Rhino (Inertia Labs)

Overview

Rhino was a superheavyweight (originally a heavyweight because there was no superheavyweight class at the time) robot that was built by Inertia Labs for the first season of BattleBots, Long Beach and Las Vegas 1999, as well as Robot Wars 1997. It was a diamond-shaped robot that was armed with a pneumatic punch. Rhino performed well in competition, reaching the quarterfinals or semifinals in each BattleBots competition it fought in. For Season 1.0, the robot was renamed to Super Rhino and given both a thwacking tail and a flatter design with red sides.

Robot History

US Robot Wars 1997

In the 1997 US Robot Wars competition, Rhino used a more unique weapon system - a canister of Halon fire extinguisher gas that was sprayed from the holes on each end of the chassis so that it could "smother" the gasoline engines of its opponents. This worked well against the 97 version of Red Scorpion, but Rhino was ultimately beaten by the electric BioHazard later on in the tournament.

BattleBots Long Beach 1999

Rhino's first match at Long Beach was against S.L.A.M. which it won by a crowd vote. It then moved on to the next round where it fought Tazbot. In the match, Tazbot got a few lifts on Rhino and Rhino got a few hits on Tazbot before the Co2 ran dry. The match ended with Tazbot winning on a judge's decision and Rhino was eliminated. Rhino was moved down to the loser's bracket and it faced Voltarc which it won by KO. After beating S.L.A.M. again by KO, it faced Monster and earned another victorious KO. This win put Rhino to the next round, where it faced Razer.

Razer went straight at Rhino but it just missed on getting a grip on Rhino. Rhino retaliated by firing its spike, narrowly missing Razer's arm. Razer retreated to gain a better angle of attack but drifted close to the killsaws. Having already suffered damage from the killsaws, Razer was momentarily distracted and Rhino took advantage. Rhino turned around and fired its spike on Razer. The spike went straight through its armor and broke the pump solenoid. This wouldn't have disabled Razer but the spike also hit the chassis and 'shocked' the radio switch to the off position. Because of this, Razer was only going around in circles. As this was happening, Ian Lewis entered the BattleBox and grabbed the tail before deactivating Razer. In the end, Rhino won by KO and advanced to the next round, where it faced Vlad the Impaler. Rhino won by KO and advanced to the next round, where it faced Tazbot again.

Tazbot constantly tried to pin Rhino, but Rhino started striking its spike onto Tazbot's armor. Tazbot started pushing Rhino towards the killsaws and was holding strong before it suffered a delayed battery failure, caused by a direct blow to one of the batteries and making a low battery error code stopped Tazbot. In the end, Tazbot was counted out and Rhino won by KO. Rhino was now in the semi-finals and was now pitted up against KillerHurtz. KillerHurtz won by KO and Rhino earned 3rd place in the gigabot division.

Rhino wasn't finished, however, as it participated the gigabot royal rumble at the end of the tournament.

BattleBots Las Vegas 1999

After receiving a bye in round the round of 32, Rhino eventually faced Ronin. For most of the match, Rhino kept hitting Ronin with its pneumatic spike. Ronin was able to lift Rhino at one point, but was pushed against the spikestrip by Rhino. The time ran out soon after and Rhino won on a 8-1 judge's decision. This win put Rhino to the quarterfinals, where it faced Nightmare.

This fight started with Rhino trying to line up at Nightmare, whilst staying just out of reach of the spinning disc. This was easily done as Rhino was considerably faster than Nightmare. Nightmare kept on turning to face Rhino, though, and eventually the robots met. The attacks came fast and powerful, somehow in the carnage, Rhino had managed to puncture Nightmare's left side wheel and Nightmare had torn into Rhino's thick armor. Nightmare had left behind some pretty nasty dents, gashes, broken bolts and had ripped off the front of Rhino's spear. Nightmares weapon motor was shifted back and the weapon weakened. Any more hits on Rhino from Nightmare's disc and the chain could have come off. Somehow, the other drive motor went Nightmare's wheel (oddly, not the side with the punctured tire). Nightmare could now only drive in a circle with just one drive motor on a flat tire. Nightmare got caught in a bad situation where it was too close to the arena saws and, not wanting Rhino to pin him against them, Nightmare drove backwards over the saws. This caused only minor cosmetic damage to the rear end. Nightmare's disc continued spinning, but it only had a limited time as the motor starts to overheat. The disc, (being on the whole time), was down to about 75% power towards the end. Meanwhile, Rhino was suffering because of the damage done by Nightmare and the two machines limped around each other for the last minute, with nothing else really going on, and the time ran out. Rhino won on a 7-2 judge's decision and advanced to the semifinals, where it faced Vlad the Impaler again.

Both machines drove straight at each other, with Vlad the Impaler failing to lift Rhino with its forks and Rhino making a hole in the front of Vlad with its spike. Vlad the Impaler made a second attempt to lift Rhino, allowing Rhino to attack with its spike again. After trading blows with Rhino, Vlad took damage from the killsaws, but reversed out of danger and finally managed to get underneath Rhino and carry it into the spikestrip. Rhino drove away, but Vlad the Impaler caught up and flipped Rhino over. Vlad lifted the overturned Rhino and rammed it into the spikestrip again, with Rhino escaping and attacking the rear of Vlad with its spike. Vlad turned around and lifted Rhino once again, placing it on its side against the arena wall, immobilizing it. Vlad freed Rhino with seven seconds remaining, but Rhino failed to attack with the little time it had. Vlad the Impaler won on a unanimous 9-0 judge's decision and Rhino was eliminated from the tournament.

Rhino wasn't finished, however, as it participated the heavyweight royal rumble at the end of the tournament.

BattleBots Comedy Central Season 1.0

After receiving a first round bye, Super Rhino was already in the superheavyweight quarterfinals, where it faced DooAll. In the match, DooAll kept driving over Super Rhino and the time ran out soon after. DooAll won on a close 5-4 judge's decision and Super Rhino was eliminated once again.

Super Rhino wasn't finished, however, as it participated the superheavyweight royal rumble at the end of the tournament. In the beginning, Super Rhino got a little nudge on the rear from S.L.A.M. and got its spike into Odin and Grendel. However, Minion started pushing Ronin, along with Super Rhino, and shoved it against the exit ramp. Super Rhino was left there for the entire rumble and the time ran shortly after. Minion was declared the winner of the superheavyweight rumble and Super Rhino lost overall.

Results

• Wins: 10
• Losses: 6