Qualifiers

As so many people applied to enter Robot Wars, every series minus the first series made all unseeded competitors to undergo a screening process known as the Qualifiers, in order for them to appear on the televised show. The robots would perform in front of the Robot Wars staff, with them then choosing which robots they liked the most, it would be these that would be granted a slot on the televised show of Robot Wars.

As the staff were able to select any robot from the qualifiers, whether they won or not, what happened on several occasions was that robots that won their qualifiers wouldn't be selected for the show, for not being interesting enough, and there were other robots that would be allowed on the show, even if they lost their qualifiers, purely for appearing interesting, and that it would attract fans.

Originally, the robots were judged on their control, so the qualifiers from the earlier series forced each robot to perform a Gauntlet/Trial run. However, the qualifiers from the later series involved the robots fighting each other in combat battles.

To reduce damage caused to the main Robot Wars Arena, the qualifiers were held in an arena seperate to that of the one on the televised show. This arena was smaller in dimensions than the main arena, and featured no arena hazards such as a flame pit or floor flipper. This arena didn't even have the safety features that the televeised arena had, it didn't feature very strong barriers protecting the spectators from the arena, so any roboteers with flippers etc. were advised not to attempt to throw robots out of the arena.

Some robots that failed to qualify were still used as reserves for that series, and some were even brought in when robots were unable to fight on the day of filming, notable reserves that were brought in include Griffon and Steg-O-Saw-Us.

The qualifiers always used inexalted house robot Shove as a sweeper/cleaner, to push any immobilised/destroyed robots to the arena entry gates. Shove was used because it was more compact, and therefore proved easier to transport than the Refbot.

Series 1
As so few teams entered Series 1, no qualifiers were held for that series, in fact, there was even a shortage of robots that were able to even fight in the first series that 3 Stock Robots had to be used.

Series 2
Enough teams entered Series 2 to make having the qualifiers worthwhile. The qualifiers in this series featured a Gauntlet/Assault Course, similar to that they would have to face in the heats and Semi-Finals, that the robots would have to complete.

To still allow some of the robots that failed to qualify to compete in the televised show, a Reserve Rumble was held at the end of the series, for five robots that were unused reserves to fight against each other. Despite this, there were still some robots, like Team Power's Gnasher, that failed to qualify and didn't feature on the televised show at all.

Series 3
Series 3 saw a considerable leap in the number of robots applying to participate, as 600 robots came to apply to feature on the televised show. Despite the fact that the Gauntlet and Trial stages of the heats and Semi-Finals were abolished, a Gauntlet/Assault Course was still used as a form of qualifier. As more robots were aplying, the judging was much more strict than it was in the previous series. For example, some robots, like the original Major Tom, completed the course, but were still refused entry to the televised show.

To still allow some of these robots that failed to qualify to feature on the televised show, a handful competed in some of the side competitions for the Third Wars, such as the Robotic Soccer Championship and the Pinball Warrior Tournament, it was here that robots such as Six Pac and Dominator proved themselves to be worthy robots. However, some robots that did enter the main competition, such as Evil Weevil, Razer and Killerhurtz were still used in these side events as well, to compare these other robots to the robots that were fighting in the main event.

Series 4
A record-breaking "1000" teams applied for this series. Series 4 saw a re-vamped Qualifier system, the qualifiers were now Head to Head battles.

Due to some of these battles merely being boring pushing battles, even robots that won their qualifer battles were refused entry into the televised show, robots that suffered from this included Dantomkia 1.0. Conversely, robots that lost their qualifier battles were given discretionary places into the main competition, as they put on a more entertaining show.

Unlike the Third Wars, robots that failed to qualify were not allowed to participate in the side events that were held during the filming of the main competition.

The Fourth Wars also saw the first instance since the First Wars of a robot being able to qualify without having to go through the Qualifiers. Scorpion was granted automatic entry, as the Robot Wars Staff decided that it would look good in the arena.

Series 5
The qualifiers in Series 5 were done in front of a live audience, this was to promote the upcoming series. As a result, Craig Charles was even used as MC, and the house robots were put into the arena for the qualifiers. Seeded robots were allowed to qualify for the main competition, regardless of the outcome of their qualifier battles. Most of the battles were still Head to Head, but melees were often used to judge more robots more quickly.

Some robots, such as Spirit of Knightmare and Arnold A. Terminegger, despite failing to qualify for the Fifth Wars, would still enter competitions in the first series of Extreme.

Series 6
For the Sixth Wars, the qualifiers were mostly four-way melees, like that of the first round battles in the televised show. Some battles had fewer robots, depending on how many robots were available at the time to start qualifying. The winners of each battle would automatically qualify for the Sixth Wars, with the losers then being judged again, with some of those going through via discretionary places.

Notably, champions of the next series, Typhoon 2, would fail to qualify for this series, after performing inadequately in its qualifier.

Some robots, such as Lightning, Cerberus and Typhoon 2, despite failing to qualify for the Sixth Wars, would still enter competitions in the second series of Extreme.

Series 7
In Series 7, the qualifiers were conducted similarly to how they were conducted in Series 6, however, two winners would sometimes be decided in each four-way melee, rather than just one like in the Sixth Wars. Some robots that lost their qualifier battles would be given discretionary places.

For the first time in Robot Wars, teams from outside the UK attempted to qualify. Twenty-two roboteers from eastern and central Europe pooled their money for transportation to the qualifiers. Arthur Chilcott of Random Violence Technologies even allowed them to use his backyard as a campground. Although some of these failed to qualify, some of those would still fight for the right to enter in the Third World Championships, held at the end of the series.