Turbulence is a wedge-shaped robot with a yellow (later changed to gold) flipper. From 2005-2007, it was low with a wide flipper powered by low pressure CO2. The ram attached at a pivot to the flipper arm. In 2007 it was rebuilt, wider and with a narrower, high pressure flipper. This version used a non-attached ram. 2006 was the most sucessful year for Turbulence as this was the year it won the UK Championships .
In 2008, the team split up, Ed Wallace renamed Turbulence Mk2 as Apocalypse which was rebuilt for 2009. Although the orginal chassis was destroyed in 2008, the flipper arm remained and in 2012 the orginal design was rebuilt. It continues fighting to this day.
Turbulence competed in and won the pilot episode of the 2016 series, it did not compete in the main competition. Turbulence's builder, Dave Moulds, instead entered with the successful Carbide. Team Asgard did not apply for the 2017 series due to time constraints.
Robot History
2006 Championship
Turbulence signed up for its first ever UK Championship in 2006 which was incidentally the first major UK roboteering event since Robot Wars. In it's pod, Turbulence drew Dutch robot Spike, Iron-Awe 3 and the top seed and reigning champion Kronic. In its first fight with Spike, it took no damage from Spike's axe and easily threw it out the arena. Next it fought Iron-Awe 3 who got wedged on the arena floor meaning it was an open target for Turbulence to flip it out. Turbulence's next fight caused a shock- it flipped the current champion Kronic out the arena in the shortest fight of a UK championship match (beating the record previously held by Gravity). All those wins gave Turbulence entry into the finals.
In the next round Turbulence met Tough As Nails who managed to grab hold of their flipper, but Turbulence broke free and threw it out the arena again. In the quarter-finals, it met Ripper who attacked too early allowing Turbulence to get under and flip Roaming Robots's resident robot all over the arena before also putting it over the fence. Next in the semi-finals it fought Big Nipper who was also thrown around the arena. Next in the grand-final it met Robot Wars World Champion Storm 2, Turbulence flipped it around the arena and stacked it against the wall where it got stuck. Turbulence then attempted to get Storm 2 out the arena but it just assisted it back on its wheels again. Turbulence then tried to get Storm 2 out again but stacked it there and the fight was ended meaning that Turbulence had won the 2006 UK Championships.
Winter Tour 2006
Turbulence came back for the Winter Tour in the same year, its first qualifier match at Doncaster was very one-sided against Mighty Mouse as Turbulence just threw the small robot all over the arena before eventually throwing it out of it. In its next qualifier match at Portsmouth it fought the 2nd seed Terrorhurtz who hammered Turbulence with its axe a lot. Turbulence fought back giving the 2004 UK Champion a series of flips but it was then all over when Turbulence was immobilised by one of the axe blows and then ended up in the pit. After beating Mighty Mouse at Doncaster, Turbulence had still gained points to access entry into the finals at Folkestone where it fought Terrorhurtz in the first round again. This time after it had received axe blows from Terrorhurtz, Turbulence pushed it to the arena wall and flipped it over the fence. In the quarter-final it met Iron-Awe 3 who it beat in the 2006 UK Championships at Wicksteed Park, Turbulence got one flip on it but it self-righted and fought back by throwing Turbulence out the arena. Turbulence then had Ripper and Storm 2 in the loser's melee who both were also opponents that had been beaten by Turbulence in the UK Championships. This time, Ripper flipped Turbulence and when it tried to self-right had its flipper caught on the pit which lead to it being pitted eliminating it from the Winter Tour.
2007 Championship
As the top seed and reigning champion, Turbulence came back for the 2007 UK Championships as a new model. It won both its fights in its pod flipping Ka-Pow! out the arena and Tough As Nails into the pit giving it the points to go on through to the finals. In round 1, it flipped Tiberius 4 out of the arena rapidly, but in the quarter-finals, it got flipped around by Iron-Awe 5 and Turbulence died meaning it had lost its title.
2007 Tag Team
Turbulence placed second at the UK Tag Team championships with its partner Tiberius, in a joint position with Weird Alice and The Saint.
Live Events
Despite being a competitive robot in the live event circuit, Turbulence has not made many appearances in the Robot Wars live show. It only fought once - at the fourth Robot Wars live event in Widnes 2013 where it lost in its heat of the main competition against Rattler, Big Nipper and eventual runner-up Maelstrom due to a CO2 leak in its system.
Turbulence also fought in the Robots Live! European Championships in 2013, losing to Titan in its heat, alongside Luzifer.
2016 Series
Although Turbulence did not compete in the main series of Robot Wars in 2016, it was regardless invited to attend filming of the pilot episode on March 1st, giving it the opportunity to compete in front of a live audience as part of a camera test.
In its group battle, Turbulence fought Ka-Pow!, Tanto, and Basher. Tanto immobilised itself when driving over Ka-Pow!, knocking its safety link loose after a backflip, while Basher pitted itself by overbalancing when pitting the beaten Tanto, leaving Turbulence and Ka-Pow! as the qualifiers.
Turbulence won its first battle against former heat winners Reaper, as Reaper's CO2 canister valve was not opened correctly, disabling its flipper. Reaper self-righted after Turbulence's first flip, but its second would be a KO.
In its second head-to-head, Turbulence defeated Merlin on a Judges' decision, due to an upper hand in aggression and control. Turbulence's final fight was addressed as the Heat Final, where it met Ka-Pow! for a second time. Ka-Pow! was pitted after a valiant fight, meaning Turbulence was the champion of the episode.
Although Turbulence went undefeated in the pilot episode, it suffered a loss during an off-screen whiteboard fight, held to entertain the crowd. Turbulence was brought into this battle after some of the selected whiteboard competitors, Gabriel and Shockwave, were unable to be repaired in time. Against Infernal Contraption, Turbulence's link fell out, and it lost the battle.
Despite not competing in the main series, Turbulence still made a cameo appearance in Episode 3 when Dara Ó Briain was talking to Judge Dr Lucy Rogers. Turbulence, with Monte and Merlin, made a second cameo in Episode 4 at the beginning of the episode when Angela Scanlon introduces the pits, and all three also appeared in Episode 5. Turbulence also made a cameo in the Grand Final, appearing in most of the shots in the pits.
Results
Wins/Losses
- Wins: 17
- Losses: 5