	Ronin	Won
		Loser's Bracket Round 4	Nightmare	Won
		Loser's Bracket Round 5	Tazbot	Lost
		Heavyweight Gigabot Rumble	Razer, Biohazard, Mauler, Tazbot, S.L.A.M., Namreko 3000, Frenzy, Voltarc, Kill-O-Amp, Rhino, Juggernaut, Malicious Mischief	Lost
BattleBots Las Vegas 1999	Heavyweight Division	Round of 32	Tatar	Won by default
		Round of 16	Blendo	Won
		Quarter Final	Killerhurtz	Won
		Semi Final	Voltarc	Lost
BattleBots Season 1.0	Heavyweight Division	Round of 32	Mr. Bonestripper	Won by default
		Round of 16	Kill-O-Amp	Won
		Quarter Final	Gammatron	Won
		Semi Final	Vlad the Impaler	Lost
		Heavyweight Royal Rumble	Kill-O-Amp, Mjollnir, Overkill, Knome II, Mauler, Nightmare, FrenZy, Monster, Gammatron, Biohazard, Suicidal Tendencies, Blendo, Vlad the Impaler, Killerhurtz, Tazbot, Voltarc, Bender	Lost
BattleBots Season 2.0	Heavyweight Division	Round of 32	Frostbite	Lost
		Heavyweight Consolation Rumble	Circuit Breaker, Decimator, Dreadbot, Iron Eagle, Blendo, Gammatron, Scrap Daddy HW210, Surgeon General, M.O.E., Mjollnir, Kill-O-Amp, Bigger Brother, Overkill, Bender, Technofool, Mauler	Won
		Heavyweight Royal Rumble	Overkill, Killerhurtz, GoldDigger, Panic Attack, Nightmare, Mortis, Suicidal Tendencies, Biohazard, Tazbot, Voltronic, Frostbite, Vlad the Impaler	Lost
BattleBots Season 3.0	Heavyweight Division	Round of 32	Sharkbyte	Lost
		Heavyweight Consolation Rumble	Battlerat, Frostbite, Greenspan, Junkyard Offspring, Kill-O-Amp, Kritical Mass II, Mauler, Robosapien, Slam Job, Towering Inferno, Little Sister	Lost

Wins/Losses

• Wins: 13
• Losses: 13
• Draws: 1