Episode 2 Robot Wars

This is Robot Wars! Families and friends competing with

home-made fighting machines in pursuit of victory.

Facing off in our bulletproof arena,

they must also deal with the savage hazards and fiendish house robots.

30 teams begin but only one can win.

Let the games commence!

Robot Wars, where metal fighting machines built by brilliant amateurs

battle to become the best in the world.

From every corner of the country and every walk of life.

This time we have more fiendish hazards.

Spinner, killer, entanglement devices,

and even a ten-way free-for-all.

Come on!

Previously...

Behemoth pushed its way to victory and a place in the grand final.

Tonight, six more teams will compete for a chance

to become the Robot Wars champion.

So strap yourselves in and let's meet our first team.

From Grove...

Last time, young Toby caused the upset of the series...

And the fight and the two points are going to go to Cherub,

which means that you're going through to the final, guys!

Do your little wing thing!

..turning Ant from Behemoth into a viral internet phenomenon.

He's back with his dad, sisters, and a new robot.

We've got five weapons in total. We've got the double hit hammer,

the bent mace, the straight mace,

the smaller sword and the bigger sword.

-May I unveil this?

-Yeah, you can.

That is not a happy thing.

-What is that to do?

-That's the mace.

The momentum of the thing will smash down, presumably.

These things, however, have a very specific purpose - what do they do?

They're meant to entangle spinning bars.

Are you fighting a big spinner any time very soon?

-Yep, we are.

-Are you fighting Carbide very soon?

-Yep.

-Is that the whole purpose of this?

-Yep.

-Nicely worked out. Very good.

Could Gabriel win Robot Wars?

Yeah.

Gabriel 2 will face the reigning champion of Robot Wars.

From Derby...

Carbide is, simply put, the most feared machine in the UK.

People are scared of it.

With opposing teams now allowed to use chains and cables

to entangle spinners,

could the new rule end Carbide's Robot Wars dominance?

So you've never fought against an entanglement weapon.

No, they've always been banned up until this year.

-Right.

-I think they've brought it in because of how we acted last year.

So you guys were too good.

-Yeah.

-And how are you going to battle against it?

We'll still smash them up.

And the final team for this group battle...

From Barrowford...

My name is Graeme Dawson and my robot is Big Nipper!

Team captain Graeme is a family man for whom robots run in the blood.

I live in Lancashire with my wife and three-year-old daughter.

My daughter's really into Robot Wars.

She even says the "Three, two, one activate,"

when they start.

She's like, "Three, two, one, activaaate!"

Like that.

The last series, we were watching it on TV and I gave her

our transmitter for the robot and she said straight away,

"Oh I'm driving that one," and it was Carbide.

-Oh, good choice.

-That was a good choice, yeah.

Would you like her to be driving Carbide in the battle

-that you're about to go into?

-Yeah, that would be all right.

-Good luck.

-All right, thank you.

Our first three teams head out for group battle one.

Only the winner of each group battle automatically goes through

to the semifinals.

The losers must fight again in the robot redemption battles

to decide who will join them.

Over to Jonathan Pearce.

Thanks, Dara and Angela.

While the teams for our first group battle arm up then

in the arena, there's time for a rundown of the rules for you.

Teams win battles by immobilising their opponents by flipping them

out of the arena or by forcing them down the arena pit.

If there isn't a clear winner after the three-minute battle,

it's up to our judges to appoint one.

Professional Noel Sharkey, Professor Sethu Vijayakumar

and Dr Lucy Rogers are our judges judging on control,

aggression, and my favourite, damage.

And in the arena, competitors can change the course of a battle

by hitting the Arena Tyre, which at random will either

fall left, dropping the Pit Of Doom,

or fall right, firing the brand-new Fog Of War.

The Fog Of War!

We'll release the rogue house robots.

The guardians of the arena are the house robots,

who are stationed in the Corner Patrol Zones.

Competitors who stray into those zones will be bashed up

by these arena bruisers, so you're wise to give them

a wide berth, really.

In the arena for the first group battle

is 350kg of titanium axe-wielding mayhem...

It's Shunt!

Big Nipper and Gabriel are the first in the unlucky line of robots

to try and dethrone our current champion Carbide.

Rather them than me.

Roboteers, stand by.

Three...

AUDIENCE JOIN IN: ..two, one, activate!

Carbide, bottom of your picture.

Go, Gabriel 2!

It's not exactly an Archangel flying, is it?

Carbide moves to have a go at Gabriel 2,

and takes a chunk out of Gabriel 2.

Keep going, you're all right.

Don't worry about that.

It's built to sustain damage.

Terrifically well-designed by Craig Colliass and his family team.

Big Nipper trying to stay out of trouble, I think, early on.

The big flailing mace comes down on Gabriel 2

-with the entanglement devices.

-Rip off the spikes.

Toby there driving Gabriel 2 against Carbide.

This is building up to be some struggle for the reigning champions.

They haven't had to work quite like this so early on in any heat,

not in my memory.

Oh, there goes the Dial of Doom.

Which means a house robot could go wild and rogue.

And indeed, Shunt then comes out into play.

OK, this is a solid scrap, all right.

It is Gabriel 2 bouncing up on Big Nipper and are they immobilised?

No, they're still moving.

That's all right, Toby, keep going.

Look at the concentration on the faces of Dave Moulds and

Sam Smith, who's a quiet man out of the arena, but inside he's a beast.

Nipper, Nipper!

-Yeah.

-I think Big Nipper is gone.

They're immobile, they're out.

Two minutes left! I can't watch this.

Which means now two minutes to go of just Carbide and Gabriel 2.

OK, the wheels are messed up.

Using that bar spinner... Oh!

How can Gabriel 2 take this damage?

Keep driving, keep driving!

The wheels are buckled, how can it?

Because it's designed to do it.

Carbide beginning to struggle in the defence of that title.

Just keep going around. This way.

Look at my finger, go around here.

Underneath Carbide, something is stuck there.

Something has come off.

It's part of the tyre!

And Gabriel 2 has created damage and flips Carbide over!

Ooh!

Look at those wheels buckling. They're like a zombie!

Gabriel can keep going, they can absorb that impact.

And the reigning champion is in trouble here now!

Gabriel 2 have never performed anything like this.

Carbide have never had to work anything like this!

This is sensational stuff!

This is the 91st Wonder of the World!

Unfortunately Gabriel has now lost all of his entanglement things.

It's Carbide running upside down, that's OK.

Can you actually use both wheels?

Yeah? Fine? Not into the... No, not there.

Jesus!

What is going on?!

Gabriel 2 is still going!

Heavens to Betsy, Gabriel, you can take some punishment.

And again from Carbide, once more the reigning champions.

This time the Dial of Doom goes to depress the Pit of Gloom.

Drive away from it, that's it, just keep going.

Keep driving.

Look at Craig giving Toby instructions in that control booth.

Well, I never thought I'd see Carbide struggle like this

and I never thought I'd see a plucky, strange,

awkward beast of a robot like Gabriel 2.

-Don't have any traction, basically.

-You don't have what?

-Any traction.

-Don't worry about traction, just keep driving.

It's like a cartoon character,

like its little legs are moving but it's not going anywhere.

Torn, battered, bruised, brilliant.

They're still in there.

Who's going to brush up the arena floor?

Six, five - it's going to go to the judges, is it?

-This is unbelievable!

-HORN HONKS

This is one of the greatest fights ever in Robot Wars history!

Well done!

Well done.

That was an epic fight.

I mean, judges' decision I think has to go to Gabriel.

I mean, really? They both went at each other.

But you've got to that say more damage was done to Gabriel

than it was to Carbide.

Toby, that was... You did such a good job.

Well done, mate, that was brilliant.

That is a cool robot.

Well, Gabriel 2 showed the way to go

with the mace hit early on on Carbide,

taking punishment but they were OK to do that.

They knew this machine had a big heart,

they knew it had the entanglement devices.

All right, didn't really work on Carbide,

but Big Nipper was in trouble early on, didn't last that long,

leaving the big two in this one to come together time and time again.

Carbide on the attack.

Look at the manglement of Gabriel 2,

but Toby was focused and Toby knew what he was doing

and he knew Gabriel 2 could last the distance

because it's meant to do that.

Well, we loved it, they loved it,

you clearly loved it.

Look at those faces!

I mean, considering we don't know who won yet,

you both look gleefully happy.

I can't speak for Craig but that's probably

-the best fight we've ever had.

-Really?

-Oh, by miles, yeah.

-That was awesome.

-Toby did an unbelievable job driving,

you could see the intensity on his face.

Tony has gone from apprentice to fully-fledged driver, I think,

-don't you guys?

-Yes!

Round of applause, please. 13 years old.

Right, should we look at Carbide's damage?

-Yep.

-Do a bit of sweeping along the way there, will you?

Go on. Earn your keep.

OK, so, I mean, he looks all right.

Yeah, it's not so bad, new tyre.

-Sticker's got scratched.

-I mean...

LAUGHTER

A couple of little scratches. OK, right.

Come in here, Craig. Right, give me my brush back.

It was of course the judges' decision.

Winner of these bit and through to the semifinal...

..it's Carbide.

Well done.

CHEERING AND APPLAUSE

Gabriel 2 may be defeated but they receive a spontaneous

guard of honour from the other roboteers.

Well, I thought we did really well because we survived but...

And Toby drove really well.

Yeah, Toby drove really, really well.

Not many people can actually say they go three minutes with Carbide

hitting them and still drive out of the arena

so we're really, really pleased with that.

We want to win but we want to win in a way that everyone's happy.

And that's hard.

This particular wheel must have had I think eight to ten direct hits

from Carbide and it was still running, it was still going round.

Just goes to show that if you've got the right material

in the right situation, you can actually do the almost impossible.

I think at the beginning, my wife was a little concerned

I was spending too much time making crazy stuff.

She would say, "You can invent all these things,

"why can't you make something that makes money?"

Growing up in a house of robots was pretty amazing.

I feel like it kind of set me up for life.

So when I'm older I really want to be an engineer.

Part of us always feels bad about smashing someone else's creation

but with a robot like Carbide you can't feel remorse.

So, Dave and Sam go straight through to the semifinals but

closer inspection to Carbide has revealed serious battery problems

that could mean an early exit for the champions.

Situation's developing here with Carbide.

I don't want to interrupt you when you're doing important work.

What happened when you took the bonnet off this?

So, there's a bit more damage than we were expecting, to be honest.

Once we'd opened the battery pack pods up we basically found

that we've torched all our batteries.

Because you don't normally fight for three minutes.

-That's it, yeah.

-Is there a danger you're out?

-It would be that, yeah.

-I don't want to lose our champions

-on the table.

-It would be a shame.

All right, cool, go find the batteries and good luck.

-Thank you very much.

-There you go. Carbide in danger.

With the future of our champions in the balance,

time to find out who will be joining them in the semifinals

from our second group battle.

From Cheshire...

An enduring father and son team,

Michael Oates has had a lifetime ambition to win the show.

There's been so many decisions in my life, like which school to go to,

which university do I do? Which degree do I do?

But the one thing I've always known my whole life,

I want to win Robot Wars.

Michael's even sacrificed his university social life

and delayed his exams to chase his dream.

You're supposed to be joining bingo society, or, you know,

the French history society or something or doing other stuff.

When's that going to start?

-But this is more fun, isn't it?

-Do you approve of this, by the way?

Well, he's worked very hard beforehand, so I'm trusting him.

Because it's Robot Wars, isn't it?

Who wouldn't want to be here? This is amazing.

In their group battle, Eruption face schoolteacher Will and his dad.

From Reading...

-You're a teacher?

-Yeah.

Kind of expect them to be upholding citizens and then...

-In the classroom, yeah.

-OK.

In the arena it's a lot of go for it.

I'm a complete monster in there.

The schooldays are very regimented. You get in at eight o'clock,

you teach your classes, you go home.

When we're doing Robot Wars, it's chaos.

Oh, dear.

Stop!

We've got order in one half and then complete and utter

unparalleled chaos in the other.

Dreams shattered.

Machine in shards.

I need to get in that arena and I need to rip stuff apart

and I can't really explain why.

He keeps saying I've done a little bit too much.

He's got a kill switch now, so if I'm going too destructive,

he can turn me off and I just can't do anything.

When the eyes light up and they're red, then you know that's when

-you switch them off.

-That's what it's all about.

I mean, that's a little bit terrifying.

The final team in this group battle...

From Ripon...

It's an interesting thing, the whole cluster bot concept,

because you split between two very different philosophies here,

two robots are two different things.

They are two different things but it gives us two chances.

With two robots you've got two places that you can attack them.

You can get them from the front and behind or the left and the right

and they won't know which way it's coming.

Double the robots, double the destruction.

Polar division here between a lifter and a spinner, right?

Almost like in other parts of your life

where you are both a classical musician and a rock musician.

No, I play with Harrogate Symphony Orchestra and I play

with a band in Ripon as well, on guitar.

-Are you a tea man and a coffee man?

-Yes.

You've got to have variety so we like to do both.

With only one team progressing to the semifinals automatically,

the pressure's on to win this group battle and avoid the redemption

head-to-heads. Win here and there's one less fight to deal with.

Over to you, Jonathan.

Thank you very much, Dara and Angela.

In the arena, it's leader of the robot coalition of chaos, it's...

..Sir Killalot.

Robots are loaded, doors are locked.

Come on, let's have this battle.

Roboteers, stand by.

Whose team are you on?

-Eruption.

-Is it?

I'm going Aftershock.

AUDIENCE AND ANNOUNCER: Three, two, one, activate!

Aftershock, grand finalist twice,

Eruption, runners-up last time around.

The cluster bot, Crackers 'N' Smash, and Aftershock immediately after

the green Crackers machine, pushing it into a CPZ,

but the house robots aren't there. That's OK.

Aftershock now pressing in on...

Oh, look at that!

Part of the floor flipper has been ripped out!

Come on, guys, the arena flipper's buggered.

Cease has not been called, they must go on.

Are they going to stop that?

I don't know, actually.

Bit of consternation up in the control booths.

Stop, stop, stop, stop!

No, no, no, don't stop, Crackers 'N' Smash!

A cease hasn't been called, you've got to go on!

Aftershock have realised that, Eruption didn't stop at all.

This could open up for Eruption now because of that confusion.

I'll tell you what, there'll be tears after this.

Down wheel!

-They ceased.

-No cease, go on.

Fine, then, keep fighting.

Look at the focus on the face of Michael Oates.

And look at the power of Eruption!

Oh, my God!

Michael kept his cool, kept his focus.

He saw the perfect opportunity and he took it.

That'll cause an upset, I'm sure.

Out goes Aftershock.

That's a massive surprise this early!

Now he's after the little cluster bots,

he's after, in particular, Crackers.

Smashed against the arena wall while Smash does absolutely nothing.

This is a hugely powerful Eruption machine.

Michael flipped four of five opponents out of the arena

in the last series and he's starting where he left off.

You don't want to be there, you really don't want to be there!

You're nowhere now.

He's going for the third.

Then there was just the one.

And he's after that one now...

And it's gone as well!

-Hat-trick!

-Oh, that was a good one.

And we're in the trench, well done.

Complete whitewash! Brilliant, Eruption!

-Yeah, I...

-You flagged it! Yeah, yeah, yeah.

-HORN HONKS

-What a battle that was!

That was stunning.

That was stunning, absolutely stunning, yeah.

-Oh, wow.

-Wow.

-What's up? What's...

We were told to stop so we stopped.

So... Who yelled stop?

Someone was shouting stop.

You were shouting stop, so I stopped.

I shouted it cos I thought nobody noticed that the pit was up.

Well, no, I stopped cos you shouted stop.

Well, they were saying, "Cease, cease, cease,"

and I said, "Stop moving."

-JONATHAN:

-Yeah, yeah. Yada, yada, yada.

Up it comes. You can see part of the floor flipper being ripped away

by that powerful Aftershock 2,400rpm vertical flywheel.

But this is the moment Aftershock came to the end of this bout.

Eruption with a mighty, mighty fling from that

full-pressure pneumatic flipper.

And the rest knew then they were in peril.

And Eruption simply wanted them all gone.

Mighty style. This is hugely impressive.

First battle.

This was the moment that changed the fight for me.

Aftershock damaging the flipper before being thrown into the air

by Eruption as it bounced out of that arena.

Right, I'm taking you for a walk through this.

Look at that thing. See that bendy bit there?

-Yeah.

-Right, next. See this I'm holding here?

-Yeah.

It's still warm. Put it in your hand, right?

Yeah, it's still warm. That's from there, that lives there.

-Wow.

-It's not there any more, right?

This bit, right, see this?

-Oh, my God.

-That was a working flipper, right?

I am sending you an invoice cos you are ruining my house.

We've got to rebuild that again, right?

The only thing... Back over here.

The only thing that's keeping me happy about this

is that you ended up out there.

Safest place for it, I think.

Probably was, actually, yeah. Flipped by you.

Enjoy that? Did you enjoy that?

Yeah, it was a bit of confusion with the arena flipper being destroyed -

some people thought the fight was over.

Play to the whistle, lads. If a big siren goes off we stop,

otherwise you keep fighting, because...

Did we not enjoy the bit where he hoicked him out?

That is literally the point of this entire exercise,

is for one of you to take the other one and, hoi, out.

Yeah. That's why I was... Yeah. I mean, yeah...

We've not got any damage as such, we've got a little bit.

Oh, no, no, some of your stickers have slightly rubbed.

That comes later, the damage. We'll get you later.

There may be a rematch because you go channelling back in again.

So you go into the redemption - basically into the quarterfinals -

and you go straight through to the semifinal.

Give it up for Eruption, ladies and gentlemen.

After that controversial battle,

Michael and Eruption go straight through to the semifinals.

Will from Aftershock and Ian from Crackers 'N' Smash

must fight again for their chance to stay.

But for now, the postmortem continues.

-It was my fault.

-I wouldn't worry about it.

Don't worry. We'll beat him up later.

A touch of confusion, we saw the flipper get damaged.

-I think we did the damage to the flipper, did we?

-Yeah.

And then, this gentleman over here, he shouts, "Stop," so I panicked,

and said, "Will, cease, cease, cease!"

Stop, stop, stop, stop, stop!

Quiet down, Will.

-Are we not ceasing or what?

-Cease.

He was powering down and then a certain young man

called Michael rear-ended us.

My son did the right thing, he waited for the official cease,

-he carried on so...

-Yeah, yes.

I mean, best mates.

They have apparently a little pact where they get rid

of the opponents before each other

and it looked like he picked off...

Aftershock before Crackers 'N' Smash.

So maybe the pact, you know...

There's bruised hearts as well as bruised robots.

I take this...

..incredibly seriously.

And anyone who knows me will tell you, I am super competitive.

Make no mistake, this is a really serious competition

and everyone's going to win.

Time for our first Robot Redemption battle.

Toby's Gabriel 2 versus Will's Aftershock.

The winner will go through to the semifinals, but the loser is out.

Team Gabriel, hard at work.

-Yeah.

-We've got Aftershock next.

Some vertical spinner, have we done anything different?

Yep, we've added holes here, so that we can attach

entanglement weapons.

-OK, well, best of luck.

-Thanks.

This is our last chance of redemption in the competition,

so we've got to go in and just annihilate them, really,

just all out. We've got to make the most of this second chance.

We didn't have enough red mist in the last one, we've got to come in,

just go for it like I used to.

This time no holding back and just, yeah, we've got to smash it.

-COMMENTATOR:

-In the arena for this battle, the ever so pushy

Shunt and the equally persuasive Sir Killalot.

Three, two, one...

AUDIENCE JOIN IN: ..activate!

This to stay in this heat of Robot Wars,

the winner goes through to the semifinals.

Aftershock splendidly tossed out of the arena in that early battle,

now fighting with Gabriel 2 to survive.

You can see the mace of Gabriel 2,

you can see the concentration on the face of Will Thomas.

Is he evil? Go in and kill 'em!

That was his verdict early on.

That was a good attack, though, wasn't it?

-Gabriel 2 through to the air.

-But it can take that.

Yeah, it can, it bounces back well.

-Certainly does.

-That high density polyethylene plastic

is designed to take on those purple spinners.

It's working.

The tyres took the punishment as it bounced down, took the shock

of the landing, and they're up and over...

..the big vertical flywheel of Aftershock.

Now that could be crucial.

Gabriel 2 is ground clear,

it seems to take it up and over the flywall so very easily

and it does have that entanglement chain out there,

it seems to have been eaten away.

Oh, hello, there's the entanglement stealth.

Oh, good stuff. It works, kind of.

Simple nylon rope attached to Gabriel 2. If it gets caught inside

that spinning disc, it could disable that Aftershock weapon,

and with it Will's dreams.

Will, there's plenty of entanglement around.

Little bit of instruction there from Ian,

who used to work on fighter jets.

Leave him be, just wander around.

Son Will at the controls.

And in underneath Gabriel 2.

This is a tense one.

Now, is Gabriel OK?

Oh, such as shame, he actually got them.

Gabriel 2 is not moving.

It's stopped moving, it's stopped moving.

No, not moving. Yep.

Gabriel 2 is in the claws of Sir Killalot.

Oh, Killalot! No, not the...

Oh, no, not the mace.

Oh, dear, oh, dear! How cruel is that?

-HE WHISPERS:

-Well done, Killalot, we love it. We love it.

Chopped his head off.

Gabriel 2, great battle, great bravery, bye-bye.

Well done. Sorry, you did so brilliant.

OK, well done. Well done.

It's OK.

-You all right?

-Yeah, yeah, I'll be fine.

Yeah, it's all right to say you're all right now. Will is evil.

Though, the first time the entanglement looked like it

might actually be good for something.

Did the entanglement work?

Did it really? The rail was there, trying to stop the fly wheel.

Not too sure it really worked.

Gabriel 2, up on one wheel.

That's better use of the entanglement, look at that there.

That's what it's there for.

But look at the flying wheel just chomping it up, spitting it out.

Came in again on Gabriel 2, up on its side,

Gabriel 2 landing there with 110 kilos of weight.

I think something got shook up inside.

And it was a heavyweight KO blow from Aftershock.

Well, the mace is broke, there's also hearts breaking

all around the arena to see Gabriel go home.

I know, it's a bit of a sad thing, really.

We just needed one less hit and I think we should have been OK, but...

..Aftershock is a fantastic robot.

The team are just great, and hats off to them.

Like that.

That one, like that.

Please make some noise for Gabriel!

CHEERING AND APPLAUSE

After a fantastic start against champions Carbide,

Gabriel 2 are now out of the competition.

The next teams fighting to stay are Big Nipper and Crackers 'N' Smash.

For me, there's a lot of pressure.

A lot of money's been spent, a lot of time has been spent,

and people have put their dreams into this.

There's always the nervous bits, cos robots are robots.

And I have to find a way to make it all happen.

Not just for me but for them as well.

Initially, the robot took 18 months to build.

We've made everything ourselves.

That was like every weekend and evenings and holidays.

I wasn't married then.

So much time and work has gone into these amazing machines,

but only one can survive this fight.

-COMMENTATOR:

-The house robots in the corner patrol zones

are the titanium tipped axe of Shunt

and the totally clawsome, Sir Killalot.

Three...

AUDIENCE JOIN IN: ..two, one, activate!

This to stay in the heat.

The team of Crackers 'N' Smash, not fanatics who want to win.

For them, Robot Wars is more about the enjoyment of designing

and creating something, the charity of human spirit.

-HE PRETENDS TO VOMIT

-Pass me the sick bucket!

Not in my world,

or the world of Big Nipper.

That's why the entanglement arm of Crackers has just been bitten off

by Big Nipper.

Great control and aggression from Graeme Dawson. There's more to come,

I think, from Big Nipper, they are getting better and better.

Learning about the arena, learning in this competition

how to steer... There goes the other entanglement arm!

And they're in real trouble now, Crackers.

Really good start here by Big Nipper.

HE LAUGHS

You don't want to be there.

He sat on me.

Really don't want to be there.

Oh!

Oh, goodness me.

Is there anything left that's working in there?

I've never seen that before, you know,

never seen Sir Killalot actually perch on another robot.

And I think he's damaged Crackers.

Oh, they're going back into the CPZ again.

What on earth? They're a bit wobbly, I think.

Now what's Big Nipper doing over there? Ramping up...

Oh! What a run-in, what a hit!

-You turned it off, did you?

-Well done!

-Yes.

-It was already off.

-Was it?

-Superb hit.

Wow, that's out.

That's one of the biggest flips we've ever seen in Robot Wars.

Big Nipper showing they're a force to be reckoned with

and Smash is ejected out of that battle, goodbye.

That was a bit dangerous, Big Nipper going in there.

Bit bold, don't forget the house rules as we've said many times.

The house simply always wins, and house robots never forget.

There is no hiding place for that little robot. Oh, dear.

I would not like to be that.

Professor Noel Sharkey is a strange old Robot Wars demon,

he loves destruction, you know.

Leave him now, he's stuck.

Now why are they on the flame pit?

I think that's immobilised.

Yep.

And that's them finished.

That's them cooked.

That's them gone.

Well, it was a good display but the Botwright family

didn't get their bots right in the end

and their cluster bots are mere playthings of Sir Killalot.

Taking a light out.

-Yeah.

-Sorry about that!

Excellent.

OK, let's repair our lights.

That's a powerful spinner.

-Yeah.

-Very good spinner.

Yeah, I wasn't expecting it to come up flying that high.

Let's have a look to see if the entanglement mechanism works

from Crackers.

Against Nipper's big... No, it didn't.

It's chopped the arm straight off.

Really, really impressive Big Nipper,

there, crashing into Smash.

Sir Killalot playing its part

with a big old sit-down protest.

And, really, Crackers from that moment was never working right.

This one of the biggest hits we've ever seen in Robot Wars history.

Absolutely flew

and crashed into the light rigging.

Well, Smash is thoroughly smashed in the trench.

The good news is it's repairable,

the bad news is you've got quite a while to repair it

cos you're going home!

We've got a long time, that's it for us.

-I'm sorry!

-Yeah.

-Will you be back?

Will Crackers 'N' Smash be back?

We'll be back, we'll have something new, something better,

and we'll be back. Definitely.

We hope so. Right, make some noise from the trenches!

-Thank you!

-Crackers 'N' Smash!

We now have our four semifinalists. First into the arena

are our champions Carbide against Aftershock.

It's been the most testing competition yet for Dave and Sam.

Our batteries arrived just in time so just got some unboxing now,

got to solder the connections on,

new connections on each of those batteries,

get them on charge and chuck them in the robot.

So, we're up against it now to get all that done before our schedule.

Carbide, obviously our champions,

we're used to seeing them sitting on the edge

watching other people, helping other people out,

drinking tea and looking serene,

and Dave especially looks panicked.

I guess there's a weight

that comes with being the champions and I mean they've heard

all of the other people in the pits have designed weapons

specifically to take them down,

the entanglements have been a bit of a bugbear for Dave in particular

and have also meant that they've had to do a lot more work

than they ever had to do in any other series,

so I think they're feeling it a bit now.

It's written all over poor Dave's face.

Aftershock are there, they've put on their Carbide blade,

this is a weapon that they've designed specifically

to deal with Carbide because they were beaten by them

in the grand final. So, this is payback time,

Will and Ian looking a bit more worried

than they, I think, would like, but they've got more speed,

they've got more power and they're going to try

and take down the champions.

It's almost time for you to get in,

this looks like quite complex work to be doing at the last minute.

Yeah, I mean we swapped our disc out for a new bar

and while doing that, we found our weapon motor was seized.

-Oh.

-So we're swapping over to a brand-new one.

Yeah, OK, can you do it?

Oh, yeah, we can.

Let's have a look at Aftershock -

Will and Ian Thomas have been fighting robots for ten years,

they've made the grand final twice,

24 kilos spinner,

has a tip speed of around 140mph.

Although spinning slower than some other spinners,

it carries more weight at the edge

which means it delivers more kilojoules of energy

into its opponents.

Team captain Will is

a mild-mannered design and technology teacher by day,

this Jekyll and Hyde of Robot Wars

says he loves the release of seeing things destroyed.

Always the quiet ones, isn't it?

The robot to beat again this year, Carbide,

the brutal 25 kilo bar

spinning at 240mph.

The team, Sam Smith and Dave Moulds,

upgraded the already incredibly powerful robot by a further 20%.

I think Sam and Dave will have to work harder this year,

we know that, to keep ahead of the pack. Can they handle the pressure?

In the arena, the single scoop of pain with Shunt

and the waffle cone of destruction with Sir Killalot.

Will we have a repeat of the last series final

or will Aftershock face off against best friend Eruption?

I think if anyone can dethrone the champion at this early stage,

it could be Aftershock.

I think we should hide from the metal.

Three...

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Aftershock with the one-two solution,

the new blade especially for Carbide.

Carbide with new batteries for a battle like this.

Oh!

Well, they're untroubled so far, Carbide, they came together there,

Will Thomas trying to get that one-two solution working on Carbide

and it looks to be causing damage.

The champions here are up against it!

Oh!

Huge impact between both machines!

Drum's gone, Will... Disc's gone.

It's gone, the one-two solution!

I think it's gone!

I don't think it's working!

Carbide now senses they've got a chance to come in.

Aftershock planned that weapon

so that they wouldn't take so many damaging hits

from Carbide!

-Are they dead!

-What, are we done or what?

I think we're done, yeah. Yeah, we're stopped.

Will Thomas has downed tools.

Oh, Aftershock is totally dead, so they're just being kind.

Well, they were causing so much trouble for the champions

but the champions reign continues thus far.

Oh, dear, poor old Will Thomas.

I think... I think we lost the drive motor early on.

No, no, it still... I think you've jammed it with the wheel.

Will is going to be very disappointed with that.

That was their Carbide-proof weapon.

Good slam, weapon to weapon,

still working, Aftershock, there,

and I think they had the potency, really, to cause damage

but once that one-tooth blade stopped whirring,

Carbide sensed victory and that was a big slam on this,

look at the slam on the side of Carbide,

and the damage caused there

but they simply couldn't sustain it.

Carbide, were they waiting for their moment? That's where it went,

that's the end of the blade and that, of course,

was the start of the moment when Carbide were on top.

I'm sorry.

It's OK. It'll be all right.

Well done. High-five.

Team captain, that's working out all right for you.

Yeah, we were definitely worried about that one.

I mean, Aftershock is an amazing machine

and we reckon it really was 50-50 going into that, so...

Do you want to see the fatal blow?

-Oh, yeah.

-Let's have a look.

-Oh, wow.

-Great hit but it looks like it just took...

-A big nick out the bottom and the top.

-Yeah, big nick.

Good uppercut there. Yeah.

Does it feel different watching it back than when you're

-in the middle of it?

-Yeah, it was so quick.

It feels like ten seconds in there.

Well, you need to go and get ready,

-you still have a good bit of work to do.

-Oh, yeah.

-Right, off you go.

Good luck, well done. Well done, lads.

The champions are through to tonight's final

but they're showing the strain of their incredible battles.

Took quite a bit of damage. That's the most damage Carbide's ever had.

We've got two big gashes,

one on the side which has compromised the structure

a little bit, and then a more superficial one

in the back corner on the wedge.

Time to find out who will face Dave and Sam's Carbide

from our next semifinal between Graeme's Big Nipper

and Michael from Team Eruption.

One of the most interesting things about Robot Wars

is it is a ground war, and often what counts

is how low to the ground you can go.

You can see both of these ones, both Big Nipper there and Eruption,

have sharpened the very front of their robot

in order to get under each other.

They're right next door to each other playing the same game

at the same time, trying to get their robot as squat as possible,

as razor-sharp, in order to, in his case, clamp and bite

and, in his case, flip.

The game is

how little clearance you can have between you and the ground.

Get underneath his flipper and hopefully rip it off.

Then he's just a little box on wheels.

Then we'll beat him easily.

If they get the first hit and bend our front end up

so we can't get under them again, we're going to be in real trouble.

I will analyse each fight, I will think in depth

about what we're going to do.

I think more how do I beat that person,

what is his driving style going to be,

what tactics is he going to use to try and beat me?

Eruption is a tough pneumatic flipper

and the flipper moves at 44 metres per second

which means it flips open in under a second.

The side pods are interchangeable

so father and son Michael and Adrian Oates

can change them to suit opponents.

Michael's biggest fear is spinners like Carbide.

Last series he flipped four out of five opponents out of the arena.

For me, Eruption, definitely one to watch.

The Big Nipper team are based in Lancashire.

Team captain Graeme Dawson has built one of the toughest robots

in the competition.

The team can either use a spinner or giant set of crushing jaws.

These robot-building artisans built their robot

out of ultra-hard titanium which is usually used to build jet engines.

The Lancashire boys, pretty unflappable.

I would be too if I had a robot as tough as Big Nipper.

In the arena for the first time tonight, the matriarch of mayhem,

no, it's not Miley Cyrus, it's our Matilda.

And Shunty McShuntface.

Three...

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Eruption have had to fight one les battle than Big Nipper.

They will be the pressure machine, they look the more potent machine.

And they've been flipped here by Eruption who started the stronger.

Now let me put this into some sort of perspective for you.

That's 109 kilos of machine being just lifted up like an ant

in that arena by Eruption and no wonder Graeme Dawson is concerned.

The Lancashire toolmaker and this down-to-earth team

at the moment hot and bothered by Eruption

and also the gorgeous Matilda.

Go on!

New to Robot Wars, what's happening out there?

I have no idea.

That seemed to come out of nowhere.

I can't see where I'm going.

It did come out of nowhere there,

the attack on Big Nipper.

Not greatly sustained by Eruption

but sustained by Matilda and gets away.

And Eruption couldn't quite get clear of it either.

They have now but they've gone back to that dangerous area, they're OK,

come together, head-to-head

on the back of Big Nipper, that spinner.

He bent it on the first hit.

He's still turning...

On the flames, there goes Eruption.

They want to get away from there, with the batteries,

could be in danger.

Look at the concentration

on the face of young Michael Oates up there.

-There's smoke coming off somebody.

-Yes, Big Nipper is starting to...

Oh, look at its little claws at the front, Big Nipper's are all...

-Oh, they're all bent aren't they?

-Bent, yeah.

I'd say at the moment they've just done enough.

Look at the focus of both drivers there.

This is a terrific battle.

It's not wham, bam, slam, not all the time.

There's an edge to it.

And all he's doing is running away.

He's not getting a lot of points for aggression from me,

getting none, really.

Prepare for a big...

..charge like that.

They're in underneath and well done Big Nipper and Graeme Dawson

for getting away from there.

Rocking and rolling!

Flipped in the air and self-righting.

Using the self-righting weapon, the arm.

What a well-tooled machine this is, so well-crafted.

Big Nipper

against the brute power of Eruption.

I thought there they were sizing up for a flip,

that's a curious little balletic move, isn't it?

As they shimmy from side to side.

It's just dragging.

I need to get this out of him.

You can see what big Nipper are trying to do,

they're trying to get onto the side of Eruption

to try and cause some damage there.

Another hit by Eruption, another flip,

can they keep flipping?

It flies like a little hovercraft.

It's the gyroscope effect, makes it wobble.

This is intriguing. Another flip sends Big Nipper rocking

and again we've seen...

We see the jump right there!

They're in trouble, they're between a rock and a hard place there!

Don't know where I am.

Matilda has her great pink lurid fly wheel ready to churn.

And on the other side, Eruption is waiting to churn,

we go to the judges, that's very, very close.

Eruption think they've won it.

That was a good fight, that.

That was a good one, wasn't it?

Yeah, I mean damage was similar on both, I would say,

because neither of them sustained massive damage

but aggression, definitely.

-And control.

-Control was the main thing there because, Nipper,

Big Nipper just could not turn there.

Judges marking control, damage, and aggression.

Poor control by Big Nipper there leaving themselves open to attack

from Eruption, so that's a flawed Big Nipper move,

no great damage sustained.

Not to the claws there... Maybe to the claws there, actually.

A little bit of damage sustained, but again,

it's an onslaught of aggression from Eruption.

Big Nipper bounces away, but you can see something came off there,

bouncing along on the arena floor.

Big Nipper trying to get on the side of Eruption,

but every time it was in front of the flipper

you knew what was going to happen and I think, overall,

the control, the aggression,

for me it's Eruption, but it's very, very close.

Luckily I don't have to decide.

Very good. Now, stand by your robots.

God, that was an exciting battle, lads, but we said this beforehand,

it was going to be like a limbo tournament

about who could actually get closer to the ground.

And you both got closer to the ground.

-Yeah.

-So it was a lot of chasing each other around

trying to find each other.

You couldn't get traction on that, could you?

-You couldn't get in to bite him.

-No, no.

I think the first hit, we snapped the front spikes off.

OK, and you equally couldn't get a decent lift on him.

No. It seemed to be not quite as powerful as the first fight.

I think it's because they're quite slippery.

They've got a load of wheels.

-Yeah, yeah.

-They can drive off you however you get under them.

Trying to push them to a wall is quite difficult.

It was a great fight. It is the winner of this

who goes through to the final of this episode.

The loser doesn't go away. You go into a third-place playoff.

So there's still much to play for,

but it did obviously go to the judges' decision.

The judges' decision however was unanimous based on the criteria

and the winner and therefore the finalist is...

Eruption. Ladies and gentlemen!

CHEERING AND APPLAUSE

Michael and Team Eruption

and reigning champion Sam and Dave's Carbide

must battle it out for a place in the grand final.

With this series, a wild card will join them in that final show.

For the first time ever, our second and third placed teams

from every episode will face a ten team,

last robot standing mega-battle.

Sabretooth and Apollo have already secured their places

but who will join them

fighting to become the new Robot Wars champion?

Will from Team Aftershock and Graeme from Big Nipper

know that a victory in this next bout will give only one of them

the ticket for that ten-way fight.

So, everything to play for.

The losers go home,

the winners go into a ten-robot

mechanical mayhem meltdown in the series final.

In the arena, hope they don't charge overtime

because it's Shunt and Sir Killalot again!

Three...

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activate!

Two worthy machines.

In this very, very good heat.

Aftershock, top of your picture, Big Nipper.

Oh, hello. Skipping around a bit there.

Big Nipper is the quicker of the two machines.

Aftershock has the bigger of the vertical...

Oh! Brilliant.

Knocked that out, you're out, done.

Oh, I live for moments like that, do you know?

Wow, that will keep in your memories for many a month.

A strange life I lead.

Well, that's something.

They're still going.

How are they both still working?

Anyway, it's Aftershock and Big Nipper out there.

Who will live to fight another day?

They're like right in each other!

Aftershock, tossed and turned.

-Wait for it to spin up.

-I can't see.

Wait for it to spin up.

He comes in again.

But this is a good controlled Big Nipper we're seeing out here.

And we are seeing a beaten Aftershock, I think.

Aftershock is gone.

Well, that's going to make it easier.

Yep.

Yeah, we're out. We're out.

The control of Big Nipper was decisive.

Well, well, well.

They've been immobilised.

Very, very controlled Big Nipper team.

-Well done, guys.

-Well done.

Good fight.

Well, it was tough early on.

Power blade against power blade,

the big vertical wheels of destruction.

But Nipper for me was the more poised machine.

Big, big slam there, wasn't it?

Big Nipper again. Aggressive, forcing the issue.

Up goes Aftershock, pirouetting.

Big Nipper knew, I think, they had the fight.

Which meant that Graeme Dawson could come in time and time again

and that was the decisive moment. Good win, Big Nipper.

So, Graham and Team Big Nipper have earned their place

in the terrifying ten-way melee

which will take place at the start of the grand final,

but here is the fight that matters.

Time now for our final.

And it's a rematch between last series' grand finalists.

Eruption brilliantly driven by 18-year-old Michael

who came so close to winning the title.

Against them a robot that needs little introduction,

the reigning champion of Robot Wars, Carbide.

Our final is a battle of the robot elite.

Both teams have built the finest examples of robots

at the top of their game.

They are Carbide.

Carbide's key feature has always been its reliability.

There are spinners out there that on paper can deliver

bigger hits than us, but after a couple of hits

they always seem to break down.

Carbide is relentless.

Carbide began this competition with his toughest test to date

against Gabriel.

I can't speak for Craig, but that's probably the best fight

-we've ever had.

-Really?

-Yeah, by miles. That was awesome.

Early damage left the team shaken.

With the death hum of their spinning bar returned in the semifinals,

when they came face-to-face with

specially designed Carbide killer Aftershock.

The working motor needed attention.

Front armour, the back armour needed looking at.

The main electronic switch here for the weapon needed to be replaced.

It's a lot of work, really.

They will face Eruption in the heat final.

Team captain Michael is fiercely pursuing his childhood dream.

I think this has kind of been the one thing in my life

that I've got the most from.

It's also been the one thing that has been consistent

throughout my whole life and I don't want to stop.

When they met in the grand final last series, Eruption was decimated.

If it all goes right for us,

we get our chance for revenge from the last series,

which is going to be really great.

Michael, famed for his tactical comeback style,

senses weakness in his arch nemesis.

I think they're feeling a bit less confident,

they're panicking a little bit.

We've got to try and exploit that.

-OK, Grant. Best of luck.

-Thank you.

A repeat of the last series final.

Can Michael turn the tide of destruction

and bring the reign of Carbide to an end?

In the arena, goodness me, they'll need a day off after this.

It's sympathetic Shunt against Cuddly Killalot.

Three...

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Carbide has had to work harder in this heat

then I think we've ever seen before. They've had mechanical problems,

but they seem to have overcome them now.

Some really good...

Oh!

That's a bang from Carbide for Eruption.

Eruption, well constructed, well improved.

For this series. This is going to be tight.

Carbide almost got drawn in there.

It's got good armour there.

Why... Get around the back of him, Michael.

They can't get in underneath here,

Eruption, with the flipper, because of the power of that spinning bar.

-Go around the other side a little bit.

-Too close to the wall.

And don't forget they have a heavier bar as well

they could use in the future

as they look for improvements, Carbide.

Haven't used it in this particular heat yet.

They don't know the power of it.

Carbide with a good attack.

Waiting their moment. Came in!

And they waited the moment perfectly and Eruption are finished here.

-Has it stuck?

-I think it has.

That must be it.

He's on the countdown again.

Well, Sam and Dave, what a team and what a performance by them!

That was brilliant.

Oh, well done, guys. That was unbelievable.

Carbide is back.

Isn't it?

Unlucky Michael Oates and dad Adrian.

A plucky, plucky heat,

but Carbide were very experienced.

They knew because of the front bar that Eruption couldn't get

the flipper in underneath, not if they went head-to-head.

The only way Eruption could beat them,

if they came to the side and that didn't happen.

Now watch for the moment the way Carbide waits,

sees its chance, bang, comes in,

Eruption lives there for just a few more moments,

but the control is limited.

You can see it.

And doom is on the way.

Michael, I mean, you took some serious blows in there.

Yeah, I think we went head on at them and tried to keep his arm in

and I think just on one hit,

Carbide's deflected off and come round and taken our wheel out.

OK, you'll be back. You'll be back.

Yeah. Please, make some noise for Eruption!

It feels like I've had this conversation with you

a number of times recently about congratulating you.

You got the blow in early, which is what you needed to do.

Yes. Performed well,

considering all the beating that we took before that.

You burnt out your battery by fighting too hard

in the first battle. You had to completely rebuild it

after the second battle. This has not been as smooth a transition

-through the rounds as it was last time.

-Yeah, we've been working hard.

Going to have to step up the game even more now

-as the competition gets stiffer, so.

-Well, whatever happens

from here on in, you've won this bout,

you've won the heat final. Ladies and gentlemen,

give it up for Carbide!

Well, we'll see Carbide in the final.

Eruption's journey to be continued.

-That's all from us.

-Good night.

Next time on Robot Wars...

Rapid.

Rapid is ruthless.

Apex is the biggest bar spinner ever to compete in Robot Wars.

They can't keep the thing on the ground!

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