UK Championship

UK Championship
Series 8-10 trophy
Structure Information
Number of Competing Robots	30/36/40/72/96/128
History
Number of times held	10
UK Series	1-10
UK Incumbent Champion	Eruption

The UK Championship was the main competition of the UK Series of Robot Wars, primarily featuring heavyweight competitor robots and held to determine the national champion of the United Kingdom. Ten UK Championships have been held across both of the show's runs to date - seven in the original series, and three during the Revival Series aired between 2016 and early 2018. Most main series of Robot Wars used different formats, with the amount and structure of Heats and number of robots in each Heat varying between each series, with the exception of Series 8 and Series 9.

Since Robot Wars entered its original hiatus, the FRA-sanctioned UK Championships have continued to run as part of live events hosted by Roaming Robots (until its adoption of the Robot Wars brand name between 2013-2016) and Robots Live!

Series 1

Main article: Robot Wars: The First Wars

The first series only featured six Heats due to low entry numbers, with each episode containing six competing robots. Unlike all subsequent series, the main championship was open to robots in no fewer than four weight classes: the featherweight, lightweight, middleweight and heavyweight categories.

The first round of each Heat was The Gauntlet, an obstacle course with three routes which robots had to try and complete. The robot which reached the shortest distance or completed the course in the slowest time possible would be eliminated.

The second round was The Trial, in which the five remaining robots would compete in a smaller skill-based challenge which varied in between each Heat, examples of which included British Bulldog, Football and Sumo. As with The Gauntlet, the robot deemed to be the poorest performer would be eliminated.

From that point on, the four surviving robots would progress to the Arena stage and be paired off in one-on-one combat battles. Winners of these would face each other in the Heat Final, a second one-on-one battle in which the winner would go through to the Grand Final.

Unlike later series, the Grand Final was not a separate episode, but a six-way melee shown at the very end of Heat F. Every robot fought at once with no intervals, the last survivor being declared UK Champion.

Series 2

Main article: Robot Wars: The Second Wars

The format of the series changed dramatically in Series 2. Heavyweights became the single weight category eligible for the main championship, with all others taking place in their own separate championships along with an equivalent tournament for the newly-introduced super heavyweight class. The amount of Heats doubled to twelve to accommodate a vastly increased roster of competitors, joined by two Semi-Finals and a dedicated Grand Final episode.

Heat formats remained virtually identical to those of Series 1, with separate Gauntlet, Trial and Arena stages before the Heat Final. Likewise, the Semi-Finals followed a similar format, with The Gauntlet followed by a brand-new Pinball Trial and two more one-on-one Arena battles. Winners of the latter would advance to the Grand Final.

The Grand Final episode consisted of two one-one-one Eliminators between the winning Semi-Finalists, before a final battle to decide the overall champion. Losing robots would also fight again in a playoff to settle third and fourth places. This format was maintained for the Grand Finals in every series that followed during the show's original run, though on occasions a playoff would not take place if either of the Eliminator losers were too damaged to fight.

Series 3

Main article: Robot Wars: The Third Wars

Series 3 brought an even more significant revamp, retiring the Gauntlet and Trial stages in favour of a purely combat-based format. The number of Heats increased to sixteen, each featuring eight competitor robots. The first round consisted of four one-on-one battles, the winners of which would progress to the second round (also known as the Heat Semi-Finals) to determine the two remaining Heat Finalists. Winners of each Heat Final would go on to secure a place in the series Semi-Finals.

Each Semi-Final contained two rounds of four one-on-one battles, the winners of the second round progressing to the Grand Final.

Series 4

Main article: Robot Wars: The Fourth Wars

The format and number of heats remained largely the same in Series 4. The biggest differences were a reduced number of competitors per Heat to six, and a new format for the first round, also dubbed Eliminators, consisting of two three-way melees where one robot from each would be eliminated. The remainder of the series followed an identical format to Series 3.

Series 5

Main article: Robot Wars: The Fifth Wars

Series 5 featured only twelve heats, but reverted to having eight robots per Heat which followed the same format as Series 3.

The Semi-Finals, however, introduced a brand-new format, featuring six robots fighting three one-on-one battles to determine places in the second round. The final place in the latter was determined by the Losers Melee, wherein the three losing robots from the first round would fight again for a chance to be reinstated. The winner of this melee would join the remaining Semi-Finalists to fight for Grand Final places.

Series 6

Main article: Robot Wars: The Sixth Wars

The Series 5 format was largely carried over to Series 6, complete with twelve Heats, the amount of competitors per Heat and the Losers Melee for the Semi-Finals. The only change was present in the first round of each Heat, which now consisted of two four-way melees in which two robots would be eliminated.

Series 7

Main article: Robot Wars: The Seventh Wars

As Five took over the original series from the BBC, the format was changed for what proved to be the last time before Robot Wars entered its hiatus. Once again, there were sixteen Heats, carrying over the Series 6 format, with the Semi-Finals reverting to the exclusively one-on-one format last used in Series 3-4.

For the first time, since Robot Wars had moved to a commercial channel, Craig Charles recorded links before and after advert breaks. A 'cash pot' valued at 'over £20,000' was also officially promoted, with varying amounts of this split between the individual competitors.

Series 8

Main article: Robot Wars: Series 8

Upon Robot Wars' revival in 2016, the rebooted Series 8 consisted of six episodes, involving five qualifying Heats and a Grand Final. In a first for the UK Championship, a sixth Grand Finalist would be chosen as a Wildcard entry by the Judges. Each Heat featured eight robots, with a total entry list of forty competitors.

As in Series 6-7, robots initially fought in one of two four-way melees, renamed Group Battles, of which two robots from each would progress. This lead directly to the round robin-based Head to Head stage, where the remaining four competitors would face each other in a series of one-on-one battles to accumulate points for a Heat Final place. A total of six Head to Heads would occur, each offering three points for a win via knockout and two points for a win via a Judges' decision. Points earned either way would contribute to a robot's total score across three battles.

The two highest scorers from the end of the Head to Head round would fight once more in the Heat Final; in case of a tie between any two given competitors, the winner of their relevant matchups would be given precedence in the overall standings.

The Grand Final followed a similar format to the Heats, with the exception of having three robots per Group Battle instead of four.

Series 9

Main article: Robot Wars: Series 9

The format was unchanged from Series 8, the first time in which a series had used the same format as a previous one. Series 9 maintained the same number of episodes (five qualifying Heats and a Grand Final), along with the number of competitors per Heat, episode structures and Wildcard selection process.

Series 10

Main article: Robot Wars: Series 10

Series 10 featured the same number of qualifying Heats as the previous two series, but the format was changed once again, with the Head to Head stage being dropped in favour of traditional Heat Semi-Finals. Each Heat now featured only six robots for the first time since Series 4, bringing the total number of competing robots to thirty; the smallest of any UK Championship.

Each Heat was divided up into five rounds. The first round consisted of two three-way Group Battles, but unlike previous series, only one robot qualified through winning each of these. The four losing robots were then drawn into a second stage known as the Robot Redemption or Redemption Knockout rounds, giving them another chance to fight and join the Group Battle winners in the third round (Heat Semi-Finals). The rest of the Heat followed a near-identical format to those of Series 1-7, with the addition of a playoff (officially called the 3rd Place Playoff or 3rd Place Wildcard) between the losing Heat Semi-Finalists.

The Grand Final once again featured the five Heat winners and a Wildcard entry. Instead of being chosen by the Judges, the latter was decided by the 10 Robot Rumble, a melee involving the second and third-place finishers from each Heat. The rest of the episode followed a similar format to the Heats, albeit without a playoff.