Episode 5 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'll be a lot of new things that people won't expect.

Battling in the biggest...

..toughest robot fighting arena in the world.

Each week, only the strongest will survive.

Last week was a battle of the big flippers,

as Apollo and Eruption tossed their rivals

into the sky time and time again.

Even the house robots weren't safe.

But it was Apollo's day,

as the boys launched themselves into the Grand Final.

Unbelievable!

Who will join them this week,

fighting to become the Robot Wars champion?

CHEERING AND APPLAUSE

This is Robot Wars.

And this is a bulletproof arena,

where reputations can be destroyed in the spin of a blade

and legends created by the swing of an axe.

If the teams are lucky enough to avoid the clutches of their rivals,

they can still fall foul of our arena hazards -

the spikes, the flipper, the pit and fire.

CHEERING AND APPLAUSE

This is the pit, where the teams are all frantically making final repairs

that they hope will bring them success in the arena.

The team that emerges victorious from tonight's show

can look forward to a place in the Grand Final.

The others can look forward to a place on the scrapheap.

We'll 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-heads,

a mini-league, made up of four teams.

The top two at the end of this

are our worthy finalists in today's show.

Tonight's first group battle will feature...

Very much a feature of this season are things that spin

and the prime example of that, in some ways, is going to be Pulsar.

I say that because I was way the other end of this building

when I heard this god-awful hum start,

like a fire alarm of something, like some sort of siren.

-What was it?

-It's Pulsar's weapon.

-LOUD MECHANICAL HUM

That's the drum going at its full speed,

which is, we think, around 9,000 rpm.

MECHANICAL HUM

How is it going to go, Dad?

We're going to wreck everything, including the arena,

-there's no doubt.

-Really?

As a parent, aren't you proud of what he's done?

I'm proud of the work, the design, the dedication,

I'm proud of all of it.

Here with Chompalot. Who is the boss of this robot?

You, with this helmet, I'm guessing.

-No, he's the boss.

-OK. So, what do you do?

Me, I do the shiny sticky-back plastic and this time,

along with my nephew, Casey, I've programmed the eye,

-so they've got different sequences.

-Well, it looks beautiful.

-What does it do?

-Well, hopefully, it'll be chomping on the opposition.

-OK, with this?

-Wherever we can get hold, and then pushing them around.

That's our usual style.

OK, let's take your hat off while we talk technology.

THEY LAUGH

-It's a hydraulic ram...

-OK.

..which equates to about a ton coming down on the tip.

-OK, so it's going to crush.

-We'll see what happens.

And what about the wings?

They flap when we activate the weapon to help self-right.

Let's see a further team who have high hopes

-of getting all the way to the final. Hello, Ironside. ALL:

-Hello.

It's very clear what you're hoping to work with.

You've got this massive big arm here. Have you tested this yet?

-No, it's untested at the minute.

-Will it stay stable?

-We don't know.

You know nothing about the power and capability of this robot?

-We know the power...

-Thanks for coming along(!)

It's very beautiful NOW.

-What could possibly damage you?

-Nothing can damage us.

We're worried about the mechanism falling apart when we hit something.

-Good luck, Ironside 3.

-Thank you.

-Best of luck.

Thermidor 2.

Right, definitely the brightest robot on the night.

-We have given it a quick paint job, yes.

-What does the damage?

The damage is done by the flipper at the front,

-which is full-pressure CO2.

-This is upside down?

-Yeah.

-Are you confident?

-We're confident of something.

-What is that?

-We're going to lose.

-Oh, no!

-No. No, I mean we're going to win.

Of course we're going to win.

Prepped, hyped and ready to go to war,

our four teams must make the anxious walk to the arena.

Time for our first group battle

and to hand over to the legend that is Jonathan Pearce.

CHEERING

Thanks very much. Our judges are in place.

They are Professor Sethu Vijayakumar, Dr Lucy Rogers

and, of course, Professor Noel Sharkey.

Let's meet the robots who are ready to rumble in the first group battle.

From Derby, Chompalot.

Chompalot is a 3-ton crusher.

The team, Simon and Debs, met on a Robot Wars chatroom,

where their mutual passion for Robot Wars brought them together.

They've had some test-driving disasters,

once sending one of their robots into a nearby canal!

From Nottingham, Ironside 3.

Next-door neighbours team built Ironside 3,

which has the longest and heaviest spinning bar weapon

in the competition - 1m long and weighing 35kg.

That's about a third of its whole weight.

Their biggest weakness, though,

is that Ironside 3 has never been tested in battle.

From Shropshire, Pulsar.

19-year-old team captain Ellis Ware built Pulsar

with the help of his mum and dad, Tara and Peter.

The force from a hit from Pulsar's spinner

is as hard as a 50-calibre sniper rifle

and the team say it'll be able to toss opponents into the air

by force of that weapon.

From Norwich, Thermidor 2.

This lobster-shaped robot, with a powerful pneumatic flipper -

it can lift 2,300kg, the weight of an average rhinoceros -

has a team of David and Ian,

who were best men at each other's wedding,

showing that teams that play together stay together.

CHEERING

And introducing the house robot for group battle one, it's Shunt,

keeping order with his titanium-tipped axe.

The house robots will only operate in their marked corner zone,

don't forget. They won't go looking for a fight,

but if anyone enters that arena, they'll get one.

Roboteers, stand back!

CHEERING

AUDIENCE COUNTS DOWN WITH ANNOUNCER: Three, two, one...

KLAXON Activate!

So, here we go. Riotous robotic wrecking, we hope!

And immediately Chompalot into the CPZ.

Thermidor pushing in there as well.

But the CPZ is owned by our house robots

and, by fire, spike, flip or pit,

or house robot, we will get you!

And Chompalot pushing in on Thermidor 2.

And Thermidor 2 vulnerable to attack.

If that outer skin is punctured, they're in real trouble.

-I'm done. I can't move.

-PULSAR HUMS LOUDLY

And you can hear the big siren of Pulsar,

like a banshee from Robot Wars hell,

coming in there to hit Ironside 3.

Slammed away, but I wonder what damage that caused Pulsar

because, to me, they're not truly manoeuvrable.

Thermidor 2, though the flipper is working...

The flipper's working,

but there's no-one else at home and they are smoking now.

But you can see that Pulsar's in a bit of trouble on the arena centre.

Oh, a big blow there from Ironside 3,

sending Chompalot towards the house robot.

That is a hugely powerful weapon. Untested in battle,

but look at the damage sustained on that arena floor.

This is a terrific battle to open up this heat.

Who has the better control now,

between Ironside 3 and Chompalot, to stay out of trouble?

Pulsar just manoeuvrable enough to get away.

But will they shove...?

Again, shards of metal flying across the arena floor.

Will they push Pulsar now towards the pit? They've teamed up.

-PIT RELEASE SIREN

-There goes the Pit Release.

So now it's a question of whether Pulsar can hang on in there.

Oh, goodness me! Chompalot nearly reversed into doom and out.

You're not supposed to do THAT, boys.

Simon and Debs Cook, together. Nearly went down.

-Can they push Pulsar into the pit?

-AUDIENCE CHANT:

-In the pit!

Ironside 3, the strongest of the robots, along with Chompalot,

if it goes to a judges' decision.

And I think that Pulsar might just survive.

-KLAXON Cease!

-And there it goes

to the judges of control, damage and aggression.

Well, we saw plenty of that.

I think that's where, maybe, Pulsar got the hit.

We knew that Thermidor 2 was in damage

from the earlier adventure into the CPZ.

Chompalot survived - only just!

All four team captains are here with me now.

Step forward, everyone who thinks they're still in.

Not so fast, Thermidor! You're going nowhere, OK?

And, for the others, well, it's going down to a judges' decision.

They've given us a unanimous decision.

The first team through to the head-to-heads

is, of course, Ironside 3. CHEERING

-Congratulations.

-Thank you.

-And Chompalot.

-Yes!

-CHEERING

We look forward to seeing you fight in another series of Robot Wars.

-We'll be back.

-You've got something there.

So, Ironside 3 and Chompalot are through to the head-to-head.

CHEERING

The first group battle is complete.

Victors Chompalot and Ironside can now return to the pits

but Simon is discovering just how brutal the group stages are.

Not looking good. One of the motors is cocked over,

so that drive's going to be....

Wheel's all damaged.

-Oh...

-HE LAUGHS

That's just general mayhem, isn't it?

Despite their impressive technology, it's back to the drawing board

for the self-taught engineer from team Pulsar.

So, immediately, within about 15 seconds or something like that,

we got a big impact from Ironside. That bent it into the wheel

hard enough to completely smash the wheels,

so I knew immediately that that was it for us.

It's a bit gutting, but we'll come back next time good and strong.

So, it's Chompalot and Ironside who go through to the head-to-heads,

where they will meet the two winners from the second group battle.

And the next four teams hoping to join them are...

Some of these robots look so polished, these robots -

beautifully machined.

Then you find one that looks like it really was built in somebody's shed.

-Was this built in your shed?

-Definitely built in the shed.

Fantastic, because it does look like you just got

some corrugated floor covering and wrapped it around the ends.

Yeah, it's like a rat rod.

We wanted it rusty and rustic, but it's what's underneath

the 3mm aluminium that's the good stuff.

You have weapons front and back.

Yeah, horizontal spinner and a vertical spinner.

-How do you all know each other, by the way?

-This is my son.

-Right.

-And you're driving today, aren't you?

-No, I'm controlling this now.

-We've changed.

-You've swapped over, so you're controlling the weapon.

-So, you're driving?

-I'm now driving.

-OK, this is your fiancee?

-Yes.

How far into the relationship did he tell you this was going to be

-a big part of your life?

-Um, about two months ago.

-Two months ago?!

-Wow, how long have you known him?

-Oh...five years.

-Five years.

So, four years of not telling her, luring her,

-slowly setting the trap, spinning your web, as it were.

-That's it.

And when you had her, you had the ring on the finger,

-out comes this.

-Yes.

-And now you're standing in a warehouse in Glasgow.

-Love it.

Crazy Coupe 88, you're one of the less beautiful robots we have,

-but I think you've got heart.

-Mmm-hmm.

I think it's fair to say that Gabriel is the biggest

we've seen on the show so far.

It's certainly quite a large robot, yes.

What does it actually do? Toby, can you tell me?

Basically, when it goes forward, you go backwards,

-and then it flings a sword.

-So, whacks it down on the opponent?

-Yeah.

-You're not scared of anyone, are you?

-No.

Good luck, team Gabriel.

Gentlemen, this robot, to me, looks like a naked robot.

Everyone else has got, like, Hardox,

this kind of hardened steel they use on tanks.

Why does it have no armour?

We have got some solid steel bars and solid steel sections,

but we have packed more weight into the flipper, the weapon.

We've got a massive buffer tank,

big weapon and we've got to show it off by having no armour on.

-Best of luck, the Beast.

-Thank you.

-This is nice.

-Infernal Contraption.

-Infernal Contraption.

-Yeah, it's back.

-Talk to me about this contraption.

We have sewage pipe wheels, all the electronics,

motors and everything inside the wheels.

We have three completely separate electrical systems,

so we've got full redundancy -

three sets of batteries, three motors,

-three radio receivers, the works.

-In it to win it! What made the spinner?

Big spinning disc, big spinning drum thing. 16kg drum, 1,000 rpm.

And what about opponents? Is there anyone you're dreading facing?

Ooh, we're not quite sure yet. We'll see what comes our way.

-Have you sussed them out?

-A little bit, just sneakily.

Good luck, Infernal Contraption.

So, that's our line-up for the second group battle

but, of course, only two can go through.

Over to you, Jonathan.

CHEERING

Group battle one was as dramatic as they come.

Can group battle two also live up to the hype?

From Norwich, the Beast.

Father and son team, John Senior and John Junior,

are joined by Alex Marler.

Beast's lack of armour leaves it open to a attack,

that's for sure, but the team think they can win regardless,

giving themselves a ten out of ten chance for winning the series!

From Barnsley, Crazy Coupe 88.

Crazy Coupe 88 is festooned with weaponry,

with a front and rear spinner.

Captain Tyrone's been fighting robots at amateur events

for 15 years.

From Grove, Oxfordshire, Gabriel.

Captain Craig is a member of MENSA, with an IQ of 156.

He's deferred the driving duty to son Zack,

who'll be attacking opponents

with one of Gabriel's three interchangeable weapons.

From Cambridge, Infernal Contraption.

Captain Gary is an electromechanical engineer,

Douglas Young, electronics engineer,

Alex Gee is a mechanical engineer

and Jashan Bhoora is a software engineer.

The house robot for this battle is Dead Metal.

Its circular saw and pneumatically-driven pincers mean

none of our robots will want to enter its Corner Patrol Zone.

Roboteers, stand by.

CHEERING

AUDIENCE COUNTS DOWN WITH ANNOUNCER: Three, two, one...

KLAXON Activate!

Buckle up - this could be smashy and not too nicey.

Infernal Contraption got a bit of a wayward start there, pirouetting.

They're worried because they haven't had much practice fighting

in the arenas.

There's Gabriel with a big tyre the size of a washing machine there.

Oh, and a little flip for Crazy Coupe,

the rusty and rustic robot, built in a shed.

Flipped there by Beast.

We know that can flip another competitor ten feet in the air,

they say. Down comes the mighty axe of Gabriel.

They have four interchangeable weapons.

Crazy Coupe 88 in with the house robot.

I think they've been immobilised.

Good speed across the floor from Infernal Contraption.

It's the lightest robot out there by some 13 kilos.

That is a worry. Good control by Beast.

Lacking protection but it IS causing damage.

And, meanwhile, what's Infernal Contraption doing?

Ooh! Up on one wheel.

-PIT RELEASE SIREN

-But Gabriel... Down goes the pit.

They're peering to see what's happening.

Infernal Contraption away and dancing with Beast.

Oh, and they're down and out!

-They had the brawn, they said they had the brains...

-Yeah, really?

Out go Infernal Contraption.

And I can't see too much life in Crazy Coupe either.

They got too near Dead Metal earlier on.

-I think that's caused the damage.

-KLAXON

-Cease!

-We'll wait and see.

-CHEERING

Gabriel. Whimsical name, but wild as they come in there!

-CHEERING

-They loved it.

-It was bouncing around the place. Happy, Toby?

-Yeah.

Good! How did it go?

Well, I thought, generally, the fight went incredibly well for us.

It was all down to Zack.

I wasn't going to say earlier cos I didn't want to shake your confidence

but those wheels, the rubber round them looked a bit DIY.

I mean, in there, it was fierce! You're through to the head-to-heads.

-Do you think people are going to be fearful now of Gabriel?

-Definitely.

-After they've seen our performance there, for sure.

-Absolutely.

Good luck, guys. Not such a happy story over this side.

-But they liked it.

-Disappointed.

-Really disappointed because you got in there to get the pit open.

-Yeah.

-It kind of backfired.

-Yeah, it did.

You had been sizing up your opponents beforehand.

-What did you think of this lot?

-I don't know. I didn't see.

-I was looking at OUR robot.

-OK, well, maybe that was the problem.

-Yeah.

-Thanks.

I expected so much and then you got beaten by a robot

built by the dad from Chitty Chitty Bang Bang. What went wrong?

We were all right until we went a little bit too close to Dead Metal

and the slam from Dead Metal just took the drive or something out,

and we were just immobile.

-Really?

-Yeah.

-You're a victim of the house robot.

-Yes.

-Listen, I'm sorry to see you go.

-No worries.

Crazy Coupe 88, ladies and gentlemen.

CHEERING

Beast did very, very well.

By the way, did you think anyone was going to find a way

to kill an 8-foot tall robot with a 16-foot high spike?

Cos no-one seemed to be getting near Gabriel.

I went after the other two first and then I tried that one

but it's pretty difficult.

A bit of a lucky break that one of them committed hara-kiri

-and ran into the pit on his own?

-Yeah.

-Nice work. That's brazen.

You're through anyway. Well done, Beast, ladies and gentlemen.

CHEERING

The final group battle's over and winners Beast and Gabriel have time

to assess and repair any damage from the fight.

Flipper wasn't coming back down

as fast as we wanted it to,

so need to find out the problem and fix it for the next fight.

Fine-tuning to be done.

We came out on top, so that's all that matters really.

-Can you see anything on the other side?

-No.

-It's just scrapes, isn't it?

-There's one there.

-I think it's fair to say we got away scot-free.

-Yeah, we really did.

Four battle-hardened teams are now into the head-to-head stage...

They'll now fight each other once in brutal one-on-one battles,

scoring three points for a knockout victory

and two points for a judges' decision.

The two teams with the most points

will square up in tonight's final.

But that final must seem very far off for team Chompalot,

after the brutal damage from their fight.

It's a huge repair job, especially within the allotted two-hour window,

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

The wheel's jammed on the battery mounting-plate at the moment,

-so we're just trying to relieve that.

-It's jammed from underneath.

The jaws have gone off to be welded and straightened,

but we'll see what happens then.

In stark contrast, Ironside,

whose brutal spinning blade did so much of that damage to Chompalot,

are in rude health.

Just going to change the drive belt.

It's just getting a little bit slippy.

Now we know the gearboxes are good,

we can put a bit more tension on the belt so we can spin up quicker,

hopefully hit just as hard, if not harder,

cos we're only at 90% at the minute as well,

so we can go up if we want to.

Team Gabriel, who had a near-faultless start

in their campaign, have no repairs, so plenty of time to plan tactics

and tailor weapons for the battle ahead.

We're deciding whether to change the weapon or not.

We've got a few in the bank, so we might, er...

-We might change it.

-We might change it for a pickaxe.

-Yeah.

Surprisingly, despite having no armour,

there are few repairs needed for team Beast.

Want to get these few niggles sorted out and then we'll be ready

for the next fight.

Time, then, for our first head-to-head.

For Chompalot just to be able to get back into the arena is a testament

to the incredible engineering brains of the team that helped rebuild it.

-I think that's good to go, really, isn't it?

-I think, to be honest...

Hey!

I don't think we'll have all the body panels on

because there's just not time,

but we'll be mobile, we'll have some jaws but not much.

But Robot Wars is no place to get sentimental,

as team Gabriel have plans to finish it off for good.

We believe that Chompalot is fairly weak on the upper panels

and we're fairly confident that he can't actually get the beak

high enough to actually crush us at all.

So we can get up close and personal and really whack it good and hard

and that's the plan.

Team Chompalot know that their heavily damaged robot

is even more vulnerable to attack, so could this be their swansong?

-Hi, I'm Debs.

-And I'm Simon.

I'm a geometric controller in the aerospace industry.

I'm a freelance writer.

We met in a sci-fi chatroom, got to know each other.

After a while, he says,

"I'm building this robot and I'm going to go on Robot Wars."

I was, like, "Oh, hello!"

-We do work as a team.

-We're a team.

-But, at the end of the day,

if I say, "I have spoken," that's it, it's done.

That's the way it happens.

Cos somebody's got to be in charge, otherwise it's chaos!

Family team Gabriel have created a robot

that's incredibly difficult to attack,

but is that enough to go all the way?

I'm the team captain and the rest of the team are my sons -

Mark, who's the pit crew, Zack, who's the driver,

and Toby, who's the apprentice.

My training is actually in engineering,

so I've got a lot of experience in cutting and working with metals

and also other materials.

As in most cases, with a family situation,

you actually do things by consensus, and do it by mutual respect.

I don't want to be a totalitarian kind of a person.

It's not my style.

My sons are such nice characters that we get on so well

that it works as a family.

What advice do I give people who think they can beat us? Fear us.

Our first head-to-head.

The patched-up Chompalot goes against the giant Gabriel.

KLAXON Activate!

Can Chompalot get hold of Gabriel's mighty wheels?

They didn't think they could do, but I think they've got a grip.

They have! Gabriel doing all the pushing into the CPZ,

a danger there for Chompalot. They need to get out quickly.

But they certainly had a grip there on Gabriel.

-PIT RELEASE SIREN

-The Pit Release has been signalled

by the huge Gabriel with that swinging axe.

-AUDIENCE CHANT:

-In the pit!

Chompalot against the arena wall,

pinned between an axe and a hard place.

And takes another slam as well.

Well, they said they were good to go,

but I think the damage to the drive units is too much.

They don't look greatly manoeuvrable.

Spinning on one wheel only.

Trying to dodge and dodging very well, by the way, the axe blade.

That is very good driving by Chompalot.

Simon and Debs - what a romantic Simon is.

He invited Debs to join the team

by sending her one of Chompalot's bolts in the post. Ah...

There's no place for romance in the arena, though.

And we know that from Gabriel,

but this is a tougher battle than it first looked to be.

On the edge of the arena and the Floor Flipper!

I think it might be it too for Chompalot.

There is smoke coming out from the innards.

-No!

-Please.

-That's the batteries gone.

Well, it's not dry ice, I can tell you that.

KLAXON

-Cease!

-Oh, that's the death knell for poor old Chompalot.

And they fought so hard to get back into it.

CHEERING

Gabriel's axe was a factor, but Chompalot steering away until then.

Chump-a-rump from the Floor Flipper. Over and out.

Chompalot is smoking at the arena.

It's going to need to be stretchered out.

-It wasn't quite the vision you had in mind.

-Not quite.

-No.

-We did our best, didn't we?

-Do you reckon structurally it's...curtains?

-No, I'm sure we can...

-We can patch him together again.

-Just need some more gaffer tape.

-A little bit of gaffer tape.

AUDIENCE ROARS

-Oh, my God!

-It's on fire. It is actually on fire.

-Oh, my God.

The lithium batteries that power Chompalot have caught fire.

The safety team are on hand to make the robot safe

before removing what's left of the fiery dragon from the arena.

It's gone bang, pouff, there's smoke

and there's fire. It's what dragons are supposed to do

but not in that way.

Well, I think we were lucky to get him together for the last fight.

I think it's game over for this series.

Team Chompalot's decision to withdraw from the competition

means that the judges must choose a replacement

from the same group stage.

So, it's a second chance

for either Thermidor or Pulsar.

We've had to choose an alternative.

And the only thing we could really look at was the fight in the arena.

Thermidor 2 didn't really do much. We had to choose Pulsar.

-We're here to tell you you're back in the game.

-No!

-Seriously?

-Yeah.

-Yeah.

-That's amazing news!

-Well done.

-Absolutely amazing. Thank you so much.

Good luck for the rest of the competition.

Pulsar was very well engineered.

It had an interesting weapon and we think it will be worthwhile

-to have a look at it again.

-That is an original weapon.

It's unusual to see something that's completely different

from anything else that's been before.

Pulsar will join the competition,

starting on no points

and with only two fights left

to secure a place in the final.

Gabriel scores 3 points

and takes the top spot.

Our next head-to-head is Ironside 3 versus Beast.

Team Beast's technical gamble was to use their weight allowance

on their weapon, at the expense of any armour. But will it pay off?

I'm John Lear, manager of team Beast.

Teamworking in Beast is very important.

I'm the main man - I've built it all -

Alex is the driver and John is on the weapons

and they've got a free-for-all in the arena.

I get very nervous because of all the hard work I've put in

and it can fail because of a fuse, a little wire come off,

a link come out - it really is... You do need a lot of luck.

Ironside are an experienced team with a brand-new robot.

Can they continue to destroy all opposition?

On the team, it's me,

there's the team captain, Trevor,

there's Louise and there's Patricia.

The boys are engineers. I'm a production engineer,

Trevor's a machinist and the girls are an essential part,

with logistics and planning.

Having Trevor on the team is brilliant.

He's an absolute veteran of Robot Wars. His experience is invaluable.

We wanted to do something new, different, exciting.

Cos it's a brand-new machine, we're not sure what it's going to do,

but we're happy it will be quite dangerous, if it works as it should.

The ultimate dream for Ironside 3 is it goes in the arena

and it works exactly how we hope it does,

just so we can show off what a good machine it is.

It's the second head-to-head - Beast against Ironside 3.

The house robots are Shunt and, for the first time today,

lord of the robot's death dance,

Sir Killalot.

AUDIENCE COUNTS DOWN WITH ANNOUNCER: Three, two, one...

KLAXON Activate!

In the group battle,

Ironside 3 had plenty of time to get the spinner up to full speed.

Beast needs to get on the attack straightaway

to stop them doing that.

Look, chasing Ironside 3 to deny it the opportunity

to get that blade up to full speed, and that's good driving by Beast.

They control that flipper well, Beast.

Ironside 3 turns to come again. Moves across the arena floor.

Good control by Beast, nearly getting in underneath again.

Ooh, what's happened here?

I thought, for a minute, Ironside 3 had been immobilised,

but moving again. Moving at full speed.

Can they get that blade up to full speed?

Look at the damage caused to the unprotected tyres of Beast.

We warn you and we warn you -

do not come into the Robot Wars arena with exposed tyres.

Just away from the flipper.

And I think that's actually the power of the spinning bar

that led Ironside 3 to appear to dance.

They're trying to get themselves going, Beast.

There is power in that flipper.

There is no movement. Immobilised.

And Ironside 3 dancing a victory jig.

-KLAXON

-Ironside 3 the winner.

-Cease!

-Well played, guys.

-Oh, well, I've lost a wheel.

Good contest. Good control.

Damage to the front flipper,

but that was the main cause of the problem for Beast.

They couldn't move after that.

Ironside, with its long and heavy spinner,

used it very intelligently,

by running away, getting it up to speed

and making the attack at the right precise moment. We like that a lot.

Here's how the table is looking.

Remember, Pulsar has yet to compete,

since replacing the retired Chompalot.

Sethu, the robots we have here, I suppose,

lack one thing that we will expect to see in robots in the future,

which is a degree of autonomy for them to make decisions themselves.

That's correct. Bottom line is,

you might have a really nice well-engineered machine,

but if the human driver is not up to scratch,

then the robot's not going to perform as it should.

This is something we know - if you drive a car, YOU put on the brakes,

you know when the brakes have to be put on,

but the car often manages the way the brakes are applied.

Is that kind of shared decision-making

-the future for robotics?

-Indeed.

This is a new concept called shared autonomy,

where you are basically devolving significant levels of control

to the robot or the device that you're controlling, but still,

the higher-level decision-making still lies

within the person who is using it.

Let's have a look at a prosthetic hand that we actually built.

So, this is how the hand would be, ignoring my hand entirely in this.

Where, then, is it taking information from?

So, these are a bunch of EMG sensors.

These are sensors that measure the activity of my muscles.

EMG sensors should read open and close signals

that I'm trying to pass on to the hand.

What we're going to try and do is, if I can pass you this bottle...

So, I'm going to look away. When you tell me, "Close",

I'm going to close and the decision

on when the robot arm is going to stop closing

is completely devolved to the machine here.

OK, you send the information to close,

-but it will decide how much pressure to put on.

-Exactly.

-Well, look away.

-Ready?

-OK, so close your arm.

That's incredible. There's no squirting of water,

it hasn't crushed it too much. Could this thing hold an egg, for example?

I think, in software, you can adjust the amount of grip force

that is required to actually manipulate this.

It's incredible. Thank you very much, Sethu.

The next head-to-head is the long axe of Gabriel

versus lethal spinner Ironside, and the teams are planning ahead.

We're just changing the weapon, ready for the next battle.

We're up against Ironside,

which is probably the most formidable and scary

bar spinner here today.

What we're trying to do with this particular weapon here,

which is a battle-axe, is to actually try and jam up the bar.

It's the only thing we've got, so we're going to go for it.

-We're fighting Gabriel next.

-I was going to ask you about Gabriel.

What do you think?

We're not sure what the wheels are made of, so we're not sure

if we'll go straight through it or if we'll crack it.

Gabriel versus Ironside 3 for our third head-to-head.

KLAXON Activate!

Will the change of weapon to that battle-axe suit Gabriel?

Slammed aside by Ironside 3's power.

So far, Ironside 3 the most impressive machine we've seen,

getting in underneath Gabriel.

That's good control and aggression early on by Ironside 3.

Gabriel trundles but cannot get that axe low down

because of Ironside 3's speed.

Ooh, in towards Sir Killalot.

You can see a puncture mark on the wheel of Gabriel

and onto the fire pit now.

They need to get out of the clutches of Killalot very quickly.

Look at the design, though, so difficult to hold on to.

It's wibble-wobble, wibble-wobble, jelly on a plate.

Almost on a plate for Ironside 3.

But that mighty destructive power of Ironside 3's spinning bar

doesn't seem to be causing that much trouble

because of the...the "wobbliness" of Gabriel.

That's all I can describe it.

But Gabriel's spinning and onto the fire pit. Just away.

Look at the damage caused to the tyres, though.

They knew they were exposed.

The wheels could be an easy point of attack, they said.

And Killalot has Gabriel in its grip.

And suddenly, it looks like a giant, white...dying...swan.

That is NOT what I wanted to do.

I think it's trapped by burning rubber onto the fire pit...

..and can't get out.

And in goes Ironside 3.

That's not the most sensible move, to get underneath on that fire pit.

AUDIENCE COUNTS DOWN

I think they're counting Gabriel down and out, in THIS bout anyway.

KLAXON Cease!

Well done, well done. Brilliant.

Well, not quite the battle we envisaged,

because Ironside 3 came into the attack

and then danced away repeatedly.

That's where Gabriel sustained the most damage.

That could count massively against them.

Gabriel, bent, battered and, frankly,

bullied around the arena by Ironside 3. That wasn't the plan, was it?

No, we definitely took some big hits.

Ironside 3, that looked like it went pretty seamlessly for you guys.

-Are you happy?

-We weren't sure how hard we could actually hit him

cos he just takes the shock away

by the fact that it just moves and dances around.

Now, obviously, it was not a knockout,

so it did go to judges' decision.

And the win and the 2 points goes to Ironside 3.

-CHEERING

-Well done, lads.

The first three seconds when Ironside 3 was spinning up

was an ideal time for Gabriel to come in and attack,

but as soon as Ironside 3 was spinning, it came in,

hit Gabriel, knocked the wheels off.

It then looked like Gabriel lost some of the control,

so it then was just carrying on hitting.

Gabriel couldn't really get its arrowhead in there

to do any damage to the spinner.

We thought we might do a bit more damage,

but it just shows how resilient that machine is.

On the wheels, we have a torque limiter system.

One of the hits loosened the torque limiter

so, in effect, the hub span in the wheels and we lost drive,

and so we couldn't get the speed we needed to operate the weapon.

So, with Gabriel's defeat

in the third head-to-head,

the scores are looking like this.

Pulsar have yet to fight.

But that's all about to change,

as it's nearly time for their first head-to-head -

a fight they know they must win

to have any chance of making it to the final.

My name is Ellis, I live in Shropshire,

and my robot is called Pulsar.

I just turned 20 and I've got no engineering qualifications.

I taught myself how to use all the machines to make robots.

My dad deals with things like soldering and electronics

and my mum is in charge of organisation and admin

to get parts in in time for Pulsar.

Absolutely everything else is my work,

so I've designed and specc'ed every element

and made everything else, so this is kind of my baby.

Yeah, it's good. It might not set.

The trims might be off, so I'll have to check that on the fly.

'I think I'm coming from a completely fresh palate,

'so I don't have any preconceptions'

about what might or might not work,

so that allows me to think outside the box with my design.

I hope Pulsar will be remembered as a really feisty little underdog.

It's really small and it's going to hit really hard,

so I'm hoping people will be surprised by it

and that will stick in their minds.

Beast also need the maximum 3 points here

to have any chance of survival in the competition.

CHEERING

-Three, two, one...

-Beast against Pulsar.

-It's win or bust for both.

-Activate! KLAXON

Sluggish start by Pulsar. In comes Beast, with that powerful flipper.

But, lacking armament,

we know that they need to dodge away from Sir Killalot.

PULSAR HUMS

Pulsar - you can hear the siren rising.

-They're trying to get the speed up.

-It's not driving.

-You're joking.

But is the drum fully functioning? Yes, it is!

They came in underneath Beast. Beast, here, is in real trouble.

It's immobilised. This will be a turn-up for the books.

Pulsar reinstated because Chompalot had to go out.

They got it over and done with very quickly.

-They're out to make up for lost time.

-Cease!

CHEERING

Well, how about this? That was the moment it got in underneath.

Sparks flew. Pulsar's beauty against the Beast.

Little machine, big heart.

It was good. Obviously, it went in our favour.

There was a bit of an issue which was a bit worrying for next time,

when it was quite intermittent on the drive.

It wasn't driving quite as expected.

Of course, though, we got the win, so super-chuffed with that,

and we'll be really ready for the next one.

Frustrated with their recurring technical problem,

team Beast have still to score.

We was having a bit of an issue driving, cos it wasn't going fully.

Just don't know. That's electronics for you.

The force of the impact caused a link to come out,

then we lost power.

Oh, well, gutted. Never mind.

So, at the end of head-to-head four,

Ironside are still leading the table.

Our next head-to-head is Gabriel versus Beast.

So, you guys came up against Gabriel in the group battles.

-Yeah.

-Is there anything you learned from that

that you're going to bring to them?

It's very difficult to fight, so we've really got to up our game.

-Immobilise.

-Immobilise, pit, flip out, whatever.

-We'll try everything.

-Brilliant. Best of luck, guys.

-Give it up for Beast!

-CHEERING

Here, with one of the crowd's big favourites, Gabriel.

Gabriel, you've gone through a number of different iterations.

You evolved into having a wonky hammer for a while there.

Why do you think the sword will work out well here?

I think the sword should work well because the robot we're fighting

has got exposed tyres and we're hoping

to actually sort of do a bit of sushi on them.

Fabulous! I'm looking forward to seeing that.

-Do you know what result you have to get here?

-We need to knock them out.

You need to knock them out, cos to get through,

you have to win within the three minutes.

Judges' decision isn't good enough for you. Are you going to do it?

-Yeah.

-Fantastic. Ladies and gentlemen, give it up for Gabriel!

CHEERING

So, for our penultimate head-to-head,

-it's Gabriel versus Beast.

-KLAXON

-Activate!

-Gabriel must get a win by knockout

to secure a definite place in the final.

Down comes the big battle-axe.

We know that Beast has a problem with armament.

Oh, goodness me! That's a severe blow.

Can Beast survive that? Is Beast still moving?

Gabriel sensing it can finish it early here.

Needs to finish it, needs to get the knockout win, don't forget.

-Doesn't want it to go to judges.

-PIT RELEASE SIREN

They've released the pit activation.

They don't want to be on the fire pit.

We've seen what damage that can cause.

And I think Beast here wants Gabriel to come in again

and try and get them activated with another blow.

But what's going through the minds of the Gabriel team here?

I think it's... Do you want us to hit your robot?

-Yes, that's it - they want them to hit the robot...

-Hit the robot.

..to get it activated again. That's interesting.

I thought that was the case.

But will Gabriel really want to go and finish them off?

They want to be the good guys of Robot Wars, not the bad guys.

Leave it, leave it. I don't want to damage his robot any more.

Well, no, you have to get a knockout blow here.

You have to win by knockout.

You cannot leave it for the judges.

You're spinning, you think you're winning.

Gabriel, you need to be more punishing here.

Well, if it goes to the judges, it might not be enough.

-KLAXON Cease!

-We'll have to wait and see.

-No killer instinct in Gabriel.

-OK, can you drive to the exit?

This, by the way, is killer instinct.

That's what you need to do. That's lovely!

Well, it was all Gabriel on the offensive.

And that was the blow that caused all the damage to Beast's controls.

Couldn't get going. And there was the stand-off. No finishing power.

That was interesting.

The thing was, we felt that Beast had actually been immobilised

and it didn't seem proper for us to continue any gratuitous violence,

just for the sake of it.

-So, you showed some mercy.

-LAUGHTER

Very well-behaved. Beast, they were kind to you. What happened?

It all went wrong, quite frankly.

The gas system was misbehaving, as you saw at the start.

So, we went in with no flipper.

And then our wheels, our drive packed up,

-so we were a sitting duck.

-We've been here before.

Yeah, it's one of those, really.

So, even though the time ran out, the judges have reviewed the footage

and it's been decided that Beast were immobile for over ten seconds,

so the win and the crucial 3 points have been awarded to Gabriel.

CHEERING

We were trying to identify at what stage

effective control on Beast went away.

Although Beast was still mobile on one of the wheels,

it basically was not going anywhere.

That was loss of control, loss of mobility and we decided,

even though it lasted the whole three minutes,

the whole 3 points for knockout should go to Gabriel.

The maximum 3 points for the win

takes their total to 6

and confirms Gabriel as our first finalist.

They'll now face the winner of our next head-to-head.

Ironside have swept aside their rivals so far

and go in as the clear favourites against the late replacement Pulsar.

I've got Ironside next, who are very consistent,

very strong and a big weapon.

The thing is, I'm a vertical spinner,

so I spin upward very quickly,

and they're a horizontal, so what happens when those two collide

is very difficult to predict.

If I hit their bar as it comes round,

they'll go absolutely flying, but if they hit my drum,

it could cause serious damage,

emphasised by the fact this is going round.

So, in any case, it'll be a huge bang and it'll be amazing.

It's the final head-to-head here.

It's vertical against horizontal spinner

and to get into tonight's final, Pulsar need a clean win here.

Activate! KLAXON

It'll be all about the driving skill of Ellis Ware,

who's been a Robot Wars fan since he was four.

Oh, and that's a brilliant use of the drum by Ellis!

And Ironside 3 - well, they tell us they have

a self-righting mechanism, but they need to get it working quickly.

If they can't within ten seconds, they'll be immobilised.

Just think they're trying to get up and over,

but they're into Sir Killalot now

and this could be the end of Ironside 3.

Is there life in Ironside 3? Pulsar has a nudge.

They have to get moving, otherwise the judges will rule them out.

PULSAR HUMS

Oh, and they ARE moving! Sir Killalot helped them out!

They're away and flying. Well, where did that come from?

Maybe Killalot helped out rejuvenate Ironside 3.

But I can't see the blade spinning at all,

so they're going for another tactic.

-PIT RELEASE SIREN

-Release the pit

to try and shove Pulsar down into the pit.

Ironside 3 just the heavier machine, only just - couple of kilos in it.

But who will go down? Pulsar - is there movement in Pulsar?

I don't think so. And I think...

Goodness me, what a battle this has been!

Slowly, slowly, inch by inch...

Oh! They've taken themselves out!

KLAXON Cease!

What about this? What a fight!

Brutal power.

Pulsar there, flipping Ironside 3 over, and well on top at this stage,

even though they don't seem to be moving

as cleanly as they might want to. Driving though.

And there, Killalot belches Ironside 3 back into life.

No spinning blade, but plenty of control...

until there!

This is a toughie for the judges to decide.

An incredible fight and a very complex one to make a ruling on,

because you both ended up in the pit at the end.

Went to the judges and they've examined the footage

very, very carefully, and they've made a ruling.

Based on the fact that Ironside was immobile for more than ten seconds

in the middle of the bout, the victory goes to Pulsar.

Congratulations, Pulsar.

APPLAUSE

What was so exciting about this match

was we had two spinners working together,

with the horizontal spinner and the vertical spinner.

So, when Pulsar hit Ironside, Ironside got the full impact

and it threw it up in the air and it's lost its link to its weapon.

But, clearly, Pulsar was the most successful robot

we've seen in there.

They didn't really give us a fair chance to self-right.

No, I'm slammed against a wall,

I'm trying to self-right and then they go, "You're out." I don't know.

And before we got chance, the house robot came in and he picked us up,

then dropped us, and we happened to land on our wheels,

and nobody called "Cease", so we carried on.

But... That's the way it goes, I suppose.

Personally, I think it is the right decision,

although I love the Ironside guys, they're great people.

It's just that they were upside down

and their self-righting arm was fully up

and then it was Sir Killalot turned them over.

So, it is a difficult decision to make, it's gone in our favour.

We lost drive at the end. We're not entirely sure why.

But that was all after all the self-righting had happened,

so we need to figure that out, be ready for the next one.

So, at the end of the head-to-heads,

we now have our finalists,

both scoring 6 points -

Pulsar and Gabriel.

A very close Ironside scored 5

and poor old Beast failed to score.

For a team who were initially knocked out in the group stages,

it's been an incredible journey for Pulsar.

A huge hit by Ironside in the opening group battle

caused drive problems that initially knocked them out.

But Chompalot's dramatic spontaneous combustion,

followed by the judges' decision to give them a precious second chance,

meant they could rise from the ashes to rejoin the competition.

We're here to tell you you're back in the game.

-That's amazing!

-Well done.

So, the 220mph horizontal spinning teeth were back

and soon made short work of Beast,

before taking a judges' decision and the full 3 points against Ironside.

The robot has impressed our judges,

but can it overcome reliability issues to finish the job?

Team Gabriel is by far

the strangest-looking robot in the competition,

but the ingenious design is all based on

the science of fighting robots.

Proving their point, as they despatched all in the group stages,

before finishing off Chompalot in that dramatic head-to-head.

The spin of Ironside delivered their first defeat.

But after taming the Beast,

they had secured enough points to put them in the final.

Pulsar's late re-entry in the competition

means that these two have never fought one on one, so who will win

when they go head-to-head for the very first time?

It's Pulsar versus Gabriel. At stake is a place in the Grand Final.

It's a battle between the very short and the very tall, but who will win?

Over to you, Jonathan. CHEERING

Dara and Angela, our own Robot Wars saints.

KLAXON Activate!

The Robot Wars Angel Gabriel against the rising star of Pulsar.

Immediately in underneath that very awkward design of Gabriel

to get anything onto. But if Pulsar can get the drum up to speed...

-PULSAR HUMS

-Can you hear the hum of the drum?

..then the tyres of Gabriel will be suspect.

Down comes the big battle-axe of Gabriel.

Pulsar needs to dodge that, of course, and get away.

The wheels of Pulsar exposed -

only thick plastic armour to protect them.

But getting away from Gabriel's blade is the key.

Can they get underneath and maybe flip it towards the fire pit

or our own flipper or the spikes, or the house robots?

Tentative at the moment and tactical.

Again, they're dodging that blade magnificently here.

Pulsar, with some driver - young Ellis, a Robot Wars fanatic.

Ooh, and up on its side goes Gabriel,

but we know they can self-right from there.

We also know those wheels are an easy point of attack.

And we know that Killalot is waiting.

Oh, what's happening to Pulsar?

Ooh, they just got going within the time limit,

or they'd be deemed immobilised.

They have had problems with their drive.

PULSAR HUMS

And, again, just superb swerving away from Gabriel.

-PIT RELEASE SIREN

-Up onto the side.

The wheel spins, no traction.

There it goes, and self-rights brilliantly.

And gets away, as well, from Sir Killalot.

Down goes the pit.

At the moment, I'd say Pulsar on top, but Gabriel fighting valiantly

and can still cause damage in a split second.

What a heat final this is. Misses, hits. No, missed again!

Comes in for a killer blow. Pulsar in trouble! Pulsar can't move!

Nudged towards the Flame Pit by Killalot

and just out of reach, therefore, of Gabriel's axe.

And Gabriel comes in onto the house robot. Ill-advised.

Take on the minnow, not the mighty.

-They've lost the drive, it seems, again.

-Hit it like that.

-Oh, dear!

-That's it. Keep going.

-Pulsar at the moment...

-Keep going.

No! They are the victims of Gabriel's fury. And away they go.

Well, I cannot predict what's going to happen next.

One moment you think one of these machines is out

and the next minute, they come back in on the offensive. Wibble-wobble.

Back in they come.

Bang! Smash! Crash! No end product.

Oh, what went flying off there? That nearly hit ME!

Thank you very much for THAT!

Gabriel in the corner, gets out.

This is a huge fight!

-AUDIENCE COUNTS DOWN

-Tenacity, durability. One last blow!

Off the floor.

But managed to self-right again.

-I cannot choose between these two.

-KLAXON

-Cease!

-That is a magnificent final.

-Great stuff.

-Yeah, well done.

-Well done, guys.

Oh, great camaraderie, but there can only be one winner,

judged on control, damage and aggression.

Good control there by Pulsar - all the way through, actually, I think -

to dodge the blade.

Oh! Into the CPZ, got out again.

There's the damage caused to the wheels of Gabriel.

That could prove crucial. Self-righting from Gabriel.

Pulsar, for me, the more aggressive. Ooh, have they edged it?

APPLAUSE

Pulsar, I mean, even to look at, these machines are wildly different.

Was there a strategy, going into this?

Basically, all I could do was be as aggressive as possible

and hope that I caused some damage and I think that pretty much went

-exactly to plan.

-You went for it!

-I didn't hold back.

I know we had to and, again, against this machine,

it's impossible to fight.

-You can't have tactics against this machine.

-Dad, were you happy?

I thought it was a great fight,

never mind that we were involved. I just thought it was an epic battle.

Well done, well done. Yes, it was.

It was an epic and truly bizarre battle,

that looked like an angry ferret fighting a giraffe

for large sections of it. LAUGHTER

You left this behind, by the way.

That is a centimetre-thick piece of steel that came off at one stage.

It was an unusual battle to try to engage though.

It's a very difficult robot to fight and very robust.

I hope the crowd here really liked it.

Hear, hear. Very good. Lovely stuff.

CHEERING AND APPLAUSE

There was no clear winner, but it's gone to a judges' decision

and the judges' decision is based on aggression,

control of the robot and damage done.

But they've made a unanimous decision

and the team that wins this battle

and goes through directly to the Grand Final...

..is Pulsar, ladies and gentlemen. APPLAUSE

Congratulations to them.

-My commiserations.

-No, it was a good fight.

It was a good fight and you fought beautifully

throughout the entire show. Thank you very much. Well done to Pulsar.

That's it for this week. From all of us here at Robot Wars, good night.

CHEERING AND APPLAUSE