Episode 1 Robot Wars

The level of challenge involved with building a fighting robot

means that there is no perfect design.

40 robot fighting teams competing for the ultimate prize.

This year there will be a lot of things that people won't expect.

Battling in the biggest, toughest robot fighting arena in the world.

Each week, only the strongest will survive.

Taking on the group battles and the head-to-head,

testing their machines to breaking point,

fighting for the chance to become the Robot Wars Champion.

Everybody wants to knock out your robot

just like you want to knock out theirs.

It's the ultimate goal, to win Robot Wars.

CHEERING

This is Robot Wars.

And this is the brand-new fighting arena where the robots will be

doing battle, but it's not just the robots that are impressive,

the arena itself is a feat of engineering.

22 metres by 22 metres, it weighs nearly 90 tonnes,

the walls are seven metres high

and made from double layered polycarbonate,

more commonly known as bulletproof glass.

But before the teams enter the arena,

the hard work happens down here in the pits.

As you can see,

the teams are busy fixing up their robots ready for battle.

Some of the robots our teams have built have cost up to £25,000,

and they might not even make it through the first battle.

And even if they do, they then have to face the biggest

and baddest fighting robots on the planet.

Ladies and gentlemen, the house robots are back.

The house robots are...

Three times heavier than the competitors,

these robot titans have the power to dispatch anyone foolish enough

to venture into the corner patrol zone.

Only the very brave, or very stupid,

will mess with these metal war machines.

We're going to talk to some of tonight's teams shortly,

but first, here's how the show works.

We start with two huge group battles,

each featuring four robots.

The two winning robots from each group stage progress to

the head-to-head, a mini league made up of four teams.

The top two at the end of this are our worthy finalists

in today's show.

First into the arena for Group Battle 1 will be...

Nuts have made an effort,

with the hats and the jackets and the whole thing, and a robot that

it would be polite to describe as more agricultural looking, let's say.

-What does it do? How does it fight?

-We're not actually sure.

The idea is to just confuse everybody, including ourselves.

We're not quite sure how it's going to react to anything.

-Does this one have mini bots as well?

-Yes, down there.

There are separate robots. And it releases these robots, does it?

Yes.

I like the way you've put eyes on the robots.

Googly eyes are a must for all robots.

They're not optional.

But we have two of these, they're completely sacrificial.

We intend if we're up against anyone particularly nasty

-to basically just drive straight into it and...

-What are they?

Are they an escape pod or do they actually have an effect at all?

Well, we're hoping that they gum up the works of the other robots,

so we stand a chance with Nuts.

I think that's our big hope.

And if Nuts really gets damaged,

then we'll just drive these in and just hope for the best.

-Good luck, lads. ALL:

-Thank you.

You guys have a lot of pedigree.

We're dealing with a bit of a legend here.

Yeah, Razer built back in '98 by my good self and my friend Simon here.

It must have been modified.

You're not going to stand a chance against these guys

-if it's the old one.

-Well, he was always pretty good, though.

That early principle was always pretty effective cos

the machines could never armour up that well on the top.

Now, what about the girls? Darcie, how did you get roped into this?

Well, I just wanted to be here to support Dad because

I've grown up with Razer since I was little.

I support the boys really by reminding them to eat and drink.

Mum springs to the rescue with food.

-I brought along a nice box of sausage rolls.

-Can I have one?

-Yeah, go for it.

-Are they home-made?

-Yes, they are.

-They're lush, yeah.

-Oh, they're delicious.

Here, you can finish that one.

I need to go and talk to these guys. Good luck. Thank you.

This is Kill-E-Crank-E. Am I right in saying that?

-Yes.

-Welcome to our first two young roboteers.

This is a very unusual design.

Have you looked around and thought,

-this is a good thing or a bad thing?

-I think it's quite good.

-What does it do?

-Destroys things.

-It destroys things.

So how confident can you possibly be that this is going to win?

I'm quite confident cos I think it's got quite good armour

-and it's very manoeuvrable.

-OK.

But what does it do, how does it attack?

-With a saw at the front.

-And does it spin?

It spins round as well at 500 rpms.

So that can do some damage

-if you can get the saw on contact with somebody else?

-Definitely.

Listen, the best of luck Kill-E-Crank-E.

Is it named after the Krankies?

-No.

-In my head that's all I'm seeing now.

Janette Krankie riding a robot into battle.

I'm eating a sausage roll, excuse me.

It looks beautiful. Is this bulletproof?

Well, it's the same material they used for the arena.

Do you want...?

I'll have a go, yeah.

As hard as you possibly can.

Oh, God! I think I dislocated a finger.

It's pretty tough.

Yeah, it's good stuff.

-Literally unbreakable, hopefully.

-Let's hope for it.

The four teams must now make the nerve-racking walk up to

the arena ready for battle.

Hopeful that their hard work and planning will be enough

to get them through the group stage.

So, for the first time this series,

let's hand over to legendary commentator Jonathan Pearce.

Thanks very much, Dara and Angela. It is so good to be back.

The teams are nearly set,

so just time to introduce our esteemed judging panel.

Director of Robotics at

Edinburgh University, Professor Sethu Vijayakumar.

Doctor of Mechanical Engineering, Doctor Lucy Rogers.

And Robot Wars alumni and Professor of Artificial Intelligence

and Robotics at Sheffield University, Noel Sharkey.

In the event of no clear winner, our judges decide on the victor -

scoring them on damage, aggression and control.

If a robot is deemed immobile for over ten seconds,

they'll be ruled out of the fight.

So there's plenty to keep our judges busy.

Remember, only two robots from the four can go through

from this battle. The teams are in place.

Let's get started.

From Caithness, Scotland. Kill-E-Crank-E.

Father and son, Robin and Matthew

are here with their friends

Isaac and Nick.

When Robin's not working on

Kill-E-Crank-E,

he's working on

nuclear power stations!

No stranger to danger, then.

From Reading. Nuts.

What a mixed bunch this lot are.

Driver Rory is a cybernetics student

alongside mini bot driver Alex.

While Dave works in a stockroom

for a DIY store -

handy for spare parts, no doubt.

Chris is an engineer,

so he must be the sensible one.

From Bournemouth. Razer.

Mum Gillian, Dad Ian and daughter Darcie

in this team alongside friend

and fellow builder Simon.

So two generations

and a lot of expectations

for this very, very famous robot.

From Oxford. Terrorhurtz.

Such an experienced team.

John Reid, who by day designs

simulators for Formula 1 teams,

but by night, creates and drives

this amazing robot.

His weapon operator Nick

is an amateur rocket scientist.

The house robot for Group Battle 1 is Matilda.

Armed with a pneumatic front flipper

and a hardened steel rear flywheel.

The house robots will only operate in their corner patrol zone, the CPZ.

They never seek out a fight,

but should a competitor enter their zone, they can expect no mercy.

Matilda, I have missed you.

Everyone is in their places.

Let battle commence.

Roboteers, stand by.

The four teams in their control rooms.

Only two places in the competition available.

ALL: Three, two, one.

Activate.

The big question here - who can beat the mighty Razer?

Coming at bottom of your picture and taking on Kill-E-Crank-E.

Oh, out come the little cluster bots of Nuts.

We've got mayhem here because Terrorhurtz is going after Nuts.

The little cluster bots will come out and try and wedge in underneath

their opponents and flip them up and over.

Terrorhurtz with a mighty axe there

and a very experienced driver in John Reid.

And it's Razer crushing down on Kill-E-Crank-E

with that deadly hydraulic piercer.

Nine tonnes of pressure, three tonnes at the tip of the claw.

You don't want to mess with Razer.

There's the Matilda cam looking on from the CPZ.

Oh, they've activated the pit.

Down goes the pit.

Someone could be on the edge of doom very shortly.

And it was very nearly Nuts. You can see the flailing chain.

And there's the self-righting mechanism,

the protective ring to keep it going which ever way it topples.

And it spins and attacks Terrorhurtz.

Razer after the little cluster bots.

They look mini, don't they? Against the mighty Terrorhurtz.

Very experienced team, no more experience of course than Razer

of course in the whole competition.

I would think Matilda's out and prowling.

That's a ghastly sight.

I see her in my nightmares every single night.

Kill-E-Crank-E after a little, little bitty buster bot.

You want to drop him in the pit?

Very experienced driver, Ian Lewis of Razer.

Just saw him there and the mayhem continues at a little bit of

a slower pace, because they've measured the fight now.

They know what they're doing.

And Razer has got once again Kill-E-Crank-E in its grip.

That's been his target all the way through. Nuts is spinning...

in a crazy fashion, but doing damage,

and it looks to me as if Kill-E-Crank-E is in trouble.

Razer has Kill-E-Crank-E...Oh, no! Look at this!

Oh!

The mighty have fallen!

They took Kill-E-Crank out and went themselves.

Oh, what a close shave that was for Nuts!

Six.

What happened? Did it skip?

-He spun his wheels.

-And look at the boys from Nuts!

They've got more tricks up their sleeves than Derren Brown,

they say.

And they're stunned they're through.

What a sensational start. I can hardly catch my breath.

Let's have a look at it again.

There's Terrorhurtz immediately against Nuts.

It was a personal battle, but Nuts rode that one

and got away from the mighty axe as it crashed down.

Razer has picked up one of the little cluster bots,

virtually destroyed that.

Here they go towards the pit with prey Kill-E-Crank-E,

and they overbalanced and went in.

And Razer sensationally out.

Oh, few surprises there.

Kill-E-Crank-E, can I come to you first?

It hadn't been tested in battle. That was its first run out.

You know, so you weren't...

I presume you weren't expecting to win the whole thing with

a brand-new robot. How do you think you fared?

I think it's very good, actually.

The tactics were, we opened the pits and then Razer clearly had it in

for us, so we thought, "Well, let's go for a mutual death pact

-"and take them down with us."

-Did you have any control over that?

Were you spinning your wheels?

Think you may have drawn him in in any way?

Absolutely. I mean, he clasped onto us,

then we drove all the way across the arena into the pit.

That wasn't clear from what we were watching there at all.

You killed Razer? You killed Razer,

you took yourself out of the game for the greater good.

This is a big deal for a lot of people who are very scared of

Razer, thought that Razer was the one thing that could defeat them.

This may have changed the entire competition.

Do you know who's particularly happy with you? These people here.

Nobody expected...

Who went in with really the kitchen sink of a robot...

-What were you doing half the time?

-It's a good question.

There seemed to be a sort of team up between Terrorhurtz and Razer,

so they weren't fighting amongst them.

So we seemed to have got the Terrorhurtz end of the deal,

which we were all right with. We were all right with axes.

But then Razer went after one of your mini bots. Who...

And got destroyed at one stage.

They were sacrificial,

so, you know, the one thing we armoured against was axes and

it was taking blow after blow from Terrorhurtz and absolutely fine.

Well done. You're in the head-to-heads. Congratulations.

The two big daddies.

I thought I'd be coming in here to the smell of victory, but,

-Razer, what happened?

-It was all going really well, wasn't it?

It looked like it was going to well.

It was you and Kill-E-Crank-E all the way...

It was a good tussle, wasn't it?

Absolutely, but then it just didn't quite work out.

You are going home, you and your sausage rolls.

It's a shame. But we have winners! Beautiful, masterclass.

-Made it through.

-Happy?

No, he's miserable because it's so cold in here,

-we can't fight the axe very much or it just freezes up.

-Oh, really?

So we're really limited, we have to be so careful about the axe.

So does that affect how you work strategically in there?

It affects our strategy very much.

Well done, Terrorhurtz, you're through to the head-to-heads.

After each battle, the teams must return to the pits for repairs

and there is a warm welcome for Nuts, who not only return

in one piece, but also with a place in the next round.

Winning teams must work quickly, as they only have two hours to

turn around their robots before the next battle.

-Brilliant.

-Genuinely can't believe it, it's just amazing.

We have a lovely scar from Razer on the orange one here,

right there, through the base plate, straight through the robot.

At the moment, we're not seeing any obvious damage, there seems

to be an issue that the ring has a gearbox in to make it spin, but...

It's very slack.

So the rolling mechanism seems to have come loose somewhere.

We'll have a look at it and see if we can fix it.

But the rest of it is looking good at the moment.

For the likes of Razer, it's time to pack up and head home.

Well, you've got to live life on the edge, haven't you?

That was a bit too close to the edge.

Sometimes you tip over, but sometimes you don't, so...

It's kind of a good metaphor, really.

Right, sausage roll, anyone?

Nuts and Terrorhurtz go through to the head-to-heads, where they'll

meet the two winners from the second group battle and here are the teams.

Already we're seeing how brutal the group battles are.

We lose 50% of our robots in this way.

So the pressure is very much on for these big group battles.

Now, you are Behemoth.

You were quite well known, actually, in the original series?

-Yes, quite well known.

-But is it the same robot?

-We actually rebuilt a new robot.

-So it's a brand-new Behemoth?

-Now, your lift is up to...

-Yes.

-What can you lift?

We've lifted a Peugeot 205.

Fantastic. There won't be a Peugeot 205 in the battle, though.

-No, that's a shame.

-Grand. Listen, good luck.

-Thank you very much.

So, Carbide, let's talk about the weapon.

So there's a big blade on the front there,

-it spins round at 2,500 RPM.

-Whoa, so it's got serious.

Basically, the typical speed is just over 200mph

and it's got more energy than... I think it was 60 times a sniper rifle

bullet right at the end, so... That's kind of...

So your plan is to literally demolish everything in your wake?

Hopefully.

Bonk, who is top at the moment,

this is the level of last-minute preparation that has to be taken.

-Where is the top of it?

-Just over there. We have to bolt that on last.

What material are these things made of?

Plate steel, so it's pretty hard.

-Plate steel - a tank would be made out of plate steel?

-It can be, yeah.

-Digger buckets, anything really hard.

-And what is your weapon?

An axe. We've got a full pressure CO2 axe.

OK, next we are over to The General, who are busy.

-They look a little bit... Are we stressed, boys?

-Oh, no, no.

Oh, no, no! What's happening here?

We're trying to give a bit more tread.

-We heard the arena is a bit slick, so...

-OK, so we're just scoring it?

Yeah, just the edge.

OK, I'm going to go and have a little mooch in here.

Hi, don't you worry, get in there, get stuck in,

you've a job to do as well. OK, this is your beast, right?

20 kilo discs, basically, spinning just under,

let's say, 500-1000 RPM.

-Where was it built?

-My design, my dad's cow shed.

It came to fruition, basically.

Who is your worst nightmare in terms of an opponent?

-It seems to be Carbide.

-Which is unfortunate.

-Yeah, we've been drawn against him.

-How confident are you feeling?

-One right shot, I think we'll have him.

-Boom, that's all you need.

All you need is one. Good luck, lads.

Four more fearsome robots in the next group battle,

but only two can remain. Over to you, Jonathan.

Thanks very much, Angela.

The line-up for this battle certainly looks serious.

Let's meet the teams, shall we?

From Hemel Hempstead, Behemoth.

These three friends have been fighting robots

for over 14 years now.

Driver Anthony is a CAD engineer - that's a Computer-Aided Design

to you and I - alongside IT manager Kane and car engineer Kevin.

From Stoke-on-Trent, Bonk.

These two brothers took over their dad's engineering firm,

which they credit for their love of engineering.

I can't imagine he thought they'd grow up to be here on Robot Wars.

From Derby, Carbide.

Driver David designs robots for a well-known chocolate company.

Never knew robots even liked chocolate.

David and Sam used to fight on opposite teams,

but they've combined to create the monster that is Carbide.

From Carmarthen, South Wales, The General.

Dad Haydn James is a cow farmer back home in Carmarthen,

which is where son Tom built The General.

Brother Alan likes to race rally cars when he's not fighting robots.

Joining the teams for this battle will be Shunt,

350 kilos of axe-wielding push.

Shunt's pneumatic axe will be perforating any robot that

strays into his corner patrol zone.

Roboteers, stand by.

Only two places up for grabs for these four machines.

ALL: ..Two, one.

Activate.

Behemoth, the most experienced robot in the history of Robot Wars,

with the yellow and black stripes and the scoop,

but a very limited CO2 supply.

And Behemoth on The General straightaway.

And tyres in Robot Wars, no, no, no, no! Not a good idea.

They could be under attack any moment now.

They're trying to get away there.

Behemoth to try and take on Bonk.

Very inexperienced robot, that.

The General team watch on...

In goes Behemoth.

That can self-right, you can see it there,

the arms come out, the scoop acts as a self-righting mechanism,

attacking The General. Carbide waiting to pick up any loose pieces.

They activate the pit.

Who's going to go down this time?

You are so cruel out there.

Don't go in the pit.

Don't go in the pit is a wise...

Oh, the wheel's come off The General!

Well, what did we tell you? Don't bring wheels into the arena.

In comes the spinning blade of Carbide.

They say it has ten times the power of anything else seen on Robot Wars,

and off went the tyre.

One wheel on that wagon, my friends,

and meanwhile, Behemoth is causing carnage

and little Bonk is flipped over

and Carbide comes in to try and create some sort of danger there

and moves away.

Look at that weapon.

Two of the best fighting robot designers around

in David Moulds and Sam Smith.

They've designed a very good machine here.

'Cease.'

Behemoth brooding, Carbide cautious

but both through and brilliant.

APPLAUSE

Impressive start by Behemoth here, flipping The General.

Self-righted, yes, but the wheels were to go.

Look at that venomous weapon of Carbide.

And when Bonk went into the corner and was turned,

the armour not thick enough, the CO2 venting there.

Good work by Behemoth

and then, of course, Carbide - impressed by him -

came in with the coup de grace.

Boys from Bonk, the twin brothers - you're out.

-What a way to start. Carbide.

-Yeah.

-It worked.

-It worked.

-Inconsistently in places.

Yeah, we had a problem with the weapon at the start

where the transmitter didn't bind correctly,

-so Sam had to turn it off and turn it back on at the start.

-Classic!

Yeah, so... Yeah.

So will it be a problem moving forward, do you think?

It shouldn't be. We can have a look and do some tests.

Good news is, you're through to the head-to-head, so...

You guys. So, what happened to The General?

I think we did a lot of damage but I think when the wheel came off...

It's quite intense in there.

It's all go. Once we got flipped it was a little bit...

getting to grips with the controllers again.

-And then they stuck you on to cook you on the fire.

-Yeah.

-That was salt in the wound, wasn't it?

-Yeah.

Behemoth, that looked relatively seamless.

You don't look like you were troubled in any way.

No, that was quite a straightforward fight. It's quite a relief.

-And did you avoid Carbide for that entire battle?

-Yes.

-You did, didn't you?

-I did.

-So the clash of titans hasn't happened yet.

-No.

-You have to face him in a head-to-head, you know that?

That where it's better, though, because it's one-on-one.

-OK, good luck in the head-to-heads.

-Thank you very much.

-Bonk, good luck with the train home.

-Yeah. Cheers.

-We got them back.

You really did. At one point there was stuff emitting from your robot.

The CO2 was escaping.

Once the CO2 is gone, you can't do anything, really. That's it.

It's been lovely to have you here

although it ended really early in the morning.

-Good luck, lads.

-OK, thanks.

-Cheers.

-Bye.

The second of the group stages

is now complete

as the four victorious robots,

Behemoth, Nuts,

Terrorhurtz and Carbide,

all progress into

the head-to-head stage.

These one-on-one battles

score three points for a knockout

and in the case of no clear winner,

it's two points for a judges' decision.

Despite appearing to be untroubled in their group battle,

Team Carbide have uncovered some serious issues

with their weapon motor.

when they took the top off,

they saw that quite a bit of damage had been done to the motor,

so they're trying to sort that out now,

but they're only just realising what the problems are with it.

And a couple of things have bust.

It's critical for the weapon to run, so...it's pretty important.

They're pretty stressed because they don't have long to sort it out

and they might have to get replacement parts for it,

and if they can't get them, then the weapon is not going to work.

His clutch got so hot that it destroyed the top bearing.

With only two hours between fights to make repairs, there are definite

advantages to being in a warehouse full of engineering geniuses.

The cables are all different lengths.

The cable changes the axis.

And number them. On the bolts, numbers, you see...

So what you do, put two marks on one of them.

But whilst tournament favourites Carbide race against time,

their rivals and rank outsiders Nuts still can't believe their luck.

The whole thing for us, we wanted to turn up and survive Round One,

and then all bets are off in Round Two,

so we're thrilled that we actually get to achieve something.

-If it gets written off in the next round, that's fine.

-So be it.

If we get to fight and we might pull off another shock victory,

-we'll be doing that too.

-Yeah, but it's all fun. We came here for...

It's such a rush. It's fantastic.

People thought they were just a joke entry, cute-looking,

really very harmless, but actually

you could see that as a result of that battle

it made a huge difference in the overall scheme of things.

Controlled chaos can result in unexpected results.

The complex process of rebuilding is in full flow now for some teams,

but not for all.

Got the paintwork scratched a little bit,

but if that's the worst of our worry, that's quite a nice worry!

The two-hour repair window is up,

and it's time for our first head-to-head.

Terrorhurtz and Carbide make the anxious walk to the arena.

Terrorhurtz delivered a confident performance in the group battle,

but can their power axe and bulletproof armour combo

secure them a place in the final?

We're Team Hurtz, we're from Oxford, and our machine is Terrorhurtz.

I'm John, I'm the team captain,

and I also have Nick Lynch on board, he's the weapons operator.

Together, we're an engineer and an amateur rocket scientist.

Terrorhurtz is all about the axe.

It's just this brutal axe on wheels.

Elegantly simple and strong and likeable.

Terrorhurtz's axe develops a tonne of force.

It applies that in around 150ms,

it's a bit like dropping a washing machine off the top of a house.

Terrorhurtz's strategy is usually just get stuck in and go for it.

Carbide struggled with motor problems

that nearly put them out of the competition from the start.

Can such a ground-breaking robot live up to expectations?

We're engineers from the Midlands

and our robot is Carbide.

Our aim with Carbide was to design a robot that's so powerful,

it's feared by everybody.

We had three objectives -

precision, aggression, and damage.

We've kept everything secret.

No-one's seen it up until now.

So I'm behind the drive of the machine, Sam's behind the weapons,

and Sheryl the tactician.

Me and Sam build the best spinning robots in the UK.

We've joined forces to build something completely incredible.

Carbide's completely weapon-orientated.

It's been designed around the 850mm-long blade

that spins at 2,500rpm.

I've been fighting robots for 15 years,

and this one scares me.

APPLAUSE AND CHEERING

And for this first head-to-head for three points,

Carbide and Terrorhurtz are joined by Shunt...

THEY CHANT: Shunt! Shunt! Shunt!

..oh! And robot royalty here,

in the form of Sir Killalot.

I thank you.

APPLAUSE AND CHEERING

Three, two, one...activate!

Interesting that Terrorhurtz's captain John Reid

was helping out Carbide...

Oh, yes, they're all friends in there.

Out here, they want to cut, slash,

bish, bosh, bash!

And John Reid will want to stay in close

so that Carbide can't get

that huge 2,500rpm weapon

up to full speed

and so that it doesn't hear that going.

But he smashes him into the side wall.

This is terrific control here early on from Terrorhurtz.

Across the Flame Pit they go,

Carbide at the moment being pushed around the arena.

The pitch is activated, the weapon is working.

They thought they had a WTP early on, a weapons transmission problem.

It might have been a bit more serious.

The weapon is working, but not to great effect,

and Killalot has them there.

It's a charbroiled Carbide at the moment.

Grilled, barbecued...out?

Is it out? The weapon is still spinning.

Terrorhurtz at the moment

is waiting and watching to see what Sir Killalot does.

It pushes it back on to the axe blade of Terrorhurtz.

Terrorhurtz, they've increased their armament this year

so that they can deal with a spinner.

They've never faced a real spinner before.

They've done a very good job here, and they know the pit is there,

but John Reid needs to be careful.

He needs to be controlled in his push.

If he gets too close, he could still go down the pit himself.

Full power, full power.

At full power, they need to be under control. Watch that blade!

Carbide have gone.

-Yes!

-First three points go to Terrorhurtz.

No axe so far from Terrorhurtz.

KLAXON

'Cease.'

What happened to our drive?!

The bolt heads was catching on the Flame Pit,

that's why we got stuck there.

Well done! Sighs of relief.

You look a little bit stunned.

Our axe didn't even work! First hit, our axe stopped working.

-Really?!

-No axe.

-Listen, you didn't need the axe!

Three points for the knockout.

Carbide, surprised? You were so dominant in the group,

then it just didn't quite go to plan.

We added a layer of polycarb on top just for these guys with the hammer.

-Scared them!

-I used to be on John's team,

so I knew exactly what his tactics were.

Carbide, still two head-to-heads to go, so you can get points back.

-Good luck.

-Thank you.

So the first head-to-head means that

Terrorhurtz smash their way to the top of the group with three points.

Carbide, dumped into the pits, are on no points,

while Nuts and Behemoth are still to fight.

Chances are obviously a lot slimmer

of getting through to the finals now. It was one of the machines

that's almost optimised against this design.

We had some really big hits. It was quite an explosive match.

For winners Team Terrorhurtz, even victory comes at a price.

To bend that 6mm high-strength steel,

that's an impressive amount of energy.

We never heard the death pop.

When you hear that, you're in trouble.

Fortunately, I managed to

keep him hitting things, just kept it out of the power zone.

When you get into that power zone it gets really scary.

Our next head-to-head is between

the sturdy six-wheeled pusher Behemoth...

Get the batteries out, get the gas bottle recharged,

and then we're ready to go.

..and the outlandish clusterbot Nuts.

Right.

Good to go.

We're pleased we've sorted the reliability issue with them,

and they're ready to go straight back in, so...

As the teams make the daunting walk to the arena,

Team Behemoth know this won't be a simple fight,

so must rely on their experience and planning to expect the unexpected.

We're the Behemoth Boys.

I'm the driver and the strategist of the team.

Kane, he does all our welding and pneumatics.

Kev, he's our mechanical support

and helps us get back into the arena straight away.

Behemoth is a six-wheel-drive powerhouse with a pneumatic lifter.

It can pretty much push any robot anywhere in the arena.

One technical feature of Behemoth

is the fact it runs on low pressure, with dual buffer tanks,

and that's going to give us the edge in the arena.

What are our weaknesses?

I don't think Behemoth's got any, actually.

For many, Team Nuts are the jokers in the pack,

but there are some serious engineering brains behind it.

I'm a student at Reading University. I do cybernetics.

Alex is also a student, he does computer science.

Dave works in a DIY store,

and Chris is a chartered engineer.

Our team is a democracy,

so no-one has any idea what we're doing, pretty much.

We wanted to build Nuts because

we wanted to bring something more entertaining to the sport.

Nuts is a two-wheel-drive flail-spinner.

Completely crazy, don't know where it's going most of the time.

Our theory is if we don't know where it's going, the other team don't.

Nuts is a difficult robot to catch,

so a lot of the more precise robots will have a very difficult time

catching up with him and throwing him out.

APPLAUSE AND CHEERING

The house robots are Matilda,

and for the very first time today, the deadly Dead Metal.

How will Nuts deal with the pushing power of Behemoth?

Three, two, one, activate!

We have no weaknesses, say Behemoth -

we'll wait and see. Nuts say they don't know what they're doing.

Sounds like many students I've known in the past.

Behemoth trying to attack the clusterbots.

They are maddening, those little things!

Look at the flailing chain as well.

Natty clothes.

Fluffy clobber.

Are they going to get clobbered in the arena?

Up comes the spikes.

Haven't seen them really in play so far.

Whoa! Nuts managed to dodge between the spikes.

I do not want to be there.

No, no, no, no.

They don't want to be there, they're absolutely right.

They're caught in the pincers there.

-My wheel...

-Spin, Rory, spin!

They need to spin away.

That's just spinning and twirling and doing nothing.

It can't affect Behemoth, surely.

In comes that massive scooping blade of Behemoth.

Anthony Pritchard the driver, very experienced.

Took one week to build Behemoth,

and 14 years of upgrades have gone into this.

Look at the flailing chain, though,

the main weaponry of Nuts.

Up went the arena flipper.

HE LAUGHS

Did you see that? Look at this!

"Get out of it.

"You're an irritant."

So... Oh, it's still going, the little clusterbot!

They are both still going!

Great engineering in there, then, and tenacity.

They want to watch that tailspinner of Matilda,

and Behemoth didn't watch out!

They can self-right.

They are a lumbering great 108-kilo machine.

They will take some shifting. In comes Matilda.

You don't want to tackle the rear end of Matilda, that's for sure.

Over goes Nuts. Let me remind you,

they have remade themselves with that protective rig.

This is a good contest.

Takes a battering.

They're still in fighting, here,

the Nuts boys have done tremendously well.

And I tell you what, Rory and Alex and Dave and Chris,

you have been great fun on Robot Wars.

This is what it's all about. Look at the enjoyment.

And they're still flailing away in there.

You can just see Anthony peering forward.

In goes the smash.

Can they get away with that?

They're on their side.

Get away from Matilda, goddammit!

Weaponry, almost, and wheels...

..righting them.

And they're in there. This could go to the judges, it's so close.

Only two points, don't forget,

if it goes to a judges' decision, not three for an outright victory.

The little clusterbot's trying to get in!

HE LAUGHS

Trying to get underneath!

And nearly disappeared out of the arena completely.

Good hit.

It was a good hit. They've had a few of them.

Out comes that mighty weapon.

Don't forget Behemoth can pull a Land Rover,

it can pull 1.5 tonnes!

Here, they say it's more dangerous than ever!

CROWD COUNTS DOWN

..4, 3, 2, 1.

Judges' decision.

KLAXON 'Cease.'

APPLAUSE AND CHEERING

That was a lot of fun.

So now it goes to the judges - Sethu, Lucy and Noel.

They will be marking on control, damage, and aggression.

A fantastic fight, from both teams. That was great.

APPLAUSE AND CHEERING

Yes, and deserved that cheer.

It went to the judges, and the judges decide on three criteria -

their damage, control and aggression.

And by unanimous decision, the points for a winner goes to...

Behemoth.

-Behemoth is the winner of that bout.

-Good job, guys.

Congratulations.

With the damage endured by the robots increasing,

it is now becoming a game of survival,

with teams trying to repair them in time for their next fight.

That was a huge amount of fun.

-We're pleased to get through it.

-Definitely.

Survived well. We nearly went flying out of the arena

-but just managed to land in time.

-Six feet in the air as well.

Still going.

At one point I drifted into the rear of Matilda

and that just fired me across the arena.

Luckily self-righting worked a treat.

We've taken a bit of damage here on the side panel.

It is catching on the chain and that's slowing the drive chain down

which will reduce our manoeuvrability.

This is how the table's shaping up.

Terrorhurtz is at the top with three points.

Behemoth has two,

and Nuts and Carbide are in joint last place with nothing.

While the teams prepare for the next battle,

I'm here with head judge Noel Sharkey

who's a professor of artificial intelligence and robotics

at Sheffield University.

Noel, you were also a judge on the last series, back 12 years ago now.

-Yes.

-That's a geological age for things like AI.

-It is.

How much have these robots moved on?

Generally speaking, there's been little changes.

So the motors are much more powerful -

smaller and more powerful.

And there's new materials coming out.

Hardox is the one on everybody's books now.

There's a lot of talk about Hardox.

That's kind of a hardened steel.

Yes, it's a hardened steel,

but it's harder than titanium, and lighter.

-And also batteries are much lighter.

-Yes.

Well, you've got the LiPos, which are...

They're like lithium ion but they deliver more current more quickly.

Everything's just souped up.

What else are we going to see in robotics outside of here?

We're on the cusp of a robotics revolution.

They're really coming thick and fast.

-But the big place everyone's going to see them is in pubs.

-Really?

Yeah. Singapore have robots, drones,

and they completely work on their own.

You type in what you want at the table and a little drone

comes out with a tray on top of it and delivers your cocktail.

But the one I like best, and it's the one I want,

is the exoskeleton.

So what that does is, it reads neural signals on your thighs

so you don't have to think about operating it, you just walk.

So instead of a wheelchair, you can walk.

And upper-body strength, you know,

it gives you super upper-body strength.

So you're an old person... I really want one when I'm old

because I want to be walking down the street

just knocking teenagers out of my way.

DARA LAUGHS

With their robots prepared and ready for battle,

our next head-to-head is a big one

as the league leader Terrorhurtz takes on second-place Behemoth.

Three, two, one...

Activate!

Behemoth said they had no weaknesses,

but will that damage to the side panel

actually have affected manoeuvrability?

And don't forget Terrorhurtz - the axe wasn't working

in the last bout.

And John Reid will need it to work,

and it seems to me to be inactive.

It's not in play.

They've used power there to shove Behemoth on to the side wall.

Dead Metal is around. You don't want to get caught in those pincers.

In underneath goes Terrorhurtz.

Behemoth, mighty robot to lift at over 100 kilos.

John Reid...

Come on! Fair play? No, no, no, John, this is Robot Wars.

We want destruction.

We want robots to be crushed, and diced.

And Behemoth have responded

and have pushed Terrorhurtz onto that side wall again.

Back towards Dead Metal.

Down comes the blade onto the polycarbonate armour.

I think the fact that Terrorhurtz's axe wasn't working

-has cost them dearly.

-CROWD CHANTS: Behemoth!

The crowd want Terrorhurtz out.

In the gladiatorial area, it's Behemoth the victors, I would think.

And a wry smile from John Reid.

'Cease.'

APPLAUSE AND CHEERING

Nice one. We need to get our axe working, don't we?

Yeah.

-I told you! I told you to test the axe!

-Whereabouts?

-Far wall.

-Next time, we test the axe.

-No, I told you.

It seems we've got a problem with the transmitter,

that's why the axe didn't fire in the match.

Might be something easy to fix.

We should have had a test before the fight,

but we ran out of time.

Yeah, Dead Metal had a go at us with his big circular saw

and he's put gashes into the bottle. Into our gas tank.

So we store all the gas in here.

We probably can't use that again. It's probably not safe.

After the battle of the giants, new group leader Behemoth

know they dodged a very heavy axe-shaped bullet in the last round.

We were very lucky there that Terrorhurtz's weapon didn't work.

I got a bit trigger-happy firing a few times,

but then when I kind of settled down a bit

and realised they weren't firing their axe,

I took my time a bit more and then was able to roll them over

and do the final blow and push them over into Dead Metal.

Whilst the league leaders recover,

the two teams stuck on zero points, Nuts and Carbide,

are making their final plans and preparations.

I think we're going to try and do

a bit of self-preservation in this one.

We're only going to do what's necessary.

Providing we spin up in the first place,

going to take it relatively easy.

Our tactic against Carbide is to try and use our chains

to disable their weapon. They're in a bad state, so we think

if we can make them impart a lot of energy,

wasting it on stuff like our chains,

their spin mechanism will eat itself,

and from there we can just have the main part and the mini-bots

go to town, take it to the pit.

Halfway through the head-to-heads,

it's Nuts against Carbide.

Can Nuts' chains

tangle their way to a victory against the vicious Carbide?

'..one...activate!'

Carbide is at the cutting edge. The trouble is,

that weapon can cut themselves to pieces.

There goes a whole load of washers.

And already they're attacking the Nutty boys.

Oh, they've lost the protective ring!

They've lost the protective ring, that leaves them very vulnerable.

Ooh, dear.

Nuts, stay away from danger.

That's it - dance the dance, walk the walk.

Talk the talk.

Stay away, stay away, boys.

Do your little self-righting flip.

Will Carbide...?

I thought it was going to activate the pit-release mechanism. No.

Wants to do potentially a bit more damage.

And goes slicing in!

And Nuts are in trouble already.

Look at the power!

This is one of the strongest, most venomous weapons I've ever seen.

The little clusterbots get out of there.

You can take too much...

Too much damage... Oh, my goodness me!

Down goes the pit.

This is damage limitation, and you're not going to limit it.

Not like that.

Wow!

Off comes a wheel!

Immobilised.

And open to...

Oh!

KLAXON

He's praying for the clusterbot.

Well done, lads.

THEY LAUGH

Cheers for that!

Myself and Angela were watching this battle in the other control room,

and midway through there's an almighty crash

against the glass we're watching,

and this was the shard of Nuts

that had come smashing at us at God knows what speed, right?

And it's actually quite razor-sharp.

Now, let's go through this. Firstly, can I return to you

the bit of...well, what's remaining of your robot

that came smashing through and bounced off the bulletproof glass.

-I'm guessing that's from the flail? It doesn't look much like it!

-No.

Now, we'll come to you in a second, right?

Firstly, what's all this,

"Boo hoo hoo, our robot isn't working very well"?

LAUGHTER

-We lied a bit.

-You did, didn't...

Was that all a psych out?!

-All that thing about, "Our engine isn't working" and...

-No, no.

That surprised us as well.

Really? But, my God, right from the start it was kicking off.

-Yeah, it's winded up quite nicely then.

-Yeah, it did, yeah.

Oh, you're bullish now, aren't you?

You've got one more to do against Behemoth, right?

But you've got to presume that in the other head-to-head that

Terrorhurtz are going to pick up a fairly easy three points

against what's left of Nuts.

-LAUGHTER

-We didn't really think of that!

So in some ways you've made it easier for someone else

to get points by just decimating them.

We've got the same drive that they've got,

so we might end up fixing Nuts with them, get them going...

Get Nuts repaired to fight your opponents? This is so devious!

Yeah, put our spinner on his robot...

The big one for the qualifier for the final has got to be you against Behemoth,

-and that's what you're going to have to focus on.

-Yeah.

-Congratulations.

-Thank you.

-That was astonishing.

Do you like jigsaw puzzles?

LAUGHTER

Your robot is in shards there!

What can you pull out for this final?

We've just got to go down there and see what remains.

It may not look anything like it does now,

or did to start the fight, but we'll get something in the arena.

-Are either of the cluster bots working?

-No.

I think they may be irretrievable.

Even if you were reduced to one tiny cluster bot...

Oh, we can get something done. We can get something in the arena.

OK, we want to see you back in for the last one in some shape or form.

Thank you very much, Nuts, and congratulations, Carbide.

That was awesome.

APPLAUSE AND CHEERING

Behemoth is leading the charge on five points,

Terrorhurtz and Carbide are battling for second on three points apiece,

and Nuts is struggling at the bottom with no wheels and no points.

LAUGHTER

That does not feel attached in any way,

but, yeah, it'll be fine.

That does not look like it did before.

It'll be fine, it'll be fine.

'After the brutal damage from their fight, it's a huge repair job,

'but one that even their rivals are happy to take on.'

'Team Carbide and Behemoth are still to fight.'

You're next, boy!

It's going to be a tough fight,

we'll see what happens with their weapon.

I know they've been having a few troubles with it.

Stop that bar from spinning up and just push them around,

get them in the pit will probably be the best.

-I think so, yeah.

-Or set the house robot on them.

-JONATHAN:

-Can the study Behemoth withstand an assault

from the deadly Carbide?

AUDIENCE: Three, two, one, activate!

The winners will go through to the heat final.

There's the bucket against the blade.

Oh, what a start this is!

Behemoth flipping Carbide to one side.

Oh! Will it sustain damage as it does that?

Because that's a mighty powerful weapon

and we've heard the death hum before.

We'll we hear it again?

Behemoth in, there goes the pit

as they slammed into the activating mechanism.

Look at the slice in the titanium bucket!

What power it must take to cause that!

Oh! Just sliced and diced it!

And Behemoth on its side!

And, with limited CO2, can they get upright?

I don't think they can,

Oh what a victory by Carbide! Into the pit they go.

Sensational!

Carbide through,

Behemoth battled, bamboozled, beaten.

Gut-wrenching power. A titanic tussle, this.

That victory gives Carbide six points,

the top spot and a place in tonight's final.

Behemoth drop down to second with five points.

Terrorhurtz in third place with three,

and Nuts still to score.

Considering what was happening in there,

it's not that bad, really.

Only thing is we've got to do it all again.

Oh, look! There we go.

'The pits are fast becoming a Carbide casualty unit

'as Behemoth work on their repairs.

'Nuts have managed to make good progress, though,

'following their destruction at the hands of the deadly spinner.'

I did not expect to be having this conversation with you, Team Nuts.

You were in fragments, essentially.

How have you managed to rebuild this?

Well, we took it apart...

No, no, YOU didn't take it apart.

-It had been taken apart by Carbide.

-We took it apart further,

and had a look at what was remaining.

The motors were broken in all sorts of horrible ways.

The other teams helped us out with that,

we had spare parts, they put them together, it was great.

It was a case of fixing the motors, bending everything straight and hammering it back on.

Can you fight with this robot, though?

Yeah, we got the flails, the chains back on. The weapon's still going.

This all came off, these holes were created,

the wheels are not running

perfectly straight, it would be safe to say...

I wouldn't shake it too hard, you know!

It's not that solidly back on.

I'M in danger of destroying this robot again.

Let's see how long it lasts,

but it may be pretty much a dead rubber easy victory for Terrorhurtz,

but nonetheless, congratulations, well done.

We're hoping to put up some fight but, yeah, I think I agree.

All right! Let's go and have some fun with Nuts.

So, here it is, over to you, Jonathan.

Nuts go head-to-head against Terrorhurtz.

Will Terrorhurtz's mighty axe finally demolish

the battered and bruised Nuts?

..two, one, activate!

A shout of encouragement for the Nuts boys.

They'll need everything they can muster here.

Terrorhurtz need the victory,

they need to knock Nuts out to get the three points.

Otherwise it'll go to head-to-head with Behemoth,

and they lost to Behemoth.

So they need victory in time, and that's a good push,

but look at the control of Nuts here.

Rory Mangles on the main machine,

Alex Shakespeare on the little mini bots,

they're controlling three bots in there.

Off has come the protective ring!

HE LAUGHS

A grim cheer,

but the flail has caught in underneath Terrorhurtz,

that could impede the wily old machine.

It's not free because the protective ring of Nuts is still hanging on.

Ooh! Doesn't want to be there! The wheels are wonky!

They're getting a little bit melted, as well,

on the Flame Pit from Sir Killalot.

SIREN

One minute.

Well, now, this is interesting.

If they can last then, if it goes to judges,

I don't think Terrorhurtz,

even if they get the decision, will go through.

The blade is working for Terrorhurtz!

It hasn't been at its maximum impact,

but Nuts taking damage here now.

What a mess!

-One minute! Come on, Rory.

-There is no dignity here.

Trying to stay out of trouble.

That was a good hit, good hit.

Trying to stay away from the axe of the house robot.

Don't go in that CPZ, boys.

Oh! From one axe, the axe of Terrorhurtz,

straight on to the axe of Shunt!

Through the armament - they cut back on armour to focus on weaponry.

The wheels are wonky.

Control's going little bit, but still good.

Down comes the flailing axe of Terrorhurtz.

Trying to stay away from trouble,

-KLAXON

-and it goes to the judges.

Smile for John Reid. He might be grimacing soon.

How did we survive three minutes?

The battle being reviewed,

and points will be given by the judges

on damage, aggression and control.

Here, our panel of the wise three.

Tough one to call, Nuts held him well.

It did go to judges' decision,

and I can tell you that it was a unanimous decision...

AUDIENCE: Oooh...

..in favour of...

Terrorhurtz.

APPLAUSE AND CHEERING

Nuts, thank you so much, it's been wonderful.

You've added colour, they loved you and they did amazing!

Go nuts for Nuts!

AUDIENCE: Nuts! Nuts! Nuts! Nuts!

Terrorhurtz clearly won on damage and aggression.

But for me the real star of the show was Nuts,

because its control was beautiful.

I mean, it managed to last there for three minutes

with a broken robot - that was astonishing.

First and last place remain the same,

with Carbide in the top spot on six

and Nuts failing to get off the mark,

but Terrorhurtz and Behemoth end

in joint second place on five points.

You're on the same number of points, Behemoth and Terrorhurtz,

and in this situation -

cos neither of you beat Nuts, this is what it comes down to, lads -

in this situation it comes down to your head-to-head,

and if we think back to that, the winner of that was Behemoth,

which means the final will be Behemoth versus Carbide.

-You get a rematch, my friend.

-It does look like that.

You get a rematch, fantastic!

'So, we have our finalists.

'Spinner Carbide meets six-wheeled pusher Behemoth.'

'Behemoth started strong in the competition,

'making short work of The General and Bonk in the group stages...'

'..but boxed clever by staying clear of the spinning blades of Carbide.'

-Did you avoid Carbide for that entire battle?

-Yes.

-You did, didn't you?

-I did.

'First to take on Nuts in the head-to-heads,

'they suffered at the hands of house robot Matilda.'

'But were back on form by crucially despatching Terrorhurtz -

'the victory that assured their place in the final.'

Carbide has become the robot to beat,

but it didn't start that way.

With engine problems, they faced an early exit.

Struggling to get their weapon up to speed...

..they were even dumped into the pit

by archrivals Terrorhurtz.

But, after some hard work, we began to see Carbide's potential,

destroying Nuts in brutal fashion.

Will their luck hold as they head into the final?

Or will Behemoth wreak revenge and settle an old score?

With a place in the grand final at stake,

both teams know that they have the potential to win,

if they can get their game plan right

in what has become a brutal grudge match.

It is Carbide versus Behemoth.

The winner is guaranteed a place in the grand final.

Who will win the rematch?

For the last time tonight, it's over to Jonathan.

CHEERING

AUDIENCE: Three, two, one, activate!

Behemoth has the experience, Carbide the power.

Behemoth's experience tonight has been brutal against that blade.

They need to get the bucket in and underneath straightaway

and flip Carbide.

I think they've been immobilised.

No.

But certainly all is not right in Behemoth.

They're not moving quickly,

and they're going to be a victim here of brutal treatment

from that spinning blade.

25 kilos, 850 millimetres long,

that bar of death.

And it's pushing Behemoth towards the pit!

Ah! What a recovery!

Were they just enticing them on, drawing them in?

Little flip there from Behemoth.

They're still alive and flipping.

And has the Carbide blade...?

Oh! ..run its course?! It doesn't matter!

They've retreated and reversed into doom and gloom!

What a turnabout.

Seemed to withstand the battering and the blows,

they tried to get the bucket weaponry going,

not moving fluently,

withstanding another slice,

and then what on earth happened there?

Carbide the winner, Carbide into the grand final.

Behemoth, you've been a fantastic competitor. I can't imagine

-it was part of the plan to drive backwards into the pit.

-No.

When I first went to hit him,

I try to turn right but it turned left.

OK. Well, you fought well all the way through the show.

ladies and gentlemen, give it up for Behemoth.

APPLAUSE AND CHEERING

Carbide, you are through to the grand final!

APPLAUSE AND CHEERING

Thanks.

I mean, that familiar hum when the spinner gets up to speed,

the opponents obviously hate to hear that and usually it means trouble.

-It's quite intimidating. Isn't it?

-It is!

But it also does the business, chunks taken out of these guys.

Yeah, they took it well, though, until they drove down the pit.

So, well done to Carbide, you're through to the grand final.

That's it for tonight. From all of us here at Robot Wars, goodnight.

APPLAUSE AND CHEERING