Robot Wars: Series 8

Series 8 marked the return of Robot Wars to television after a 12-year hiatus. The series was presented by Dara Ó Briain and Angela Scanlon, with Jonathan Pearce returning as commentator. Professor Noel Sharkey returned as a judge, alongside new judges Professor Sethu Vijayakumar and Lucy Rogers.

The show took place in a new, upgraded Robot Wars Arena. Representing the House Robots, Matilda, Dead Metal, Shunt and Sir Killalot made a return to the arena, having been rebuilt with major upgrades, and appeared in their own promotional teaser trailers. These teasers used the versions of the House Robots that appeared in Robot Wars: The Seventh Wars, rather than their upgraded versions.

The weight allowance for standard heavyweights was increased to 110kg, while the weight limit for walkers was reduced to 135kg, with the series containing 39 heavyweights and one middleweight^[1].

History

A 2016 series of Robot Wars was first announced online via a BBC News article on the 13th January 2016. It revealed that the BBC, along with Mentorn Scotland, would be shooting 6 episodes in a new, purpose-built, bullet-proof arena in Glasgow. This arena began construction on February 18th, 2016.

Shooting of the televised episodes began on March 4th, ending on March 14th. A private filming session was previously held on February 29th, and a pilot episode with a live studio audience was filmed on March 1st.

On May 4th 2016, the Robot Wars website, formerly used for the live events, was taken over by the BBC, and is currently the show's official website.

The first official footage of Series 8 was released through three teaser trailers on June 25th 2016. These trailers confirmed the first three competitors in the series; Thor, Sabretooth and Storm 2. On July 2nd, a launch trailer released, featuring many of the new and old competitors. A press pack was released on July 7th confirming the rest of the competitors as well as the format of the show and some of the changes made to the House Robots^[2].

On July 11th, a short preview, Meet the House Robots, was released on BBC iPlayer. Episode 1 first aired on July 24th, 2016, with the Grand Final airing on August 28th. The timeslot for the series was Sunday evenings, at 8pm.

Series 8 was re-run on BBC Two over the 2016 Christmas period, airing daily at a 10am timeslot, leading up to the airdate of Robot Wars: Battle of the Stars.

On January 2017, BBC online media officially acknowledged the reboot as "Series 8" of Robot Wars for the first time^[3].

Format

The series consisted of six episodes, involving five qualifying episodes and a Grand Final, with a sixth finalist being chosen as a wildcard by the judges. There were eight robots per heat, of the forty in total.

Four robots fought in each first-round qualifier, of which there were 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 (0 points), won via KO (3 points), or won via Judges' decision (2 points). The two robots with the most points 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 progressed from each eliminator, and faced-off against each other in head-to-head battles, with the two highest scoring robots progressing to the final battle of the series.

The nature of this format meant that despite having the joint fewest episodes of any series and the second fewest competitors, the eventual 2016 champion was required to compete in more fights (10) than the winners of any other series (3 in Series 1, 5 in Series 2, 7 from Series 3-7).

Episodes

Episode 1

Main article: Robot Wars: Series 8/Episode 1

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

Round 1

Kill-E-Crank-E vs Nuts vs Razer vs Terrorhurtz: Nuts & Terrorhurtz qualified
Behemoth vs Bonk vs Carbide vs The General: Behemoth & Carbide qualified

Head-to-Head Battles

Carbide vs Terrorhurtz: Terrorhurtz won by KO
Behemoth vs Nuts: Behemoth won by Judges' decision

Behemoth vs Terrorhurtz: Behemoth won by KO
Carbide vs Nuts: Carbide won by KO

Behemoth vs Carbide: Carbide won by KO
Nuts vs Terrorhurtz: Terrorhurtz won by Judges' decision

Heat Final

Carbide vs Behemoth: Carbide won

Episode 2

Main article: Robot Wars: Series 8/Episode 2

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

Round 1

DisConstructor vs Shockwave vs Thor vs Tough as Nails: Shockwave & Thor qualified
Chimera vs Draven vs Foxic vs M.R. Speed Squared: Foxic & M.R. Speed Squared qualified

Head-to-Head battles

M.R. Speed Squared vs Thor: Thor won by KO
Foxic vs Shockwave: Shockwave won by KO

Shockwave vs Thor: Thor won by Judges' decision
Foxic vs M.R. Speed Squared: M.R. Speed Squared won by Judges' decision

Foxic vs Thor: Thor won by KO
M.R. Speed Squared vs Shockwave: Shockwave won by KO

Heat Final

Thor vs Shockwave: Shockwave won

Episode 3

Main article: Robot Wars: Series 8/Episode 3

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

Round 1

Dantomkia vs Glitterbomb vs King B Remix vs Overdozer: Dantomkia & King B Remix qualified
Big Nipper vs Or Te vs Supernova vs TR2: Big Nipper and TR2 qualified

Head-to-Head battles

Dantomkia vs King B Remix: Dantomkia won by KO
Big Nipper vs TR2: TR2 won by KO

Dantomkia vs TR2: TR2 won by KO
Big Nipper vs King B Remix: Big Nipper won by KO

King B Remix vs TR2: TR2 won by KO
Big Nipper vs Dantomkia: Dantomkia won by Judges' decision

Heat Final

TR2 vs Dantomkia: TR2 won

Episode 4

Main article: Robot Wars: Series 8/Episode 4

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

Round 1

Apollo vs Kan-Opener vs PP3D vs Sweeney Todd: Apollo and PP3D qualified
Eruption vs Sabretooth vs Storm 2 vs Terror Turtle: Eruption and Storm 2 qualified

Head-to-Head battles

Apollo vs PP3D: Apollo won by KO
Eruption vs Storm 2: Storm 2 won by Judges' decision

Apollo vs Storm 2: Apollo won by Judges' decision
Eruption vs PP3D: PP3D won by Judges' decision

Apollo vs Eruption: Eruption won by KO
PP3D vs Storm 2: Storm 2 won by KO

Heat Final

Apollo vs Storm 2: Apollo won

Episode 5

Main article: Robot Wars: Series 8/Episode 5

Robots Competing: Beast, Chompalot, Crazy Coupe 88, Gabriel, Infernal Contraption, Ironside3, Pulsar, Thermidor 2

Round 1

Chompalot vs Ironside3 vs Pulsar vs Thermidor 2: Chompalot and Ironside3 qualified
Beast vs Crazy Coupe 88 vs Gabriel vs Infernal Contraption: Beast and Gabriel qualified

Head-to-Head battles

Gabriel vs Chompalot: Gabriel won by KO (After this battle, Chompalot were forced to withdraw, and were replaced by Pulsar)
Beast vs Ironside3: Ironside3 won by KO

Pulsar vs Beast: Pulsar won by KO
Gabriel vs Ironside3: Ironside3 won by Judges' decision

Gabriel vs Beast: Gabriel won by KO
Ironside3 vs Pulsar: Pulsar won by KO

Heat Final

Pulsar vs Gabriel: Pulsar won

Grand Final

Main article: Robot Wars: Series 8/Grand Final

Robots Competing: Carbide, Shockwave, TR2, Apollo, Pulsar, Thor

Wildcard Choices

NOTE: The available choices for the Wildcard were the Heat Finalists, Behemoth, Thor, Dantomkia, Storm 2 and Gabriel.

Wild Card: Thor

Round 1

Thor vs TR2 vs Pulsar: Pulsar eliminated
Carbide vs Shockwave vs Apollo: Shockwave eliminated

Head-to-Head battles

Thor vs Carbide: Carbide won by KO
TR2 vs Apollo: Apollo won by KO

Carbide vs Apollo: Carbide won by KO
Thor vs TR2: TR2 won by KO

Carbide vs TR2: TR2 won by Judges' decision
Apollo vs Thor: Apollo won by KO

Grand Final

Carbide vs Apollo: Apollo Won

Pilot Episode

Main article: Robot Wars: Series 8/Pilot

Before filming of the main series took place, a pilot episode was recorded on March 1st to test the camera equipment, which would never be aired 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.

Head-to-Head battles

Turbulence vs Reaper: Turbulence won by KO
Turbulence vs Merlin: Turbulence won by Judges' decision
Ka-Pow! vs Merlin: Merlin won by KO

Heat Final

Ka-Pow! vs Turbulence: Turbulence won

NOTE: Ka-Pow! was put through to this stage due to time constraints

Whiteboard Matches

Main article: Robot Wars: Series 8/Whiteboard matches

During the filming of the main series, a number of non-championship battles took place to entertain the audience during filming. These "whiteboard matches" were largely untelevised, with clips sometimes being used in the opening sequence of the show.

Robots Competing: Behemoth, Eruption, Gabriel, Infernal Contraption, Turbulence, Shockwave

Eruption vs Infernal Contraption: Eruption won
Eruption vs Shockwave: Eruption won
Behemoth vs Gabriel: Gabriel won
Eruption vs Behemoth: No winner declared
Infernal Contraption vs Turbulence: Infernal Contraption won

Withdrawals

Four robots are known to have qualified for the series, but could not compete due to technical difficulties. Prizephita Mk 3 withdrew after an internal fire a week before filming, Armakillo and Doomba withdrew from Episode 3 on-set, the latter due to being faults with motor controllers^[4], and Pod was forced to withdraw from Episode 5 as it was overweight.