Razer (Robot)

Razer

Razer as it appeared in series 6 of Robot Wars, featuring a piercing arm and wedge.
Statistics
Height	0.41 m (1.3 ft)
Width	0.60 m (2.0 ft)
Depth	1.14 m (3.7 ft)
Weight	92 kg (203 lb)
Weight class	Heavyweight
Primary weapon	Piercing arm
Maximum speed	11 mph (18 km/h)
Turning circle	0 m (0 ft)
Ground clearance	0 mm (0 in)
Power source	2 × 12V batteries
Team
Team members	Ian Lewis Simon Scott Vincent Blood
Location	Bournemouth
Country of origin	United Kingdom
Record
Total fights	47
Wins	40
Losses	6
Concessions	1
Statistics from Razer's television appearances (as of 24 July 2016)

Razer is a combat robot that competes on the British television series Robot Wars. It was constructed by Simon Scott and Ian Lewis from Bournemouth; the team later expanded to include webmaster Vincent Blood. Razer was designed and constructed in 1998 to participate in the second series of Robot Wars, but subsequent modifications and improvements enabled it to remain competitive until its retirement after the second series of Robot Wars Extreme. Despite gaining a reputation for being unreliable, it was champion of the fifth series of Robot Wars, runner-up in the sixth, and won the first two Robot Wars World Championships.

Razer's weapon is a piercing arm which exerts approximately three tonnes of pressure per square inch (465 kg/cm², 45.6 MPa) at its tip. The arm was designed to pierce opponents' armour plating and break their internal components, rendering them impaired or immobile. This weapon was inspired by the principle of the brake press—a piece of industrial machinery used to bend metal—and maximises damage through the use of hydraulics. The arm is also an integral element of Razer's winged self-righting mechanism, which rolls the robot back onto its wheels if inverted. In later series of Robot Wars, an interchangeable hook was attached to the arm to lift robots immune from being pierced. The popularity of crushing and piercing weaponry in robot combat events is attributed to Razer, which inspired many imitations.

With a record of 40 wins and 6 losses (one through concession) in the UK Robot Wars series, Razer is recognised as one of the most successful competitors in the programme's history. It was featured on Robot Wars merchandise including a DVD and video games, and had a pull-back toy created in its image—one of which was later modified by Ian Lewis to function as a fully radio controllable miniature version of the team's original heavyweight machine. Razer also competed in the American television series BattleBots, winning three of its five head-to-head battles and the 1999 Gigabot Rumble. The team behind Razer later constructed a new combatant called Warhead specifically for this competition. After retirement, Razer appears in non-combat demonstrations as part of Robo Challenge educational displays and events. It returned to active combat in the 2016 revival of Robot Wars but lost in the first round.

Razer was designed and built by Ian Lewis and Simon Scott who, after watching the first series of Robot Wars, agreed that combat robots had potential to be considerably more destructive than the pioneering machines on display. Their choice of weapon was a piercing arm attached to a hydraulic ram and powered by a pump, itself powered by a motorcycle starter motor. This was based on the principle of the brake press, a piece of industrial machinery used to bend metal through progressive force.