Occasionally throughout Robot Wars, the winners of a battle were unable or unwilling to proceed. In these cases, the robot they defeated would be Reinstated. The reasons for robots being reinstated varied. The first instance occurred after the Heat Final of Heat D in Series 3, where Ultor handed their victory over to Big Brother after considering the judges' decision to be unfair. The most recent example occurred in Episode 5 of Series 8, where Chompalot withdrew from the Head-to-Head rounds due to suffering terminal damage, and was replaced by Pulsar.
Another way to be reinstated was to win a Losers Melee. These battles were introduced in the Semi-Finals of Series 5, and were also used in Series 6. The reduction of Heats from 16 to 12 meant there were now six robots in each Semi-Final, which all faced each other in a series of three one-on-one battles in the first round. The losers of these battles were drawn into a three-way melee, with the winner being reinstated and going through to the second round of the Semi-Finals, giving them a second chance to reach the Grand Final. The Losers Melee was dropped for Series 7 when the number of Heats was increased back to 16.
Losers Melees were also used in the first series of Dutch Robot Wars, as there were six robots in each Heat. Round 1 consisted of three one-on-one battles, with the losers of the three battles going into the Losers Melee, and the winner of that battle being reinstated and going through to Round 2. In the second series, the number of robots in each Heat was increased to eight, so Losers Melees were no longer used.
Also, in both series of Dutch Robot Wars, the Jury would pick robots that had been eliminated in the Heats to be reinstated and go through to the Grand Final. These were referred to as Wild Cards. Originally, only one losing robot was given a Wild Card, but this was increased to three in the Second Series. Wild Cards were also used in UK Series 8, where the Judges would select one losing Heat Finalist to be reinstated and join the five Heat winners in the Grand Final.
Note: Reinstated Robots should not be confused with Substitute Robots. Substitute Robots are robots that were not originally intended to be in a tournament, and were only brought in when a competitor in that event had to pull out. Reinstated Robots were already part of a tournament, fought at least one battle before being knocked out, but were given a second chance.
List of Reinstated Robots
UK Series
 |
| Name of Reinstated Robot | Robot it replaced | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| Big Brother | Ultor | Ultor originally won the Series 3 Heat D Final on a judge’s decision, but the team believed the judge’s decision was wrong, so handed victory over to Big Brother, allowing them to reach the Semi-Finals. |
| The Morgue | Scar | The Morgue was knocked out in Round 1 of Heat C in Series 4, but Scar was forced to retire due to unfixable technical difficulties, so The Morgue was reinstated. |
| Spirit of Knightmare | Bulldog Breed | Bulldog Breed won its Mayhem qualifier against Spirit of Knightmare and Judge Shred 2 ½ to qualify for the second Annihilator in Extreme 1, but damage from Hypno-Disc during the concurrently-filmed Series 5 forced Bulldog Breed to drop out. Despite being eliminated before Judge Shred 2 ½, Spirit of Knightmare was reinstated for the second Annihilator. |
| Fighting Torque | Atomic | As with Bulldog Breed, Atomic won its Mayhem qualifier against Mousetrap and Fighting Torque to qualify for the second Annihilator in Extreme 1, but damage from Hypno-Disc during the concurrently-filmed Series 5 forced Atomic to drop out. Mousetrap was also unable to compete due to damage from S3, so Fighting Torque was reinstated. |
| Rick | Suicidal Tendencies | Suicidal Tendencies defeated Rick in Round 1 of Heat K in Series 5, but broke down before the second round and could not be fixed, so Rick was reinstated. |
| Tornado | Razer | Razer reached the final of the European Championship in Extreme 2 after defeating Tornado on a judges decision, but Simon Scott and Vinnie Blood felt that they had been immobilised for over thirty seconds, and so handed victory over to Tornado. |
| Pulsar | Chompalot | Chompalot suffered huge amounts of damage in its opening Group Battle from Ironside3 and Pulsar, but qualified along with the former for the Head-to-Head rounds. It was repaired in time for its battle against Gabriel, but Chompalot was forced to withdraw from the Head-to-Heads after its batteries caught fire and exploded at the end of the battle. The judges subsequently reinstated Pulsar as Chompalot's replacement, deeming it to have been more active during the aforementioned Group Battle. |
| Jellyfish | Rapid | Rapid qualified for the Head-to-Head rounds with Terrorhurtz, but was forced to withdraw after its battle against Aftershock after suffering terminal wheel and bearings damage. The judges thereore reinstated Jellyfish as Rapid's replacement, deeming it to have survived longer than Nuts 2 in the Group Battle. |
Wild Cards
UK Series
| Wild Card | Series | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| Thor | Series 8 | Thor was beaten in the heat final of Episode 2 by Shockwave despite scoring three wins in the Head-to-Heads. As the only head-to-head winner to lose the heat final, Thor was selected by the judges as the Wildcard choice out of the 5 losing heat finalists. |
Dutch Series
| Wild Card | Series | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| Lizzard | Series 1 | Lizzard originally lost the Heat A Final to Bamm Bamm, but was given the sole Wild Card to reach the Grand Final. In the Grand Final, Lizzard took its revenge on Bamm Bamm, before finishing as runner-up. |
| Meshuggah | Series 2 | Lost to Lizzard in Round 2 of Heat A, but was reinstated to reach the Grand Final. |
| Twister | Series 2 | Knocked out by Philliper 2 in Heat B Final, before being given a Wild Card. |
| Bamm Bamm | Series 2 | Lost in Heat C Round 1 to Flepser, but due to its status as a previous Grand Finalist, was given the third Wild Card. |
Losers Melees
UK Series
| Episode | Robots in Melee | Winner | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| Series 5, Semi-Final 1 | Wild Thing, Spawn Again, S3 | S3 | |
| Series 5, Semi-Final 2 | Panic Attack, Firestorm 3, Wheely Big Cheese | Firestorm 3 | Firestorm 3 was the only robot to reach the Grand Final after winning the Losers Melee in the UK series. |
| Series 6, Semi-Final 1 | Wild Thing, Dantomkia, 13 Black | Dantomkia | |
| Series 6, Semi-Final 2 | Bigger Brother, Hypno-Disc, Spawn Again | Bigger Brother |
Dutch Series
| Episode | Robots in Melee | Winner | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| Heat A | Lethal Swan, Lizzard, Rat | Lizzard | After being reinstated, Lizzard reached the Heat Final. It lost to Bamm Bamm, but was given a Wild Card to reach the Grand Final, where it finished as runner-up. This makes Lizzard the only robot to be given two "second chances" in one tournament. |
| Heat B | Pyramid of Chaos, Scraptosaur, RCC | Scraptosaur | RCC was forced to withdraw before the battle due to electrical problems. |
| Heat C | Maximum Torque, Pika 2, Meshuggah | Pika 2 | Meshuggah was forced to withdraw before the battle due to technical issues. Pika 2 went on to reach the Heat Final, making it the "Belgian Champion", as the best performing Belgian robot in Dutch Series 1 |
| Heat D | Enderbot, Flextreme, Project One | Enderbot | Enderbot lost in Round 1 to Slicer, and after winning the Losers Melee, it went on to reach the Heat Final, where it lost to Slicer again. |
| Heat E | Shapeshifter, Maximill, NEAT Machine | NEAT Machine |