Robot Wars: Series 8

The 2016 series of Robot Wars was the eighth series of Robot Wars. It was announced online via a BBC News article on the 13th January 2016 that the BBC, along with Mentorn Scotland, would be shooting 6 episodes in a new, purpose-built, bullet-proof arena in Glasgow.

The series was presented by Dara Ó Briain and Angela Scanlon, with Jonathan Pearce returning as commentator. Professor Noel Sharkey returned as a judge, alongside new judges Professor Sethu Vijayakumar and Lucy Rogers. Shooting of the televised episodes began on March 4th, ending on March 14th, with a private pilot filming session taking place on February 29th, and a pilot with a live studio audience being filmed on March 1st. Construction for the new arena began on February 18th, and the series started airing on July 24th, 2016.

Representing the House Robots, Matilda, Dead Metal, Shunt and Sir Killalot made a return to the arena, having been rebuilt with major upgrades, and appeared in their own promotional teaser trailers. Interestingly, these teasers used the versions of the house robots that appeared in Robot Wars: The Seventh Wars, rather than their upgraded versions. Refbot, Sgt. Bash, Mr. Psycho, Growler, and Cassius Chrome did not return.

The weight allowance for standard heavyweights was increased to 110kg, while the weight limit for walkers was reduced to 135kg, with the series containing 39 heavyweights and 1 middleweight The arena floor was be covered with 6mm steel this time around, instead of the typical wooden boards. The arena was set at a warehouse in Renfrew.

On the fourth of May 2016, the Robot Wars website, used for the live events, was taken over by BBC and is currently the official website.

The first official footage of the series was released through three teaser trailers on June 25th, 2016. These trailers confirmed the first three competitors in the series; Thor, Sabretooth and Storm 2. On the 2nd July there was a launch trailer released featuring many of the new and old competitors. A press pack was released on the 7th of July confirming the rest of the competitors as well as the format of the show and some of the changes made to the house robots.

On July 11th, a short preview, Meet the House Robots, was released on BBC iPlayer.

Format
The series consists of six episodes, involving five qualifying episodes and a Grand Final, with a sixth finalist being chosen as a wildcard by the judges. There were eight robots per heat, of the forty in total.

Four robots fought in each first-round qualifier, of which there were two per heat, allowing two robots to qualify through them, like the two series prior. In the second round, a round robin format is used, where the four robots to qualify out of the first round in each heat will all face each other in a head-to-head battle, even if they had already met in the first round. A certain number of points is given to a robot, based on whether it lost (0 points), won via KO (3 points), or won via Judges' decision (2 points). The two robots with the most points fight again in the Heat Final.

The Grand Final is the same structure as a normal episode, but with three robots in each eliminator battle instead of four. Two robots progressed from each eliminator, and faced-off against each other in head-to-head battles, with the two highest scoring robots progressing to the final battle of the series.

The nature of this format meant that despite having the joint fewest episodes of any series and the second fewest competitors, the eventual 2016 champion was required to compete in more fights (10) than the winners of any other series (3 in Series 1, 5 in Series 2, 7 from Series 3-7).

Episode 1
Robots Competing: Behemoth, Bonk, Carbide, Kill-E-Crank-E, Nuts, Razer, Terrorhurtz, The General

Round 1
 * Kill-E-Crank-E vs Nuts vs Razer vs Terrorhurtz: Nuts & Terrorhurtz qualified
 * Behemoth vs Bonk vs Carbide vs The General: Behemoth & Carbide qualified

Head-to-Head Battles
 * Carbide vs Terrorhurtz: Terrorhurtz Won by KO
 * Behemoth vs Nuts: Behemoth Won by Judges' decision


 * Behemoth vs Terrorhurtz: Behemoth Won by KO
 * Carbide vs Nuts: Carbide Won by KO


 * Behemoth vs Carbide: Carbide Won by KO
 * Nuts vs Terrorhurtz: Terrorhurtz Won by Judges' decision

Heat Final
 * Carbide vs Behemoth: Carbide won

Episode 2
Robots Competing: Chimera, DisConstructor, Draven, Foxic, M.R. Speed Squared, Shockwave, Thor, Tough as Nails

Round 1
 * DisConstructor vs Shockwave vs Thor vs Tough as Nails: Shockwave & Thor qualified
 * Chimera vs Draven vs Foxic vs M.R. Speed Squared: Foxic & M.R. Speed Squared qualified

Head-to-Head battles
 * M.R. Speed Squared vs Thor: Thor Won by KO
 * Foxic vs Shockwave: Shockwave Won by KO


 * Shockwave vs Thor: Thor Won by Judges' decision
 * Foxic vs M.R. Speed Squared: M.R. Speed Squared Won by Judges' decision


 * Foxic vs Thor: Thor Won by KO
 * M.R. Speed Squared vs Shockwave: Shockwave Won by KO

Heat Final
 * Thor vs Shockwave: Shockwave Won

Episode 3
Robots Competing: Big Nipper, Dantomkia, Glitterbomb, King B Remix, Or Te, Overdozer, Supernova, TR2

Round 1
 * Dantomkia vs Glitterbomb vs King B Remix vs Overdozer: Dantomkia & King B Remix qualified
 * Big Nipper vs Or Te vs Supernova vs TR2: Big Nipper and TR2 qualified

Head-to-Head battles
 * Dantomkia vs King B Remix: Dantomkia Won by KO
 * Big Nipper vs TR2: TR2 Won by KO


 * Dantomkia vs TR2: TR2 Won by KO
 * Big Nipper vs King B Remix: Big Nipper Won by KO


 * King B Remix vs TR2: TR2 Won by KO
 * Big Nipper vs Dantomkia: Dantomkia Won by Judges' decision

Heat Final
 * TR2 vs Dantomkia: TR2 Won

Episode 4
Robots Competing: Apollo, Eruption, Kan-Opener, PP3D, Sabretooth, Storm 2, Sweeney Todd, Terror Turtle

Round 1
 * Apollo vs Kan-Opener vs PP3D vs Sweeney Todd: Apollo and PP3D qualified
 * Eruption vs Sabretooth vs Storm 2 vs Terror Turtle: Eruption and Storm 2 qualified

Head-to-Head battles
 * Apollo vs PP3D: Apollo Won by KO
 * Eruption vs Storm 2: Storm 2 Won by Judges' decision


 * Apollo vs Storm 2: Apollo Won by Judges' decision
 * Eruption vs PP3D: PP3D Won by Judges' decision


 * Apollo vs Eruption: Eruption Won by KO
 * PP3D vs Storm 2: Storm 2 Won by KO

Heat Final
 * Apollo vs Storm 2: Apollo Won

Episode 5
Robots Competing: Beast, Chompalot, Crazy Coupe 88, Gabriel, Infernal Contraption, Ironside3, Pulsar, Thermidor 2

Round 1
 * Chompalot vs Ironside3 vs Pulsar vs Thermidor 2: Chompalot and Ironside3 qualified
 * Beast vs Crazy Coupe 88 vs Gabriel vs Infernal Contraption: Beast and Gabriel qualified

Head-to-Head battles
 * Gabriel vs Chompalot: Gabriel Won by KO (After this battle, Chompalot were forced to withdraw, and were replaced by Pulsar)
 * Beast vs Ironside3: Ironside3 Won by KO


 * Pulsar vs Beast: Pulsar Won by KO
 * Gabriel vs Ironside3: Ironside3 Won by Judges' decision


 * Gabriel vs Beast: Gabriel Won by KO
 * Ironside3 vs Pulsar: Pulsar Won by KO

Heat Final
 * Pulsar vs Gabriel: Pulsar Won

Grand Final
Robots Competing: Carbide, Shockwave, TR2, Apollo, Pulsar, Thor

Wildcard Choices

NOTE: The available choices for the Wildcard were the Heat Finalists, Behemoth, Thor, Dantomkia, Storm 2 and Gabriel.

Wild Card: Thor

Round 1


 * Thor vs TR2 vs Pulsar: Pulsar eliminated
 * Carbide vs Shockwave vs Apollo: Shockwave eliminated NOTE: This fight was stopped early after Carbide destroyed the arena wall

Head-to-Head battles


 * Thor vs Carbide: Carbide Won by KO
 * TR2 vs Apollo: Apollo Won by KO
 * Carbide vs Apollo: Carbide Won by KO
 * Thor vs TR2: TR2 Won by KO
 * Carbide vs TR2: TR2 Won by Judges' decision
 * Apollo vs Thor: Apollo Won by KO

Grand Final


 * Carbide vs Apollo: Apollo Won

Pilot Episode
Before filming of the main series took place, a pilot episode was recorded on March 1st to test the camera equipment, which would never be aired as part of the main series.

Robots Competing: Basher, Ka-Pow!, Merlin, Monte, Reaper, Tanto, Turbulence, Wraith

Round 1
 * Basher vs Ka-Pow! vs Tanto vs Turbulence: Ka-Pow! & Turbulence qualified
 * Merlin vs Monte vs Reaper vs Wraith: Merlin & Reaper qualified

Note: Wraith had technical problems and was forced to withdraw at the last minute.

Head-to-Head battles
 * Turbulence vs Reaper: Turbulence won
 * Turbulence vs Merlin: Turbulence won
 * Ka-Pow! vs Merlin: Merlin won

Heat Final
 * Ka-Pow! vs Turbulence: Turbulence won

''NOTE: Ka-Pow! was put through to this stage due to time constraints''

Whiteboard Matches
During the filming of the main series, a number of non-championship battles took place to entertain the audience during filming. These "whiteboard matches" were largely untelevised, with clips sometimes being used in the opening sequence of the show.

Robots Competing: Behemoth, Eruption, Gabriel, Infernal Contraption, Turbulence, Shockwave


 * Eruption vs Infernal Contraption: Eruption won
 * Eruption vs Shockwave: Eruption won
 * Behemoth vs Gabriel: Gabriel won
 * Eruption vs Behemoth: No winner declared
 * Infernal Contraption vs Turbulence: Infernal Contraption won