Seeding

During the UK Series of Robot Wars, the producers awarded seedings to robots. A seed is a preliminary ranking that can be used in arranging a sports tournament. It is called a seed because of the analogy with plants where the seed might grow into a top rank at the end of that tournament, or the seed might instead wither away. Seeded machines are 'planted' into the bracket in a manner that is typically intended so that the best don't meet until later in the competition. Therefore, the first and second seed are always intended to meet in the Grand Final, although this never happened in Robot Wars.

Seeds were predominantly expected to be the favourites to win each heat. In Series 4 and 5, where two seeds were placed in each heat, the higher seed was considered the favourite, whilst the lower seed was considered the second favourite. The seeds were nearly always kept apart so that they could only meet in the heat final – although this rarely happened due to one or the other or even both being knocked out of the competition before hand. The only exception was in the Fifth Wars when Hypno-Disc and Atomic 2 met in the second round of Heat B despite both being seeded.

Regular seeds
Because of their pedigree or popularity, certain UK Series Competitors were seeded in numerous series. However, no robot or team was ever seeded on all five occasions of seeds being granted.

Hypno-Disc and Razer are the only two machines never to have been seeded outside of the top four.

Four occasions

 * Firestorm
 * Panic Attack
 * Team Chaos
 * Team Cold Fusion
 * Team Scutterbots

Three occasions

 * Behemoth
 * Bigger Brother
 * Hypno-Disc
 * Razer
 * Stinger
 * Tornado
 * Wild Thing
 * X-Terminator
 * Dominator 2 would have been seeded three times, but dropped out of Series 7 and surrendered its seeding place.

The Second Wars
Seeds were first introduced in Series 2, but there were only six. As a result of this, seeds were only placed in half of the heats.

The Second Wars featured seeded robots based on performance in the previous series. It was intended that the six grand finalists from the first series would be seeded, but as Cunning Plan and T.R.A.C.I.E. (or even reincarnations of these robots) did not initially return for the second series, seedings were given to Mortis and Killertron instead.

1. Roadblock 2. Mortis 3. Bodyhammer 4. Killertron 5. Cassius 6. Chaos

Controversy
The Second Wars seeding has been the subject of some controversy.
 * Griffon, the heavyweight successor to Cunning Plan, was ignored in the seeding selections. This is because the producers weren't impressed with the new robot so it was only chosen as a reserve, and only competed because Reckless Endangerment pulled out at the last minute.
 * Mortis was given the second seed, despite falling at the heat final stage. Bodyhammer (the only remaining robot besides Roadblock), Chaos and Cassius (from the team to defeat Mortis) were given controversially lower seeds.
 * Similarly, but to a lesser extent, Killertron was controversially seeded higher than both Cassius and Chaos.
 * Reasons suggested for these robots receiving lower seeds is that the robots were new, and entering their debut series.

Success rate

 * In the Second Wars, four seeded robots made it to the semi-finals. Bodyhammer was the first seeded machine to lose in Round 1, and Chaos lost at the heat final stage. Killertron became the first seeded robot to finish in its expected position, fourth.
 * Despite three seeds making the Grand Final, the winner of the Series was an unseeded newcomer.

The Third Wars
Due to the change in the format of the UK Championship, there were no seeds in Series 3, however moral expectations of certain returning robots and teams naturally still stood.

The Fourth Wars
"This year, just like Wimbledon, we've seeded our top 32 teams based primarily on past battle performance."

- Craig Charles in the opening of Heat A

Series 4 featured 32 seeded machines, the most in Robot Wars history. Each heat featured 2 seeds, with a gap of 16 in between. (For example, Heat A contained the 1st and 17th seeds). The format of the heats would be that all of the odd numbered seeds would be placed in the first eight heats, and then, starting from 16 and 32, the even numbered seeds would be placed in heats until the 2nd and 18th seed were placed in the final heat.

The Fourth Wars featured seeded robots based on performance in the previous series. Robots such as Razer and Behemoth were given high placings due to their prowess in The First World Championship. Other robots were seeded based on popularity such as Stinger, Plunderbird 4 and Sir Chromalot. All the semi-finalists from the third series (except Pitbull and Beast of Bodmin, whose teams had not expressed intent of returning) were seeded, but when both Trident and Blade's Big Bruva pulled out at the last minute, Centurion and Suicidal Tendencies were both given seedings.

1. Chaos 2

2. Hypno-Disc

3. Razer

4. Panic Attack

5. Firestorm 2

6. Behemoth

7. Steg 2

8. Gemini

9. 101

10. Spawn of Scutter

11. Wild Thing

12. Evil Weevil 2

13. Gravedigger

14. Bigger Brother

15. Wheely Big Cheese

16. Killerhurtz

17. King B3

18. Cerberus

19. Pussycat

20. Aggrobot 2

21. Diotoir

22. X-Terminator 2

23. Mortis

24. Berserk 2

25. Shadow of Napalm

26. Plunderbird 4

27. Sir Chromalot

28. Weld-Dor 2

29. Dreadnaut XP-1

30. Stinger

31. Centurion

32. Suicidal Tendencies

Controversy
The most controversy in seeding has surrounded the Fourth Wars seeds.
 * Razer and Behemoth’s places in the top 6 have been seen as unfair, despite their prowess in the First World Championship, they both performed comparatively poorly in the main competition, reaching the second and third rounds respectively.
 * Steg 2 was only seeded 7th, this the lowest seed given to any Grand Finalist of the previous series in Robot Wars history.
 * The number of seeds granted in Series 4 has been seen as unnecessary, with so many robots seeded, numerous roboteers felt that the seeds had lost their meaning.
 * Inverterbrat and Darke Destroyer 2 were not seeded, despite reaching the heat finals of their respective heats in the previous series. However, commentary by Jonathan Pearce leads some fans to believe that Darke Destroyer 2 specifically requested to be in Gravedigger's heat in order to earn vengeance over said robot, and thusly entered that heat unseeded.
 * Killerhurtz’s placing at 16 has been one of the most controversial. Despite its failure to win any of its four UK battles, it was seeded higher than King B3, Pussycat, Berserk 2, Diotoir and X-Terminator, all of whom were heat finalists from the previous year with impressive records. Many suspect that Killerhurtz’s popularity and pedigree in the US tournament BattleBots may have contributed to it being seeded so high.
 * Despite being a Heat Finalist from the previous series, Suicidal Tendencies was only seeded when Blade's Big Bruva pulled out, when many of the other seeded robots, such as Sir Chromalot, Wel-Dor and Stinger, failed to reach the Heat Final in the Third Wars.
 * In distributing the seeds, two heats deviated from the “gap of sixteen” formula. Heat H featured a gap of 17, whilst Heat I featured a gap of 15.
 * Somewhat ironically, Suicidal Tendencies is mistakenly listed as being seeded 31 in the Northern Annihilator. If this truly had been its rank, then the aforementioned heats would have followed the formula.
 * In addition, the seeds that should have been in Heat F (Wild Thing [11] and Sir Chromalot [27]) were swapped with those in Heat M (Gemini [8] and Berserk 2 [24]). Many people believe that this change was made purposely so that Gemini would meet Chaos 2 in the second round of the Semi-final, rehashing the rivalry between the two teams.

Success rate
Of the top sixteen seeds, eight made the Series Semi-Finals. This was added to the three bottom sixteen seeds that made the final, to give eleven seeded semi-finalists.
 * Series 4 was also the only time that the Grand Final comprised of four seeded machines and no unseeded machines.
 * Chaos 2 became the first and only reigning champion and number 1 seed to defend its title. This made it the second machine in history to finish in its predicted position.

However, in addition to this, Series 4 saw several poor cases of seed performances.
 * Series 4 saw the most seeds lose in Round 1 – Evil Weevil 2 (12th), Gravedigger(13th), Cerberus (18th), Diotoir (21st), Weld-Dor 2 (28th) and Centurion (31st), with Diotoir becoming the first to do so in battle.
 * Behemoth was the highest seed ever to lose a judges' decision in the heats.
 * Every heat was set up so that the two seeds would not meet until the Heat Final. Among the 16 heats, this only occurred four times, and only twice did the higher seed win.

The Fifth Wars
Due to the change in the structure of the UK Championship, the heats still featured two seeds, but there were only 24 seeds. All sixteen semi-finalists from the previous series were seeded, with the four Grand Finalists and the reigning World Champion amongst the top five.

1. Chaos 2 2. Pussycat 3. Hypno-Disc 4. Razer 5. Stinger 6. Panic Attack 7. Firestorm 3 8. 3 Stegs to Heaven 9. Wild Thing 10. Wheely Big Cheese 11. Dominator 2 12. Tornado

13. Spawn Again 14. X-Terminator 15. Behemoth 16. Thermidor 2 17. Splinter 18. Gemini 19. Mini Morg 20. Mousetrap 2 21. Suicidal Tendencies 22. Atomic 2 23. 101 24. S.M.I.D.S.Y.

However, the seeds were certainly not chosen based purely on the Fourth Wars – the Third Wars still had influence on where seeds were designated. For example, 3 Stegs to Heaven and Firestorm 3, both of whom had lost in the first round of the semi-finals of Series 4, were seeded higher than Tornado, Dominator 2 and Wild Thing, the three who reached the second round of the semi-finals. This was likely because of their Grand Finalist status in the Third Wars. In addition, heat finalist Behemoth was seeded above a few semifinalists for reaching the heat final and the World Championship final in Series 3. But the biggest Third War influence was with Hypno-Disc seeded one place above where it finished, due to it being the runner-up of the Third Wars. Conversely, despite coming third the previous series and technically finishing above Hypno-Disc, Stinger was only given the 5th seed. Some of the low seedings were awarded after the qualifiers, given to returning robots that performed exceptionally in their qualifier battles.

Controversy

 * Mini Morg was seeded at number 19, outranking one semifinalist and three heat finalists with more pedigree than it. Heat finalists Bulldog Breed and The Steel Avenger also had more pedigree than Mini Morg but were not seeded at all.
 * 101 was seeded at only 23, despite being a previous Semi-Finalist in addition to its heat final finish and Tag Team Terror Champion status from the preceding war.
 * For some reason, Hypno-Disc (3) and Atomic 2 (22) were drawn against each other in the second round rather than in the Heat Final. The motivation behind this is unclear.

Success rate

 * Of the top 12 seeds, nine made the semi-finals, and only Tornado failed to reach the heat final stage.
 * Of the lower 12 seeds, only Spawn Again made the semi-finals, resulting in a full ten of twelve semi-finalists being seeded.
 * Like the Fourth Wars, the seeding process was designed so that the seeds would meet in the heat final (with one exception in Heat B). Only Chaos 2 and S.M.I.D.S.Y. met in the heat final, with one of the seeds losing in the first two rounds in every other heat, Hypno-Disc and Atomic 2 met in their heat as well, but they fought each other in the second round, not the heat final.
 * In Series 5, only 3 seeds (101, Mini Morg and Thermidor 2) lost in Round 1. However, an additional seven lost in the second round. Suicidal Tendencies also became the first seed to retire due to mechanical failures.
 * 101 became the first seed in history to lose via a judges' decision in the first round.

The Sixth Wars
The Sixth Wars featured seeded robots based on performance in the previous series. The UK Championship format remained the same, but the heats changed their format. Now only one seed was placed in each heat, resulting in a number of unseeded famous faces being placed across the heats.

The twelve seedings were intended for the twelve semi-finalists from the fifth series with the four Grand Finalists getting the first four places, the only time in history that this occurred, due to Razer finally being seeded for UK Championship merit alone. However, as Pussycat and Wheely Big Cheese did not compete in the sixth series, the final two seedings were given to Stinger and Tornado instead. This was most likely due to their performance in the Fourth Wars, having finished in the top eight.

Series 6 was the first and only time that Behemoth was not seeded since its début.

1. Razer 2. Bigger Brother 3. Firestorm 4 4. Hypno-Disc 5. Chaos 2 6. Dominator 2

7. S3 8. Panic Attack 9. Wild Thing 10. Spawn Again 11. Stinger 12. Tornado

Success rate

 * Series 6 was the only series where no seeds fell in Round 1. Every seed made at least the heat final, with nine of the twelve making the semi-finals.
 * Series 6 was the only time that Chaos 2 did not reach the semi-finals, and the first of two times that Panic Attack failed to do so.
 * Firestorm 4 became the third robot in history, after Killertron in Series 2 and Chaos 2 in Series 4, to finish in its predicted position, third. Additionally, it was also the first occasion where the third place finisher in the previous war was seeded third.

The Seventh Wars
The Seventh Wars featured seeded robots based on performance in previous series. The seedings were no longer awarded exclusively to the semi-finalists of the previous series as many of them did not return for the seventh series – only seven from twelve returned (six if Terrorhurtz is excluded), as Wild Thing retired after Series 6, and Razer and S3 retired after Extreme Series 2. The Hypno-Disc team were pre-occupied with priorities outside of Robot Wars, preventing them from being able to enter, and Dominator 2 suffered mechanical problems prior to filming, and therefore withdrew before the competition started. According to the Robot Wars magazine, Razer would have been seeded 2nd, Dominator 2 seeded 5th, S3 seeded 8th, Hypno-Disc seeded 9th and Wild Thing seeded 10th.

1. Tornado 2. Firestorm 5 3. Terrorhurtz 4. Bigger Brother 5. Dantomkia 6. Spawn Again 7. 13 Black 8. Panic Attack

9. Pussycat 10. Behemoth 11. X-Terminator 12. Bulldog Breed 13. S.M.I.D.S.Y. 14. Thermidor 2 15. Ming Dienasty 16. Storm 2

Tornado, Firestorm 5 and Terrorhurtz were seeded for being Grand Finalists, with Bigger Brother, Dantomkia, Spawn Again and 13 Black being those Semi-Finalists that remained. Panic Attack and Pussycat (despite the latter not competing in the 6th Wars) were seeded for their grand finalist and semi-finalist status in the past, with X-Terminator being seeded for its semi-finalist status in the past too. Behemoth again returned as a seed for being a previous semi-finalist and World Championship runner-up. Bulldog Breed and Thermidor 2 (another former semi-finalist) were seeded for their success in Extreme Series 2, in addition to being long time competitors with quite good success rates, while S.M.I.D.S.Y. was seeded for being a two-time heat finalist and also for being a long-time competitor. Dominator 2 was originally seeded, but was forced to withdraw due to mechanism problems, so Ming Dienasty, another long-time competitor, was seeded in its place. The final seeding was given to Storm 2, who won automatic entry into the seventh series by winning the New Blood Championship in the second series of Robot Wars Extreme.

Controversy

 * Ming Dienasty's seeding, as a replacement for Dominator 2, has been seen as one of the most controversial, because of its very poor success rate in the UK Series. A number of other robots have been suggested by fans as more deserving of the seeding. Previous heat-finalist and annihilator winner Disc-O-Inferno was initially rumoured to have been given the replacement seeding.
 * Terrorhurtz was still seeded despite the producers knowing well in advance that it would not be entering Series 7.

Success rate

 * The seeds suffered enormously in Series 7 – of the sixteen seeds, only seven made the semi-finals. From those seven, only three were semi-finalists from the previous year.
 * Ming Dienasty became the second seed in history to lose via a judges' decision in the first round.
 * Five seeds lost in the second round, including Bigger Brother, who became the highest ever seed flipped out of the arena.
 * For the second time in a row, the lowest-ranked seed made it the furthest, beating the #1 seed along the way and the 3rd time in a row that the top and bottom seed fought each other.
 * Despite the low success rate, three seeds did make the Grand Final. However, for the first time since Series 2, an unseeded machine won the main competition.

The 8th Seed curse
The 8th seed curse refers to a superstition formed amongst Robot Wars fans. In the four series that the 8th seed existed, the number eight seed never made the semi-finals, this being the only seed in the top 16 to suffer from this.


 * Gemini lost in the heat final to Tornado in Series 4.
 * 3 Stegs to Heaven lost in the heat final to Bigger Brother in Series 5.
 * Panic Attack lost in the heat final to Terrorhurtz in Series 6.
 * Panic Attack lost in Round 2 to Tough As Nails in Series 7.