Media Essays: The Career of Díotóir

Now this one's a machine I know everybody's going to be happy to see me talk about.

There are many recognizable machines in Robot Wars, and they're all easily identifiable for a variety of reasons. Some have a unique design, some have a cool colour scheme, some have a cool looking weapon, some have unique design traits that you won't find anywhere else. This machine is easily the best example of that last part. No other machine sports a look as iconic and as easily recognizable as this one. This is a machine all the way from Dublin, Ireland and has left its mark on Robot Wars for its memorable appearance and unique design feature, and for also being a machine that always gives viewers a fun time whenever it's onscreen. That machine...is Díotóir.

I mean...just look at it. What machine has a more visually distinctive appearance than this one? There are many different robots out there, but there is only ONE Díotóir. This is such an iconic robot that it's also appeared in every Robot Wars video game that was ever made and in August 2025, it was given a spot in The Robot Combat Hall of Fame due to its status as a fan-favourite. Hell, even Jonathan Pearce loves Díotóir, claiming it to be his favourite machine at the time of Series 4! Yet despite its popularity, Díotóir never got a toy made. Apparently, the toy companies were worried kids would set the toys on fire, which is perfectly understandable given what Díotóir's famous for. XD Díotóir is also notable for the team being great sports and overall nice guys in general, winning the Sportsmanship Award three times over the course of the show's history. The machine may look a little foolish with its red and black polka dot fur, big googly eyes and cheesy grin, but Díotóir isn't to be underestimated. This machine has had a lot of misfortune, but also some really big wins that have surprised fans again and again. And this essay is all about that. We're going to cover Díotóir's career from its beginnings to its current day and talk all about its successes and failures.

Get yourselves wrapped up in red and black polka dot fur everybody, for this is the career of Díotóir...

Beginning As Nemesis

Before there was Díotóir, there was Nemesis. First appearing in Series 1, this robot would be the team's first foray into robot combat.

This machine, weighing in at 76.8kgs, was two-wheeled and circular in shape with tall wheel arches. The body was made out of 2mm stainless steel, which offered a reasonable amount of protection in spite of the red-and-black polka dot fur covering it. As you can see, Nemesis also sports the same signature bloodshot eyes and grin as Díotóir does. The smile is made of felt and the eyebrows were made from broom brushes. Nemesis was armed with a pneumatic spiked ram that was concealed in the grin and ran at a pressure of 150psi. It had a set of static spikes at the rear and hooked blades on the sides for spinning attacks, not that Nemesis really did that as it relied more on pushing power. Its top speed as 6mph, it had a 5cm ground clearance and a zero-degree turning circle. As for the name? Eh, I don't really know why they called it "Nemesis". Maybe they just thought it sounded cool?

Interestingly, Nemesis arrived about four weeks prior to filming and wasn't actually complete at the time. They hadn't even put the fur on when they arrived! It was weighed and test driven around a makeshift labyrinth in order to qualify for the series. Nemesis appeared in the very first episode of Robot Wars and was the fourth robot in the heat to undergo the Gauntlet trial. It performed quite amazingly, actually finishing FIRST of everybody in that trial! Next up was the Sumo, in which they managed to win after Shunt fell out of the ring. Yeah, somehow this thing managed to get Shunt out of the sumo ring. You wouldn't think it possible given Nemesis's design doesn't exactly suggest it could stand a chance against Shunt, eh? But once the trials were over and it was time to battle for real, Nemesis stood no real chance against Roadblock, the machine that went on to become the first ever Robot Wars Champion. It didn't help how they apparently burnt out the robot's speed controller after winning the Sumo match against Shunt, and they didn't have a spare so they needed to repair its drive system to avoid having to withdraw. But it left Nemesis without the ability to reverse and perform sit-and-spin tactics. Even if Nemesis had been working, I doubt it would've been able to beat Roadblock. This match is notorious for many things:

1: It's the first ever head-to-head battle in the show's history since prior to this, it was all trials and no actual head-to-head battles with one another.

2: Nemesis became the first ever robot in the show's history to catch fire (which became a recurring gag in the show in where Nemesis and Díotóir would catch fire at least once in every episode they appeared in due to the fur surrounding the robot).

and 3: Nemesis became the first ever robot to lose a battle as a result of this being the first ever battle in the show. Not the best way to make a first impression, wouldn't you agree? As is, they did end the series on a high note as they won the Best Sportsmanship Award, the first ever team to win this award in the show's history, and it wouldn't be the only time they'd win it too...

Nemesis returned in Series 2 with only a few minor changes to note. This version sported a larger grin, featured a front "sword" that was based on a Roman Gladius and larger hooked claw like cutting blades near the base of the robot. Its weight was decreased by 2.3kgs and its bodyshell received a green and black polka dot colour scheme emulating the pattern on its fur. And before you ask, yes, that IS a kebab in-between the wheel arches. Yes, they really did put an actual kebab on the machine. XD In at least two battles, one being its battle against Onslaught and the other being the Inferno Insurrection battle (in which they added that chef's hat you see in the picture), they put it on with the intention that Sgt. Bash would set them on fire and cook the kebab. Wouldn't a barbecue grill be more practical? XD

Appearing in Heat G of Series 2, Nemesis once again did rather well at the trials, finishing second this time on the Gauntlet and they scored 38 points in the skittles trial, finishing third overall in that one. But once again, they fell in the head-to-head battles after Onslaught pitted them. Nemesis really showed how it was more built for the trials than actual battles since once it was in an actual battle, it kept losing. Apparently, an episode of Robot Wars Revealed, Peter Redmond explained that the team had encountered radio interference. This was likely caused by high voltage cables situated near their control booth, and this was what contributed to its immobilisation and also displaying erratic movements while it was intended to be left stationary.

As is, Nemesis wouldn't return for any series after this one (well technically it did return in Series 3, but I'll get into that later). But the team weren't done by a long shot. Come Series 3, now is the time we introduce the bot of the hour itself...

Díotóir Debuts

And here it is.

Díotóir was quite the upgrade from Nemesis, both internally and externally. The robot was still two-wheeled and had a heptagonal-shape instead of circular this time. It was made from aluminium and alclad and was armed with a more practical weapon, this being a hydraulic lifting arm made from a metre of 4mm T-section steel. It was powered by two suspension springs that were originally sourced from a car, then later a lorry. A 1200 PSI hydraulic ram held the springs down. The reason for this set-up was so Díotóir could potentially have unlimited flips without losing any power over time, which is the big Achilles Heel for the big CO2 flippers. The ram was also useful in pinning down robots after it was fired. A good idea on paper, but in execution this didn't always work out as the spring mechanism would often break and thus the weapon would be stuck in the fired position and be unable to move. It also wasn't able to self-right the machine, which led to it being defeated by being flipped numerous times. Díotóir was powered by two 24 Volt motors that ran at 36 Volts. It also had a VantecRDFR36E speed controller, which gave it a top speed of a mere 4mph. It maybe slow, but even slow robots can be effective in the arena. The sides and top of the robot were armoured in 6mm aerospace grad alclad, had an inch-thick box aluminium frame and 3mm aluminium sheet for the baseplate.

Now you may be wondering, what's with the name "Díotóir"? Where did it come from and what does it mean? Well, it's actually the Irish word for "Annihilator". That's pretty hardcore, don't you think? ;) The name was chosen as part of a national radio competition held on RTÉ 2fm's Gerry Ryan Show. The radio station itself also helped to raise support and sponsorship for the robot's appearances on the show. That was nice of them.

Oh and here's a crazy fact for you. When Díotóir was being shipped from Ireland to the UK by ferry, the team were stopped by customs and ordered to dismantle the machine before they could leave. Why? Because their lifting arm kind of looked like the barrel of a shotgun, so I guess the ferry people worried the team were bringing some sort of weapon onboard. To be fair, I can see why. I mean look at how long and straight that lifting metal arm is, it does kinda look like a gun, doesn't it? Still, if I saw something like Díotóir, I doubt I would've thought it was some kind of gun. XD Don't worry about Team Nemesis though, they were able to reassemble the machine after they got to the studio, so it wasn't all bad.

Díotóir made a pretty strong first impression in its debut. Appearing in Heat O, Díotóir won its first round battle against Sting 2 and in the second round battles, it fought against newcomer The Steel Avenger (another Robot Wars legend) and was able to defeat them by toppling them over onto their side with their lifting arm. But unfortunately, they had the misfortune to end up against Firestorm in the Heat Final and let's face it, Díotóir is NEVER going to win a fight against freaking Firestorm of all robots. I'm sorry Díotóir fans, but facts are facts. It also isn't helped by how Díotóir's batteries disconnected (how does that even happen?) within the opening seconds of the battle, so they were essentially sitting ducks for Firestorm to jus flip over and leave them to burn on the flame pit. As is, Díotóir did win the Best Sportsmanship Award just like Nemesis did in Series 1, so it still ended its run with some kind of win at least.

But Díotóir wasn't finished just yet. It made appearances in the International League Championship and the World Championship tournaments. The International League is an interesting one to talk about, because this was a case of the successor fighting its predecessor. You see that machine Díotóir's fighting? That's actually a furless Nemesis! Despite being referred to as Terror Australis, that's what it really is. You see, Díotóir's opponents had come all the way from Australia for this tournament, but their machine broke down and the Díotóir team just happened to have Nemesis in their van as a just-in-case, so they lent the team Nemesis in order to have a robot to battle with. That's just so sweet of them, isn't it? ^^

Just to clarify, this is the actual Terror Australis machine.

The International League saw Díotóir winning easily against Terror Australis and Depoppesaurus Rex before being defeated by Razer in the final. If Ciarán Byrne of Team Nemesis is to be believed, the televised version of the battle was not the only attempt at filming it. Apparently, there was another version of the fight that saw Díotóir gripped by Razer but able to slam it around the arena due to its wheels still being on the ground. The camera equipment was faulty, so the fight had to be abandoned. The teams then broke for lunch and Razer's batteries were recharged while Díotóir's were not. That hardly seems fair to me...

The World Championships were another good showing for Díotóir as they (again) fought Depoppesaurus Rex and essentially dominated the battle, then they toppled Cerberus over in Round 2 before finally being defeated on a Judge's Decision by Behemoth after the bulldozer bot flipped them over and over again until it was over. While it didn't win either competition, Díotóir still showed it could be pretty capable and how when its weapon was working, it was pretty effective. It's just too bad that Díotóir really struggles against powerful flippers. And it really suffered some incredible misfortune when Series 4 came around...

Díotóir's Unluckiest Series Ever

Díotóir returned for Series 4, and was also seeded 21st in recognition of its popularity and its solid performances in the previous competitions. I'd say that seeding was pretty accurate. The machine was more or less the same as before with only a few minor changes. Now the picture you see above is what Díotóir was SUPPOSED to look like in Series 4.

But when we saw it in Heat C of the Fourth Wars, it looked like this. So what happened? This is where the bad luck I mentioned comes in. You see, somehow, Díotóir was overweight when they arrived at the studio despite not seeming to be overweight when the team weighed it themselves back home. As a result, they had to remove the top armour to keep the weight down. Then the chain to their weapon broke. They replaced it, and then that chain ALSO broke! With no spares, they had to go into the arena without armour or a weapon.

As a result, the seeded machine didn't last long. In about four seconds, they were flipped over by Ming II and defeated. Honestly, I'm not sure if it would've performed any better even if their weapon was working since Ming II has a good flipped and Bolt from the Blue is so low to the ground that even Firestorm II couldn't get under it, so I think Díotóir was doomed to fail even without the misfortunes it had suffered. As is, Díotóir was very swiftly out of the series. But it wasn't over for them yet for they did appear in some side competitions. They appeared in both the Sumo and Pinball Tournaments. Unlike in Series 1 where they beat Shunt as Nemesis, they lost as Shunt effortlessly pushed them out of the ring in under 3.95 seconds, causing them to finish dead last. Talk about a huge drop in performance! In the Pinball Tournament, they fared much better, finishing joint fifth alongside Bigger Brother with a total of 180 points. They also won their third Sportsmanship Award, the final time they'd win such an award, so they still got something out of their brief time in Series 4 at least.

They also appeared in the Celebrity Special with fellow comedian and artist Vic Reeves as the chosen celebrity to control Díotóir. For the special, the machine was fitted with a frying pan on its lifting arm, rubber buttocks around the back and oversized glasses. I don't know why they did that, maybe it was supposed to be funny because they have a comedian on the team or something? In any case, Díotóir miraculously managed to beat both Wild Thing and Gemini before being beaten by Pussycat in the final. If this had been a legit tournament without the celebrity gimmick, Wild Thing and Gemini would've beat Díotóir easily, no doubt about it. Still, it went to show Díotóir didn't have nothing but misfortune in this series and finishing runner-up in a side tournament is a good way to end your run. Then again, the Celebrity Special was a steaming pile of crap, so not that much of a high note...

Oh and fun fact, Craig Charles's son, Jack Charles, actually appeared as a member of Team Nemesis a few times during the Series 4 side events and in Extreme and Series 5 too. I wonder how it was for both him and Craig whenever they were onscreen together?

Díotóir's Extreme-ly Poor Run That End With An Extreme Win

Díotóir returned once more, appearing in both Robot Wars Extreme and Series 5 of the main series. In Extreme 1 and Series 5, this version of Díotóir had a more domed shaped compared to before, a shortened wedge and was made shallower to accommodate the upgrade to their weapon. Instead of a narrow lifting arm, they had a much wider, more practical lifting shovel that sported the robot's signature grin. Blunt side spikes were added to the sides of the machine to prevent it from getting stuck on its side. The machine was capable of reaching speeds of 6mph. Díotóir's shovel also featured a metal bar like you see here in Extreme...

...and for Series 5 they had triangular frames. During Díotóir's appearances, the bar was used to holy novelty attachments and was supposed to help the machine self right. It didn't work. When it comes to the two design choices, I prefer the triangular frames myself.

Díotóir's run in Extreme can be summed up as up and down. They appeared in so many different competitions in Extreme and had no success in either of them...except for one. Before we cover that, all the ones they did lose. They fought against Wheely Big Cheese in the first round of the All-Stars Tournament. Big surprise, they lost since Díotóir's biggest weakness is powerful flippers. They fought a Vengeance battle against Firestorm in where they said the Firestorm team were "a bunch of girlies". Firestorm beat them soundly. They fought in a UK Mayhem Melee against Panic Attack and Shere Khan. Panic Attack carried them around and pitted them. Then they appeared in the Second World Championships where they fought a melee against Razer, Flensburger Power and The Revolutionist. They lost on a Judge's Decision to Razer.

But then came the one competition they DIDN'T lose. They appeared in the Tag Team Terror Tournament where they paired up with Mega Morg and were able to beat the Tag Team Champions, King B Powerworks and 101 on a Judge's Decision. Come the second round, Mega Morg were unable to continue and had to pull out, so Díotóir needed a new partner. It certainly got an upgrade for Pussycat took over for Mega Morg. Talk about swapping from a mediocre machine to an awesome one! Díotóir and Pussycat would then go on to beat Spawn Again and Comengetorix in the second round and then win a clsoe Judge's Decision against The Steel Avenger and Suicidal Tendencies. So how about that, Díotóir managed to win a major competition in the end. Even Hypno-Disc isn't able to boast about that kind of achievement!

Díotóir's Biggest Win Ever

Series 5 was better for Díotóir than Series 4 was by a long shot. While it still didn't really get that far, this is easily the most noteworthy run Díotóir ever had on Robot Wars. I know it, you know it, the entire fandom knows it! In their first round battle, they completely dominated Dome by flipping them over and pitting them. The second round proved to be more of a challenge, for they ended up against the mighty Tornado. Now on paper, this match should be a piece of cake for Tornado. I mean, no disrespect to Díotóir, but there's no way this slow and ponderous machine with a weapon that barely works can possibly win, right?

I stand corrected!

Yep, you all knew this was coming. This right here was Díotóir's most famous victory (and also its last) in the entire show. I mean THIS machine of all machines BEAT Tornado! That is amazing! As it turns out, Díotóir's shape actually made it pretty hard for Tornado to push around since the front wedge of Díotóir would get the front wheels off the ground and make it harder for Tornado to push back and Díotóir's scoop being open gave it somewhat of a means to grapple with the speedy box bot. They also had to keep reversing the spinning drum because Díotóir's fur would clog it up. Tornado also lost drive on one side of the robot, hence why Díotóir was able to pit them in the end. As is, Díotóir, the joke bot, the one that's always catching fire, the robot that not many people take seriously...BEAT Tornado! No wonder this is their most memorable moment ever! Whenever fans talk about Díotóir, chances are they'll bring up this fight. I know I do! So now Díotóir's beaten Tornado, they've only got the Heat Final left and they could potentially be semi-finalists for the first time ever. Hey, if Díotóir can beat Tornado, they've got every chance they can win this heat...

Oh right, that happened.

Yeah, once again, Díotóir fell victim to a powerful flipper. You noticing a pattern here? I did say powerful flippers are its biggest weakness for a reason. So yeah, it had no chance against Spawn Again unless Spawn Again broke down without warning like it often did. It was flipped over, roasted by Sgt. Bash and ultimately beaten. It's a pity its amazing win over Tornado was undermined by such a fast defeat, but what ya gonna do? This did lead to a hilarious moment where Díotóir tried to self right and the eyes fell off after their weapon fired. That was funny. XD

As is, this was Díotóir's FINAL EVER appearance in the main series of Robot Wars. But we're not done just yet...

Díotóir's Extreme-ly Brief Return

Díotóir made one final appearance in the classic era of the show, appearing in the Extreme 2 Tag Team Terror Tournament as the defending Champions alongside Pussycat. This version of Díotóir weighed 90kgs and exchanged its flipping shovel for a flatter, more narrow flipping panel and added an overhead crushing arm. I don't see how that's a "crushing arm" myself, it looks more like a srimech arm to me. So, did Díotóir and Pussycat successfully defend their Tag Team title?

Eh...nope.

And so unfortunately, Díotóir ended their career on a loss. They didn't return for Series 7 since unfortunately, the show was moved to Channel 5 and Ireland doesn't air Channel 5, so Díotóir lost the sponsorships they needed to fund their travels and their machine, so that was it. And as Robot Wars was cancelled after Series 7, Díotóir never got a chance to return.

But that all changed in the reboot era...

Díotóir's Return in the Reboot

After the show returned in 2016, its third series concluded with a pair of specials known as the World Series. Díotóir was invited to participate in the first special. You better believe the show wasted NO time at all hyping up its return. Seriously, the first World Series special could've been renamed "Díotóir's Big Comeback" and it would've been extremely fitting! Their return was such a big deal that this episode was notorious for being the FIRST TIME IN THE REBOOT'S RUN to feature archive footage of the classic series when they showed off some of Díotóir's fights in Series 5! That alone should tell you the producers were well aware of how much of a fan favourite Díotóir is!

For this incarnation of Díotóir, it's quite an interesting story. You see, this isn't really the team's robot. They didn't actually have one ready for the reboot and so they were given a loaner bot, Kadeena Machina, to work with. All they had to do was coat it in fur, stick on Díotóir's signature smiley face and presto, a new version of Díotóir. As it's a reskinned Kadeena Machina, this Díotóir is invertible, had side armour to protect the wheels, weighed 106kgs, was armoured in 3mm HARDOX with 2mm steel and was able to move at 10mph. It was also armed with a 15kg vertical flywheel that spun at 2,000RPM and was highly destructive. When the machine was Kadeena Machina, it proved to be a near unstoppable force of nature in the Celebrity Specials by destroying every opponent it came across. So this means Díotóir should perform really well and be a fearsome destructive force in the arena, right?

Sadly...no. For all the hype of its return, it ended up being for nothing in the end. In the first round melee against Terrorhurtz and Sabretooth, it crashed into Terrorhurtz and died immediately due to the safety link not being securely fastened. You better believe that sucked! I mean they hype up Díotóir's return like crazy, and then this happens? If I were in charge of these specials, I would've said "Do it again! We can't have Díotóir going out this easily, it'll disappoint the fans!". Díotóir deserved a better comeback than to just die immediately seconds into the battle.

Its battle against Apollo was better though. While yeah, they still lost, they didn't die in one hit this time. The battle treated us to some lovely shots of Apollo flipping Díotóir while it was on fire. I don't know why, I just found that pretty dazzling to watch. Despite its fearsome disc, Díotóir wasn't able to do any damage to Díotóir and were flipping onto their side, where they were stuck and immobilized once again. Even when it's an invertible machine, Díotóir still can't avoid being defeated by being flipped.

And that was it. That was all we got for Díotóir's comeback in the reboot. Pretty underwhelming if I can be honest. If they hadn't died in one hit against Terrorhurtz and were able to put up more of a fight, then we could've had a more impressive return for the Irish machine. Still, I appreciate the fact they even returned at all. It's just always nice to see Team Nemesis in Robot Wars. The show's just not the same without Díotóir if you ask me.

Outside of Robot Wars, Team Nemesis are still very active and have been quite busy.

Team Nemesis member Peter Redmond still owns Díotóir to this day and often brings it along to conventions and other exhibits, but only as a static display. The Extreme 2 version of Díotóir was given a new coat of fur with the machine's trademark face in 2017 and given a new lifting panel with extended lower lip to replace the damaged one from Extreme 2. In 2017 and 2018, Díotóir appeared in Mechatrons events and would appear at RoboNerd in Steptember 2021.

But here's where it really gets interesting. In 2018 also, Díotóir appeared in the Fighting My Bots Tournament over in China. This incarnation of Díotóir was actually a repainted and retooled Iron-Awe 7 that was given the machine's signature face and fur. Funny isn't it how Díotóir was always being beaten by flippers and now this version of Díotóir IS a flipper? The machine performed excellently too, finishing runner-up overall in the tournament.

Another new version of Díotóir competed at Team Nemesis's own Mechatrons/RoboRiots events, but rather than being coated in fur, the red and black polka-dot colour scheme was painted on instead. Also, probably to reference its previous incarnation as Iron-Awe 7, the machine was renamed Díot-Awe instead. This machine would finish runners-up in the main Irish Heavyweight Championships in October 2025 after a close battle against Ripper 8. Funny how Team Nemesis keeps finishing second in some of these tournaments, eh?

The team even compete with a featherweight version of the famous machine named Minítóir. Cute, isn't it?

Overall, it's awesome to see that Team Nemesis is still very active in the sport of robot combat and Díotóir is still competing to this day.

Conclusion

And that brings us to the end of Díotóir's story. This machine is so beloved for not only its iconic design, but for what great sportsmanship their team displays, their terrific sense of humour and how Díotóir just brings that extra level of fun to its battles no matter who it's against or what kind of tournament it is. There's just something so enjoyable about seeing this fluffy machine with its trademark red and black polka-dot fur and seeing it put up a good fight while also catching fire. Díotóir is a classic machine and deserving of its fan favourite status I say. This show really wouldn't be the same without Díotóir and I'll forever appreciate its appearances on the show. Thanks for all the fun times on the show Team Nemesis... ^^

And that's it for this essay. I hope you enjoyed reading about the career of Díotóir and I invite you all to share your thoughts down below. What's your favourite Díotóir battle and what's their most memorable moment to you? Do tell me.

Next week, I'll be counting down to Pixar's 40th Anniversary by listing 40 facts about the studio, starting from 1-10. See you then media fans!

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