Ill-Tempered Mutt is a robot which was selected as a reserve for Series 9 of Robot Wars, entered by Team Underdog, but declined the position after a speed controller in the robot failed[1]. Ill-Tempered Mutt would later attempt to enter Series 10, but did not qualify.
Its original identity was Hit Man, which attempted to qualify for Series 4 before Team Legion purchased the machine in 2016.
The name Ill-Tempered Mutt was inspired by a robot of the same name which competed in the second season of Robotica.
- "And yes, we were inspired by the robot of the same name from Robotica 2.0. There needs to be more canine machines"
- — Matt Robinson on Facebook
Design
Ill-Tempered Mutt uses a thwackbot-style design, featuring a large rear wedge. Within the wedge is a red circular saw, which connects with other robots when Ill-Tempered Mutt spins in place. The other end of th
The 'face' end of Ill-Tempered Mutt
e robot features a steep wedge where the robot's 'face' is found, and two spikes. It is two-wheel driven, making the robot invertible, and mixes metal with polycarbonate for armour.
Ill-Tempered Mutt is driven by two Bosch motors, with a 2-stage chain drive gearbox, powered by LiPo batteries and a RageBridge 2 ESC. Additional LiPo batteries also power the Roboteq ESC and Turnigy brushless motor behind the robot's circular saw. A TZ85 ESC controls the lifter's linear actuator.
Outside Robot Wars
Following on from Ill-Tempered Mutt not being selected to compete in Series 10 of Robot Wars, and the team's inability to enter Extreme Robots in Manchester, Team Underdog elected to sell Ill-Tempered Mutt by launching a post on the Fighting Robots Association forums. This quickly attracted interest from various roboteers, including the current owners of PC Plod, and Team Death, but its high asking price was criticised, and the robot remained in possession of Team Underdog.
Ill-Tempered Mutt was sold to The Scrappers, the owners of PC Plod, on 14th January 2018 with the hope of returning it to the arena before the end of the year.
The 'tail' end of Ill-Tempered Mutt
Live Events
Ill-Tempered Mutt is booked in to compete at Extreme Robots - Maidstone 2018. The Scrappers opted to not enter the main competition, instead only competing in whiteboard fights. They chose to opperate without the circular saw, due to an issue with ESC reliability.