Robot Wars: Series 8

Robot Wars (2016 series) is the upcoming 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 will be presented by Dara Ó Briain and Angela Scanlon, with Jonathan Pearce returning as commentator. Professor Noel Sharkey returns 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.

Representing the House Robots, Matilda, Dead Metal, Shunt and Sir Killalot are set to make a return, having been rebuilt with major upgrades, having 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 were confirmed by the BBC not to return.

The weight allowance for standard heavyweights has been increased to 110kg, while the weight limit for walkers has been reduced to 135kg, with the series only containing heavyweights. The arena floor will be covered with 6mm steel this time around, instead of the typical wooden boards. The arena will be 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 show is expected to air in August.

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 Storm2. 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 will consist of six episodes, involving five qualifying heats and a Grand Final, with a sixth finalist being chosen as a wildcard by the judges. There will be eight robots per heat, of the forty in total.

Four robots will fight in each first-round qualifier, of which there are 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, won via KO, or won via Judges' decision. The two robots with the most points will 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 progress from each eliminator, and face-off against each other in head-to-head battles, with the two highest scoring robots progressing to the final battle of the series.

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

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

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

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

Episode 5
Robots Competing: Beast, Chompalot, Crazy Coupe 88, Gabriel, Infernal Contraption, Ironside 3, Pulsar, Thermidor 2

Grand Final
Robots Competing: Unknown

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 go unaired 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''