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 was considered the second favourite. The seeds were nearly always kept apart so that they could meet in the heat final – although this rarely happened. The only exception was in Series 5 when Hypno-Disc and Atomic 2 met in the second round despite both being seeded.

The 8th Seed curse
The 8th seed curse refers to a superstition formed amongst Robot Wars fans. In the four series that the seed number existed, the number eight seed never made the semi-finals.


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

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

It is important to note that Dominator 2 would have been seeded three times, but dropped out of Series 7 and surrendered its seeding place.

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

Four occasions

 * Firestorm
 * Seeded 5th in Series 4
 * Seeded 7th in Series 5
 * Seeded 3rd in Series 6
 * Seeded 2nd in Series 7
 * Panic Attack
 * Seeded 4th in Series 4
 * Seeded 6th in Series 5
 * Seeded 8th in Series 6
 * Seeded 8th in Series 7
 * Team Chaos
 * Seeded 6th in Series 2
 * Seeded 1st in Series 4
 * Seeded 1st in Series 5
 * Seeded 5th in Series 6
 * Team Cold Fusion
 * Seeded 3rd in Series 2
 * Seeded 19th in Series 4
 * Seeded 2nd in Series 5
 * Seeded 9th in Series 7
 * Team Scutterbots
 * Seeded 10th in Series 4
 * Seeded 13th in Series 5
 * Seeded 10th in Series 6
 * Seeded 6th in Series 7

Three occasions

 * Behemoth
 * Seeded 6th in Series 4
 * Seeded 15th in Series 5
 * Seeded 10th in Series 7
 * Bigger Brother
 * Seeded 14th in Series 4
 * Seeded 2nd in Series 6
 * Seeded 4th in Series 7
 * Hypno-Disc
 * Seeded 2nd in Series 4
 * Seeded 3rd in Series 5
 * Seeded 4th in Series 6
 * Razer
 * Seeded 3rd in Series 4
 * Seeded 4th in Series 5
 * Seeded 1st in Series 6
 * Stinger
 * Seeded 30th in Series 4
 * Seeded 5th in Series 5
 * Seeded 11th in Series 6
 * Tornado
 * Seeded 12th in Series 5
 * Seeded 12th in Series 6
 * Seeded 1st in Series 7
 * Wild Thing
 * Seeded 11th in Series 4
 * Seeded 9th in Series 5
 * Seeded 9th in Series 6
 * X-Terminator
 * Seeded 22nd in Series 4
 * Seeded 14th in Series 5
 * Seeded 11th in Series 7

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. did not 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 as it was originally only chosen as a reserve robot and only competed because another robot pulled out.
 * Mortis was given the second seed, despite falling at the heat final stage. Bodyhammer (the only remaining robot besides Roadblock) 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 Cassius and Chaos.

Success rate
In the Second Wars, four seeded robots made it to the semi-finals. Bodyhammer became the first seeded machine to lose in Round 1, and Chaos lost at the heat final stage. However, for the first time in history, the winner of the Series was an unseeded newcomer, despite three seeds making the Grand Final.

The Third Wars
Due to the change in the format of the UK Championship, there were no seeds in Series 3.

The Fourth Wars
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 seed). 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, whose team had not expressed intent of returning) were seeded, but when 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

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 World Championship, they both performed poorly in the main competition, reaching the second and third rounds respectively.
 * The number of seeds granted in Series 4 has been seen as unnecessary, with so many robots seeded that numerous roboteers felt that the seeds had lost their meaning.
 * Despite the huge amount of seeds granted, several robots missed out.
 * Small Torque was not given a seeding, despite competing in both the World Championship and two previous series.
 * Invertabrat and Darke Destroyer 2 were also not seeded, despite reaching the heat finals of their respective heats in the previous series.
 * 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.
 * 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.
 * 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 so that Gemini and Chaos 2 would meet in the second round of the Semi-final, rehashing the rivalry between Team Chaos and Team Mace.

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.

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, Gravedigger, Cerberus, Diotoir, Weld-Dor 2 and Centurion, with Diotoir becoming the first to do so in battle.
 * Behemoth became the only robot from the top six ever to lose a judge’s 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.

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 because of their Grand Finalist status in the Third Wars.

Third Place Stinger was seeded only 5th, lower than previous runners-up Hypno-Disc and World Champion Razer. Similarly, Thermidor 2, Mousetrap 2 and Splinter, the semi-finalists who had had no success before Series 4, were at the lower end of the seed list. In addition, Behemoth’s World Championship runner-up status made it outrank several semi-finalists and heat finalists.

Controversy

 * Mini Morg was seeded at number 19, despite losing two of its three matches in Series 4 – its debut series. It was seeded higher than four better performing heat finalists, in addition to the three (Bulldog Breed, The Steel Avenger and Kronic 2) that missed out entirely.
 * 101 was seeded at only 23, despite being a previous semi-finalist in addition to its heat finalist and Tag Team Terror Champion status.
 * 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 semi-finalists, 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). Excluding Heat B, only Chaos 2 and S.M.I.D.S.Y. met, with one of the seeds losing in the first two rounds in every other heat.
 * In Series 5, only 3 seeds (101, Mini Morg and Thermidor 2) lost in Round 1. However, an additional seven lost in Round 2. Suicidal Tendencies also became the first seed to retire due to mechanical failures.
 * 101 became the first seed in history to lose in Round 1 via the judges.

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 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.

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

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 first time that Panic Attack and Chaos 2 failed to reach the series semi-finals.

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.

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 that remained. Panic Attack and Pussycat were seeded for their semi-finalist status in the past, as was X-Terminator. Behemoth again returned for being a semi-finalist and World Championship runner-up. Bulldog Breed and Thermidor 2 were seeded for success in Extreme, in addition to being long time competitors with good success rate. Dominator 2 was originally seeded, but was forced to withdraw due to mechanism problems, so Ming Dienasty 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

 * Controversy over the Series 7 seeds lie entirely with giving the replacement seed to Ming Dienasty, because of its very poor success rate. Hypotheses put forward are that it was an apology for the Series 5 incident with Matilda, or because Ming was a veteran, or because Dominator 2's team had chosen it as their replacement. Candidates suggested to have deserved the 15th seed instead include King B Powerworks, The Steel Avenger, Kat 3, Supernova or Robochicken.

Success rate

 * The seeds suffered enormously in Series 7 – of the sixteen seeds, 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 in Round 1 via the judges.
 * Five seeds lost in the second round, including Bigger Brother, who became the highest ever seed flipped out of the arena.
 * Despite the low success rate, three seeds made the Grand Final. However, for the first time since Series 2, an unseeded machine won the main competition.