The Swarm was a multibot that competed in the superheavyweight division in BattleBots. The Swarm fought in the final three seasons and was built and driven by three experienced competitors: Jim Smentowski of Team Nightmare, Stephen Felk, builder of Voltronic and Paul Mathus, builder of Das Bot fame. However, the robots never made it past the preliminary rounds and thus never appeared on television. The robot consisted of three smaller robots that all weighed within the middleweight range with the exception of Locust, which during Season 5.0 weighed slightly over the limit. This meant two of the robots had to be immobilized for the whole robot to be declared immobile. They were:
Locust:
The original Locust.
The upgraded Locust for Season 5.0.
Built by Jim Smentowski, Locust was originally an invertible 2-wheel drive box with rear caster wheels and two front spikes. It was very fast and weighed 108 pounds. After Season 4.0, Locust was rebuilt to be more of a Backlash-esque design, an invertible vertical spinner robot. The weapon system of the new Locust was actually Nightmare's old Season 4.0 weapon system, giving Locust serious damaging capabilities. This new version of Locust weighed 124 pounds. The original Locust (re-named Grasshopper) came out of retirement to compete at the BattleBots 2011 Nationals, placing third.
Mosquito:
Mosquito.
Built by Stephen Felk, Mosquito was a very flat H-shaped robot also equipped with 2 wheels and a front wedge which was slightly wider than the wheelbase. Mosquito was very well-armored and was able to withstand great impacts while still fighting. Mosquito was the lightest of the three, weighing a slight 97 pounds. Mosquito remains with Stephen Felk, though not in the condition it was in for robotic combat.
Dragonfly:
Dragonfly.
Built by Paul Mathus, Dragonfly was another 2-wheel drive box, similar to the original Locust, but instead of spikes it was armed with a front wedge made out of titanium. The robot had lots of pushing power and weighed 116 pounds.
The Swarm fought Dawn of Destruction in their only fight. At this time, multibots were still a new concept to BattleBots, and the rules were not completely clear on multibots and how they should be run. The Swarm team made a mistake and were disqualified after their fight as they started side-by side instead of being connected, but did deal slight damage to Dawn of Destruction.
Season 4.0[]
The Swarm fought Swirlee in their only Season 4.0 fight. Dragonfly and Locust tried to ram into Swirlee's disc to stop it. However, the weight difference meant that every time they hit Swirlee, they went flying. Mosquito, however, managed to get underneath and push Swirlee around. One of Locust's rams disabled it by breaking its power switch. After more rams Dragonfly broke a drive chain and could only move in circles. Mosquito pushed Swirlee the entire match, even pushing Swirlee into the spike strips once. Two of the robots survived to the end, and despite Mosquito's best efforts The Swarm lost a 25-20 decision.
DragonFly rams into Swirlee's spinning disc
Season 5.0[]
In their first match with the new Locust, The Swarm fought Little Pink Butterfly of Doom. Little Pink Butterfly was having drive troubles and couldn't hit any of The Swarm, but The Swarm got in lots of hits and won the match 37-8.
The Swarm fighting Final Destiny.
In their second match they fought newcomers Final Destiny. Mosquito was armed with a small scoop so it could get underneath Final Destiny's skirts. Mosquito tried to get underneath but failed, and on a third try it drove up one of Final Destiny's skirts and was hit hard, flying 6 feet into the air and bouncing off the walls of the BattleBox. The audience was stunned when Mosquito continued fighting. The other two robots tried to hit Final Destiny during this time, but the robot's bar spun up too fast and they were tossed aside as well. Locust was hit again and the disc warped, the frame was bent, and Locust stopped moving. The other two robots kept attacking, and eventually Final Destiny's blade stopped spinning, so the remaining two multibots got under the skirts and pushed Final Destiny around until the time ran out. Despite the valiant late effort by Dragonfly and Mosquito, the judges ruled in Final Destiny's favor, 27-18.
Mosquito in the pits during the 2012 ComBots Cup event.
Locust at Bot Bash 2003.
Builder's Database profile for Locust.
The Swarm being inspected at Season 3.0
1/4
Outside BattleBots[]
The Swarm also competed in Steel Conflict 3.
Trivia[]
Each time The Swarm competed, they lost in the Round of 128 to a newcomer that debuted on television that season.
The Swarm's only win was against Little Pink Butterfly of Doom, another robot with a similar color design and theme.
At least The Mosquito part of The Swarm still exists today, though like Voltronic, it is no longer in the condition it was during its days of competition.
Two parts of The Swarm competed at the 2004 Robojoust in the middleweight division. The old version of Locust competed under the name of Grasshopper, while Mosquito competed under the name Mars.
