Tauron
Tauron was Tom's first ever combat robot - in at the deep end!
The team consisted of Tom (son and captain) and Tim (dad and keeper of the wallet). They were avid Robot Wars fans during its original run over 10 years ago, and back then Tim made the rash promise that one day they'd build a robot. Robot Wars was revived and they made their competition debut in heat three of Robot Wars 2017 series 9 (series 2 of the reboot) with their robot, Tauron.
Tauron was a fully invertible, highly manoeuvrable, charging robot, equipped with a powerful, reversible, vertical spinning bar. An unusual feature was the articulation which allowed the weapon section to swing into the new position when the robot was inverted.
Tauron appeared in Robot Wars Series 9 and 10. It entered as "Tauron" both times, however the series 10 version (sometimes referred to as Mk2) was, in fact, a completely new machine. Mk2 was much more streamlined and better armoured, and again used the concept of a pivoting weapon section, so was identical when flipped and inverted. Tauron's Hardox weapon bars weighed 13kg (Mk1) and 18kg (Mk2), and had tip speeds of almost 220mph and 250mph respectively.
Tom and Tim constructed and tested Tauron Mk3 in anticipation of Robot Wars Series 11, but the BBC didn't renew the show. However, very soon after that Battlebots 2018 was announced. With a new suit of armour and a paint job, Monsoon was born. And all the rest is history...
Straddle
Straddle is Team Tauron's featherweight robot (weight class up to 13.6kg, or 30lb in the US). Like Tauron, Straddle's weapon is a double-headed spinning bar, which is pretty much a smaller version of Tauron's. It's made from Hardox, and spins at 180mph.
Straddle was developed through the summer of 2017 and made his combat debut in late August, in the Robo Challenge International Championship held at Insomnia61. Straddle 2 competed at the KOB Uk Championships, held at Insomnia63 in September 2018.