Episode 5 Robot Wars

30 teams in a new knockout competition.

Four awesome house robots.

And a brand-new hazard.

Right here in our bulletproof arena.

Welcome to Robot Wars.

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...

Nuts stunned themselves and the competition, winning their heat.

They join sleek and clinical Rapid...

..battle-hardened Behemoth...

..and reigning champions Carbide in our grand final.

Now, in our final heat, six more teams do battle

for a chance to become Robot Wars champion.

So, get ready, let's meet our first teams.

From Brentwood...

Georgina's the captain of Expulsion, a school team from Essex.

After briefly featuring last series,

Expulsion has had a complete makeover

with the aid of just a little bit of industrial espionage.

A returning robot. Hello, Georgina, how are you?

-Hello. Good, thank you.

-How are team Expulsion?

Yeah, we're doing really well.

When we were here last time we just looked around,

and saw what worked and what really didn't work,

so we've gone much smaller like other robots

-so you can actually manoeuvre and...

-It's quite compact isn't it?

-Yeah.

-So, you nicked all other people's ideas...

-Yep.

-..in a robot that looks nothing like Expulsion...

-Yeah.

..and yet you've kept the name Expulsion.

I think it links us to the school,

but it also shows where we've come from and where we're going,

-to have that link.

-And you couldn't have gone with the same theme

-and gone Detention, or Suspension?

-Well, we have, actually -

-we've got a small minibot called Detention.

-Really?!

-Yeah.

-Oh, I'm so delighted. I just came up with that, really?

-Yeah!

-And is he joining in?

-Yeah, he's going to come in.

-Oh, you're clustering it, as well?

-Yeah.

-Nice.

And it's not just the machine that's gone through a transformation.

When we first entered Robot Wars last year,

I was a bit like, "Oh, this is like a male-dominated thing."

I think coming here's changed my perception -

everyone's really welcoming,

and really happy to talk to you and give you advice.

Thank you!

I would like to see more females in teams,

because it just encourages more girls into engineering.

Georgina and team Expulsion will be up against...

From Pitsford...

By day, Jason runs his own building firm,

but his thoughts never stray far from his axe-wielding robot Thor.

Probably 50% of my thought process of the day

goes to the improvements and thoughts on the machine.

Don't tell my customers, though,

cos I'm supposed to be concentrating on their house!

-Jason.

-Hello.

-How are you?

-I'm good!

You've left the building site to be with us.

-I have, yes.

-What do your clients think?

-They're all good, actually.

-Are they?

-The clients are fine,

yeah, the guys - it's a bit of a mixed review.

-Oh, really?

-Yeah,

they're just constantly taking the mick out of me.

The final team in this group battle are...

From Ayrshire...

In real life, what do you do?

So, I'm a domestic gas engineer.

That's what I was thinking -

-this reminds me of when I look into the boiler.

-Yeah.

The skills that you pick up from building robots

can be put into practical uses in the real world.

As soon as you say that you've used Robot Wars to influence your life

and you do work with tools all the time

you see them kind of sit up and pay a bit more interest.

OK, Rachel, I'm guessing that you were drafted in

to work with those boiler pipes, because you're the welder right?

Well, not so much with the pipes.

It's more welding the entire structure together, so...

And is that the day job?

Er, no, not at all, actually, no. I work in an office.

-Do you?!

-Yeah, I do.

And then, by night, she welds.

Please give it up for Coyote!

ALL HOWL

Time to get this party started.

The teams now make their way to the arena for battle.

Only one will automatically progress to the semifinals.

The losers must fight again in the Robot Redemption battles

to decide who will join them.

Take it away, Jonathan Pearce.

Dara and Angela, I thank you.

Coyote and Expulsion both second generation robots,

each team building on their experience in battle.

I keenly look forward to seeing their improvements

from last series -

but both teams' experience combined can't match that of the mighty Thor.

As they arm up for the arena, I'll do my housekeeping.

Battles are each timed at three minutes,

with the win being awarded to competitors

who manage to flip opponents out, immobilise them,

or kung fu kick them down the pit of doom.

If there's no clear winner after three minutes

then it's up to Professor Noel Sharkey,

Dr Lucy Rogers and Professor Sethu Vijayakumar,

our esteemed judging panel, to declare a winner.

In the arena, the fixed hazards are the fire...

..the spikes...

..the pits and the flipper -

but competitors who press the arena tyre

will allow the Doom Dial to act at random,

either to release the pit, release a rogue house robot,

or unleash chaos...

The Fog Of War.

..with the swirling Fog Of War.

The house robots are in the arena as well, of course,

brooding in the corner patrol zones.

For this group battle,

it's a pair of pliers with a personality disorder -

it's Dead Metal.

Roboteers, stand by.

Lads, lads, lads.

Three, two, one...

..activate.

Mighty Thor chasing down Coyote,

chasing Expulsion into the side wall.

Oh, no, it's already stuck!

It's Coyote, though, getting itself in the grips of Dead Metal...

Oh, there's a little...a little minibot out there, as well.

-Oh!

-Come on!

Detention there, the minibot of Expulsion.

Expulsion itself only 70kg,

so that weight allows for a minibot to come in -

I'm not too sure what it's doing there at all!

Why's it getting stuck?

Thor.

Well, Jason thinks this is the best Thor he's ever had.

Keen scuba diver.

Clever driver. Releases the Dial of Doom.

Rogue House Robot.

Oh, Dead Metal.

Means one of the house robots, of course, is rogue -

it is Dead Metal with the great pincers.

It is Thor edging in underneath, there,

and Thor is on top of this battle -

but got itself stuck in a CPZ momentarily, and got out.

One man team, Thor - he likes it that way, does Jason,

a builder by trade, and building his way, here,

to a very good first group battle, taking on Coyote.

Expulsion stuck on the flame pit, immobilised,

so it's just down, now, to Thor against Coyote.

Can they get that clamping jaws weapon down, though?

because at the moment it's Thor doing the work.

Got a heavy weight blade in there, at the moment.

Go on, go on!

Pinned against the arena wall - that's good driving by Coyote.

Oh, look at the power of the Thor axe -

but it hit thin air.

They know they can build a powerful spinner robot,

the Coyote team, but they love a crusher bot.

Thor chasing in on Coyote again.

The school team, I think, are out of it.

They will have to go through the battle of redemption,

they're on their side.

Coyote getting away, once again Jason the aggressor, here,

he's focused, he's determined to win,

he has belief in this improved version of Thor.

Coyote are putting up a great, great fight, though -

and look, they've nudged the Dial of Doom!

Rogue House Robot.

Oh, get away from me!

Which means that Dead Metal is the rogue house robot

charging down on little Detention, trying to get away.

Dead Metal trying to get back into its CPZ...

Oh, you bully!

Oh! Come on, Thor.

It's dangerous, because, as you know, Jason,

house robots never forget!

Oh, and Coyote going in there, as well.

They don't like the fact that the school team was bullied,

and they're having a go!

Yeah - come and have a go if you think you're hard enough, Coyote.

Well, it's daring.

Oh, big slam, now, and that's Coyote's arm broken -

it's now Jason's fight to lose as they come together mano a mano...

Oh, hello.

..but I don't think Coyote's weapon is working.

Oh, right in the neck.

Onto the spikes goes Coyote...

..pinned in, there.

The weaponry not working.

Jason not letting up,

he's not taking any chances - it will go to the judges.

Thor the aggressor right at the end.

KLAXON

Cease.

Man, that was good.

Holy cow!

Well it really was tense.

Apart from Expulsion,

they were the victims of the early attacks by Coyote,

they picked on them in the school playground that is the arena

and it's a tough old learning ground, this.

Thor wedging Coyote.

Expulsion caught on the flame grid -

they should be able to self-right, but they can't,

which means, of course, immobilised,

leaving the judges to have to decide between Coyote and Thor.

It'll be a tough decision, this.

For me, Thor would have edged it,

but it's going to be very, very close.

That indecisive driving, there, by Coyote, could count against them -

but they could be back in the redemption battle if they lose.

For the winner it's a place in the semifinals.

The first group battle goes the full three minutes.

The judges awarded the victory to our Northampton builder.

I'll go and break the good news.

-You look like a happy man.

-Yeah, that went well.

It did go well. It went in your favour, also.

-It did, yeah.

-Yeah.

-You won, you know that?

-I didn't know that, no.

-OK, well you did!

-Had a hunch!

And that was the thing,

we had seen you kind of sit on your laurels a little bit, last series,

but the aggression that we recognise from the first series

-was back with a vengeance.

-Yeah, yeah.

I enjoyed that, had a little go at Dead Metal, as well.

-Yes, you did, you did!

-Little bit of payback.

Well, you look happy and you should be happy.

-Go, polish her up and ready for the next one.

-Yeah. Thank you very much.

Cheers, see you later.

Expulsion and Coyote will have to fight again

for the chance to stay in the competition -

but now, let's meet the teams in our second group battle.

From Madeley...

Magnetar is captained by engineering whizz kid Ellis Ware.

With his parents' blessing he dropped out of school

to concentrate on his passion for building robots.

-It looks beautiful.

-Thank you.

-I like the copper.

-Thank you.

So, has this basically been your full time job?

Essentially, yeah. I do this sort of thing kind of full time -

self-employed sort of engineer, and I do other bits and pieces,

but the robot thing is the main focus, actually.

-That's - that's your life at the moment?

-It kind of is, a bit.

So, my daily life is largely robot building,

but I also, between times, I'm a self-taught engineer

and I supply robotics parts to the robotics industry.

I've been called a boy genius, and I really don't like that at all.

I'm just building robots as well as I can.

Joining them in this group battle are...

From Reigate...

Hobgoblin team captain Harry Hills

is another roboteer here with the encouragement of his parents -

but for different reasons.

I think my parents think it was good for me to find out how things work.

I got in trouble for taking apart a microwave.

Asking questions like, "What's inside of a wall?"

It's a smart robot - you've got an eggbeater, that nobody else has,

you have an interesting design - that thing at the front that spins,

they're calling it the eggbeater, am I right?

Yes, because if you chuck an egg into it...

-It'll get beaten.

-It'll get beaten.

Yeah, to be honest, if you chuck an egg at most of our metal robots,

-the eggs going to come off badly...

-Let's not...

-Let's not think about that.

-OK, fine.

It clicked when I was about 14.

"Oh, I know how to take things apart."

The heavenly gates opened, and I was like "Wow, I can make stuff."

I think that the perfect name for a robot

is something that Prince could shout just before the beat drops, right?

So, Aftershock, that works great, you can see him going, "Aftershock!"

and then boom, and it all goes bang, bang, bang.

Hobgoblin doesn't work quite as well,

I don't think it passes the Prince test.

Ladies and Gentlemen, Hobgoblin, aka Prince.

Give them a round of applause, ladies and gentlemen.

The final team in this group battle are...

From Mablethorpe...

Push To Exit are captained by a Crufts-winning dog fanatic.

According to Shane, it's not as bizarre as it sounds.

When you think about robots and dogs, they're very similar -

you'll get your dog, you'll be grooming it for eight hours

and you'll go in the arena for three minutes,

you'll come out again, and win or lose.

We love when the robots aren't the only thing in your lives -

but they're definitely losing the battle against the dogs in this one.

Yeah, they are, this year.

I've brought me pictures of me dogs along to give me a bit of luck.

How many dogs do you have?

Well, I've got four dogs in total, three we show.

-One's a Crufts winner.

-Oh, well done, very good.

-That's Betty, the one I show, that's my dog.

-Yeah.

Um, Thor and Boo.

Aww, that's sweet.

When Crufts is on, it's the pinnacle of dogs.

This is the pinnacle of robots.

Shane and his team make their way to the arena.

Only one of these determined teams will skip a round

and jump straight to the semifinals.

The two losers must battle again to stay in the competition.

To commentate, it's over to you, Jonathan.

Thanks very much Dara and Angela.

The house robot in the arena for this battle...

..it's Shunt.

It's battle time.

Roboteers stand by.

They've worked so hard on the improvements for this series,

-these three teams.

-Three, two, one...

..activate.

Watch out for that Hobgoblin unique eggbeater weapon in lurid green.

Oh! Hobgoblin, watch out for the front flipper of Push To Exit.

He want to show that a front hinge flipper can work - oh!

-That's not good.

-Fire, fire, fire.

We're firing, we're firing.

Nothing's happening.

Shane, you've been flipped yourself, mightily, by the floor flipper.

Hard man, is Shane.

He'll be determined to get that robot righted

and right back in the thick of things.

Oh, Hobgoblin is stuck in gear.

Magnetar didn't even need to do anything!

I don't think Push To Exit has any more life in it.

Hobgoblin in trouble, as well. Magnetar looks tight.

Well, that was over in a flash.

-Come on, come on, flip yourself! Look at that.

-Come on!

Push To Exit, they're immobile.

-MOTOR WHIRS

-The drive's still going.

Don't do me, Ellis, please, don't do it.

Whatever Shane thinks and tries to do,

Hobgoblin trying to turn through its own circumference,

which means it would be...

Oh, just about mobile, are they?

Ooh, you can hear the death hum of the drum of Magnetar

getting up to speed.

It's like a banshee for the beaten teams out there.

KLAXON Cease.

Shortest one so far.

Yeah.

Magnetar wins this one.

-Well done, mate.

-Well done, well done.

Good early attack by Push To Exit.

There is the front hinge flipper at its best.

Hobgoblin might have sustained some damage inside, there...

..but it was all about Magnetar for me.

They've got magnets underneath the robot that hold it down.

It can get out of control - it did in the last series.

Not now, though, this is a controlled performance by them.

Push To Exit, that's where the big damage was.

Look at that - off come the entanglement cables,

and out go the hopes of Push To Exit.

There's a number of reasons we've been watching Magnetar.

Not at least because Ellis is sort of our boy genius

that we've adopted on the show.

He builds these and they're like a thing of beauty -

and he's self-taught.

Plus a Magnetar is a type of star that's left after a Supernova,

and that gets nerd points from me, anyway.

We'll see Ellis and Jason from Thor in the semifinals -

but now the losing teams from the group battles

must fight for their chance to stay in the competition.

Our first robot redemption fight is set to be an emotional battle

between old friends -

Harry's Hobgoblin

and Jamie's Coyote.

So, in the next round of the competition, we're facing Hobgoblin.

Er, they're good friends of ours.

A lot of my friendship groups are now robot centred,

and there are kind of a few of us who are around the same age,

who've almost kind of grew into it together.

The best of friends, and we help each other out

to make sure that our robots are running as well as they can be.

Both teams must now leave their friendship

at the doors of the arena.

Victory here will guarantee only one of them a place in the semifinals.

Defeat will send their old friend home.

In the corner patrol zones -

pushier than a used car salesman, Shunt...

..and the ruthless dictator of destruction, Sir Killalot.

Roboteers, stand by.

Lads, lads, lads.

-Nice, lads.

-Good luck, guys.

Three, two, one...

..activate.

Oh, how quickly best friends could become enemies.

Good driving attack, there, initially.

You can see the Hobgoblin eggbeater weaponry there.

Harry Hills is no longer at the controls,

he's given those controls to Matt Smith.

He's still having a word in his ear, though,

to steer him around that arena floor.

They need to dodge the arena pitfalls.

Of course, the spikes, the flame pit and, indeed, the pit itself.

Probably a bad place to be.

Little Roadrunner in there

against this stronger, sleeker, fitter looking Coyote machine.

Open the pit, Coyote. Roadrunner, open the pit.

Yes, he's doing it. Go!

Yes, get them down the pit, get them down the pit.

Well done, Callum Jones, at the control of the little clusterbot,

pushing the Dial of Doom,

which means, of course, that the pit can descend...

CROWD CHANTS: In the pit, in the pit!

..and the crowd want Hobgoblin in that pit -

and Coyote's doing the chasing, and is in underneath Hobgoblin.

Maybe try and drive over the base of it,

erm, can you do, like, hard turns on the diagonals?

They needed to get the front of their machine

pointed at an opponent.

Otherwise, they themselves could get flipped.

Er, I think he's taken the weapon link out.

It's not flipping entertaining at the moment.

Oh, it's a bit of pipe fitting, don't worry, don't worry.

Oh, it's a little bit dancey and prancey -

we want smashy and mashy.

And I think, here, Jamie's trying to feed Hobgoblin

to the house robot - he is, and Sir Killalot.

That's not a fun place to be, as he's...

Was that the belt?

I don't know, I saw something go.

Hobgoblin stuck on the flame pit now.

Coyote, Jamie McHarg, of course.

Oh, that's a drive belt.

Oh, dear, that - we are not in a fun place.

Yeah, I'm trying to get off, I'm stuck.

Hobgoblin... Oh, just edges away, and Killalot can't come out,

can't come out - as long as they stay clear of that CPZ,

Killalot can't get them...

..but Coyote can feed Hobgoblin back into the house robot.

They tried this before, they do it again.

I think he's the cleverer driver of the great friends, is Jamie.

Oh... Oh, no.

Yep, tyre's gone.

And look, here, at Shunt -

and look at the sparks coming off of Shunt.

Oh, that's not nice.

Bad luck, that's bad.

That's us spent, pretty much.

At the moment, Hobgoblin is sustaining that damage...

That is Shunt just going loco on him. What?!

..but surviving that damage.

-Whoa!

-Whoa, you just dropped Shunt's axe!

Whoa, and comes away with a little minor moral victory, there!

Lads, lads, lads!

Listen to the crowd, listen!

But, boys, Shunt wants revenge - and he'll get it.

Come on, then, Shunt, what have you got?!

And he's flipped Hobgoblin over.

KLAXON Cease.

-I want that as a souvenir!

-Well done, well done.

They gave it all they had.

Now, what's Coyote...?

Oh, Coyote now thinks he can have a piece of Shunt.

That is unwise.

Coyote, get out of there, otherwise you're going to get slammed.

-I thought Shunt was feeling a bit under the weather.

-Yeah!

I think we've learnt the lesson to not mess with Shunt.

-Yeah, Shunt's quite bad.

-Yeah.

Good early attack by Coyote trying to pierce down

on the high grade aluminium and hardened steel shell of Hobgoblin.

Hobgoblin haven't been very lucky with their machine.

All they really wanted to do here was to show

that that eggbeater weapon was a good weapon to have.

Well, I can tell you what - it can mete out damage

and it can take damage -

and it has taken off the titanium tip of Shunt's axe.

Brilliant stuff.

Hasn't saved them, though - Coyote go through.

About to meet Coyote, through to the semifinals.

-Hello!

-Hello.

That was all right.

-Yeah, it was good, yeah.

-Yeah!

-It looked like you're pincer wasn't quite...doing the job.

-No.

-The motor's now become slightly detached from it...

-Ah.

-So... Yeah.

So, was it intentional to feed him to the house robots?

-That was the aim, yeah.

-OK.

Once we actually were able to get a grab on,

we tried to feed him to Shunt or Killalot.

Well done, well done!

Jamie's ruthlessness in the arena

means he's through to the semifinals -

but it's at the expense of his old friend Harry,

who's now out of the competition.

It doesn't matter if you're out with your best friend

or if you barely know them, your aim is to go in there and destroy them.

As soon as those arena doors close

and you're in opposing booths, it's search and destroy.

Time for our next all or nothing

Robot Redemption battle.

Georgina and her schoolmates

against dog loving Shane.

Only the winner will stay in the competition.

We've added these extra curves to hopefully self-right

a bit better than last time, because that didn't work.

I mean, it's our last chance

and we're going to go all-out in this fight,

spinner right up, and hopefully do some damage.

Where it's sitting, it's caught on this bit,

so it won't be able to turn to then self-right.

So, if we get rid of these bits...

You learn different things here than you learn at school -

but Robot Wars is a great way of applying the specific knowledge

that you learn in each different lesson to a real world situation.

-So...

-I agree.

Grind these off - and as the weapon will have already been spinning,

it will probably be quicker

-than when we last tried to self-right.

-Yeah.

You can't just say, "Oh, I learn this to do this,"

you've got to adapt your skills and change for the problem.

While Georgina and her team focus on getting their weapon up to speed,

Shane and his team seem to be taking a more relaxed approach.

He's even found another dog and robot fan.

He fights robots and has dogs.

So, last year when we fought... No, not last year - the year before,

when we fought in the arena one of us,

cos Crufts was that weekend,

so, the loser went to Crufts.

The winner carried on here and got in trouble with the wife.

I went to Crufts.

He went to Crufts - so, I got in trouble with the wife!

They even have time for a bit of robot-baiting trash talk.

They've been expelled from school,

now they're getting expelled from the arena.

And we're going to cause some roboteers some robot tears.

I'll see myself out.

Get your coat.

I've already got it.

In the arena for this fight,

the vertical saw and bad attitude of Dead Metal,

and the house robot who's rear end deserves its own Instagram...

..it's the flywheel of Matilda.

-Roboteers stand by.

-Stand by!

It's so warm. Wearing these coats was a bad choice.

Three, two, one...

..activate.

Have Georgina and the Expulsion team worked out a solution

to their self-righting problem with that extra armament?

Can they show us what their machine is capable of?

Shane's been joking around in the pits - but can Push To Exit perform?

Something's not working.

It is, it is, it is.

Oh, both teams have the pressure

of actually trying to make their robots work.

Who's going to come out on top, then?

It's quite lovely - it's like a record player when it's going.

I just wonder whether the weight of the dynamic spinner

has a tendency to pull them over.

Fire.

Come on!

My wheels are off the ground.

Wait, wait, wait...

They're trying to get the flipper to work, and it's not -

so, I wonder if they've still got pneumatic problems.

They can just dodge away -

but, look, the controls are out of the hand.

Keeps cutting out.

They have a problem here,

I think maybe with the relay system to the flipper.

Oh! Expulsion - a little bit naive, there.

Go on, spin, spin...

No?

Go on, go on, slowly, slowly up.

-Push it up.

-Slowly up, slowly up.

-Come on.

-Slowly up.

-Come on!

Expulsion moving...momentarily...

It's still spinning!

..and twitching. It's still trying to spin and self-right.

There is life in Expulsion...

KLAXON Cease.

..but it will go to the judges to make a decision.

-It lasted...

-Yeah, we got a minute.

-A minute, we got a minute.

I'd say we'd be happy if we got a minute out of it.

-No detention for them.

-No.

-Anthony, hold me!

-HE SOBS

We tried didn't we?!

We tried so hard!

Push To Exit made the early running, something flew off Expulsion, there.

Good retaliation from Expulsion.

Little bit of naivety - it'll count against them

when the judges have to make their decision.

Push To Exit, to me, looked immobile.

Expulsion, though, upside down, still twitching away.

Judges will have to decide.

APPLAUSE

Thank you, yes.

I believe this is probably a bit of yours.

It was a kind of a frustrating fight.

-Very frustrating.

-Yeah.

-Yeah.

They were on top of you at one stage,

but you couldn't get the flipper to flip.

-It kept cutting out, for some reason.

-Ah!

I don't know what's happened.

You end up - as you have in any fight so far -

-end up on top of yourself.

-Yeah.

-With - I see a flaw in the design of it.

-Yeah, maybe a little one.

It did go to an adjudication,

and after watching the entire fight again -

and this is tough because one of you is going home

and the other is staying to fight a semifinal -

but the judges, at the end, were unanimous,

and the adjudication of this fight,

the winners, the people who are staying with us...

..are Expulsion.

CROWD CHEERS Expulsion are staying with us.

So, Georgina and team Expulsion earn their place in the semifinals...

Guys, how do you feel?

Feel amazing - that's our first win, so that's great.

..but that defeat pushes Shane to the exit,

and he's sick as a dog about it.

Damn you!

You're a fool if you just come here to enjoy yourself.

Really, I do come here to enjoy myself,

but I really, really want to win.

Shane is now having second thoughts about his robot future.

I don't know what to do at the moment,

so, I don't know, I'll make my mind up...

If I carry on, I carry on - I might just call it a day.

I'll stick with the dogs, stick with the dogs.

We now have our four semifinalists ready to wage war

for a place in tonight's final.

For our first semifinal,

builder Jason's Thor

against gas engineer Jamie's Coyote.

When they met in the group stage,

Coyote suffered heavy blows from the sharp end of Thor's axe.

Oh, right in the neck.

Coyote will need to toughen up

if they want to make it to tonight's final.

Coyote next.

We're just going to try and repeat the previous performance,

and as long as I don't destroy myself

or do something stupid like go down the pit,

er, it should be fine.

We've literally just found out we're fighting Thor,

and obviously we had them in the melee,

and they gave us a bit of a tanking

so we're going to maybe alter our tactics slightly,

just see how we get on, see if we can, er...

..put on a bit of a better show against them

than we did in the previous fight.

I'm not worried in the slightest - it should be an easy win.

HE LAUGHS

Hey, avert your ears!

So, er, yeah, Coyote next,

and they're feverishly working away,

repairing damage, still, from the first fight, I think,

that they took from Thor.

So, I'm just going to make Coyote ugly.

One-man wrecking machine Jason is back

with his ninth reiteration of Thor -

this Norse god now boasts five interchangeable hammers,

and can swing twice as fast as previously.

Known for running rings around its opponents,

the machine is still one of the fastest robots in the competition,

and can even pull a two tonne van with its powerful drive system.

The builder from Northampton is, once again,

the lone wolf of the competition.

Thor's been part of Jason's life for 13 years now -

he even considers it a part of him, which is a bit weird.

Up next, we have Coyote -

this year the team have gone for a steampunk appearance,

and are the only side in the competition

to boast a chainsaw for a tail.

They'll be hoping, then, to be wily enough

for them to get their teeth on their prey.

The jaw's powerful enough to crush up to 1,000kg, by the way.

The team from Ayrshire have an eclectic mix of skills.

Team captain Jamie is a gas engineer,

and weapons operator Rachel is a welder -

safe to say it'll certainly get heated in the arena

during this battle.

In the arena for this fight -

surgical strikes, but absolutely no medical qualifications,

it's Dead Metal,

and the giant robot dinosaur - but not the friendly kind -

it's Matilda.

Three, two, one...

..activate.

Jason and Thor are so determined to win this series.

They caused a lot of damage to Coyote in their group battle.

Very confident going into this.

Coyote had to repair damage to get it working again,

but we've seen Jamie use the house robots to win battles.

He's tactical, so he can get the upper hand

this time around, perhaps.

Thor trying to get in underneath the ground clearance.

This is what Coyote were worried about.

They thought they were suspect.

Thor doing the chasing

and the nudging into the arena sidewalls,

trying to get the axe to come down, can't get a clean hit.

Good move, there, by Coyote, trying to get in underneath Thor

and flip it up.

Coyote's weapon is damaged, here,

which means that Thor's going to push him on, push him on,

push him into the house robots.

Oh, good use of the tyre, there -

but it means that the house robot's gone rogue.

It's Matilda coming out into play.

Thor, a little bit of naivety on the flipper.

Matilda is closing in, as well, watch out, Thor!

Oh, Thor!

His weapon taken out by Matilda.

Oh, no.

What the hell was that for?

Whoa, a weaponless wrestling match, now,

which means Jason's experience and skilled driving

should give him the edge -

but I tell you what, it's going to be closer than we thought.

Oh, it's this rogue robot - she's a nasty little wench.

And CO2 is vented, which means the weaponry is redundant.

So, Jason, now, will have to rely on his push-ability, shove,

try and grind his way to victory with his sheer strength.

Because the hammer cannot now come down.

This is going to be closer than we thought.

It could be, now, a battle of attrition.

Thor trying to push Coyote onto Matilda again.

I don't think we've seen that sort of destructive power

of a house robot in the series so far, as Matilda went wild,

went rogue and wild.

I need to get him on the floor flipper, actually.

Coyote sense, here, they could have an unlikely victory,

and all of a sudden Jason looks concerned.

He's the only man in that team,

so his repairs take longer, of course, no-one working with him.

Oh, bits of him coming off.

What's that on the arena floor?

Something there's come off Coyote.

Oh, just missed it!

Phwoar, this is a good tense one, isn't it?

Coyote dances past the floor flipper.

Whoa, which way's this going to go?

As we move on towards a judges' decision, maybe...

Coyote, again, just away from the spikes,

that's good driving by Thor that puts them into that area.

His control is just brilliant.

Superb stuff, here.

Across the arena floor they go again, beyond the flame pit.

Jason using all his experience, here,

to try and get Coyote impaled or in flames -

but I'll tell you what, this is going to be very close.

We're into the last ten seconds countdown.

It's going to go to the judges and it may not go Thor's way.

It's going to be a tight decision - or have Thor done enough

-before the destruction by Matilda?

-KLAXON

Cease.

See, now they both do a big spin.

Yeah, it's like both boxers dancing at the end.

-Totally.

-"I won, I won, I've definitely won it."

-It's like, "Judges."

-"Look at that, see that?"

-LUCY ROGERS:

-I mean, Thor got some brilliant hits in.

They crunched Coyote down like that.

-I mean, Coyote didn't get the weapon...

-Anything.

-..weapon...

-No.

-..there was no weapon used anywhere in that fight,

so, that was pretty clear to me.

Time and time again they came together.

When Thor's axe was working, Jason was on top.

I don't think there's any doubt about that -

but it was to be a house robot

that was to play the biggest role in this fight.

There, off the floor flipper, ill advised driving from Jason -

but look at Matilda.

She turned, positioned herself

and then did that.

For the second time tonight, Thor takes it to a judges' decision.

With a place in the final at stake,

it's time to break the news.

Two weaponless robots hugging each other at the end.

Yeah, tangoing around, yeah.

Oh, man, you got some wallop from Matilda.

Did not see that coming at all.

I was so zoned in on the fight,

didn't see the button get pressed, nothing.

-Right, do you want to know who won?

-Yeah, go for it.

Unanimous in favour of...

-..Thor.

-Ah, appreciate it.

Right, you've got a final - hard luck Jamie.

Right, final to prepare to.

There's sharp bits on it now, because of Matilda.

OK, OK, I'll stay away. You pull.

Um, there's a bit of red rage, which we obviously saw there,

when you're in the zone but you can get rattled a bit.

Yeah, well, I mean...

You get so zoned in, you just...

It was just... That was just intense.

-I don't know, yeah.

-Well, now that you're through,

I'm guessing your eyes are going to be on Matilda.

Yeah, she's copping it, I'm telling you.

That's it, we've fell out now - I want me CDs back and everything.

How much does it mean to get into the final

-after this amount of time?

-Yeah, it's great, it's great.

-Yeah?

-Yeah. Yeah.

-Good.

Two fights, final, lovely. Going to plan.

-Right, go, get that sorted.

-Cheers!

The next battle will decide who takes on the mighty Thor

in pursuit of the Robot Wars title.

This semifinal is between Ellis's Magnetar

and Georgina's Expulsion,

and I think it's about time

we saw this great machine

realising it's potential.

Expulsion, can I interrupt you for a second?

OK, I have a secret wish to see this robot actually do what it does,

-but also to see it self correct.

-Yeah, hopefully.

Is that working yet?

Well, we think so - we're not quite sure.

We've taken something off the weapon

-that we think might have been stopping it.

-OK.

So, hopefully that will have fixed it.

And is the idea that er, when it's down, weapon face down,

it'll just spin the body around?

Yeah, so the weapon's stays still, and it's like a spinning top -

the whole body starts spinning,

and then after a few seconds it kind of bounces back up.

-Wobbles back into place.

-Yeah.

OK, that's exciting - I want to see that happen.

Are you worried about facing Magnetar?

Yeah, I mean, it's always a worry,

-they're a great machine with a great driver.

-It is, yeah -

but, actually, the only thing is,

no-one's actually broken through any of this, really.

No, we haven't really had much damage at all in any of our fights.

-You've just found yourself lying on a...

-On the wrong face.

-..lying on the wrong side, yeah, OK.

-Yeah. Face down.

-Avoid the flipper.

-Yeah.

-Just don't drive onto the flipper.

-Yeah - yeah.

-It might help.

We tell you about the flipper, it's not a secret flipper.

I didn't even realise I was there!

We don't move it around different parts of the arena

for different fights.

-It's always there, right?

-Yeah.

-Stay away from that.

-Yeah.

-OK, fine, good luck.

-Thank you.

The school team face Magnetar,

built entirely by the self-taught and very relaxed Ellis.

We're chilled.

It worked well in the first fight,

the belt went a bit slack, er, we've tightened that up,

done tests again, and we're ready to go, so we're enjoying the scenery.

We had to dust the front of it, you know, bit stressful.

Yeah, we're just polishing it really.

-I might... I might sharpen the teeth.

-Yeah.

-Then again...

-But then again, it doesn't really need it.

Boy genius Ellis is back with a new robot, Magnetar.

This powerful drum spinner with a tip speed of 250mph

is a more reliable machine than its predecessor Pulsar,

and generates enough gyroscopic power to flip itself clean over.

The magnet part of this robot

comes from the addition of powerful, rare earth magnets,

which Ellis can add to the base of the machine

to keep it stuck to the floor of the arena.

Now, having left school at 15, Ellis taught himself engineering

through watching YouTube

and watching old Robot Wars videos, he's a big fan -

but it's no longer about learning. He wants to win,

and show that he can mastermind a bulletproof bot.

Expulsion are back with a redesigned machine.

This school team from Essex has done their homework -

they've got ideas by looking at other robots in the pits

and copying aspects of their designs.

Their unique spinner has a tip speed of 92mph,

and its armour can withstand machine gun fire.

Team captain Georgina's leaving school this year

to study architecture -

I bet she's got a taste for robot fighting,

and plans to build her own robot to battle against her school team.

Interesting school reunion, that.

Georgina also wants to inspire other young women

to get involved in robot fighting.

In the arena for our second semifinal,

with a CV that reads like a bowling ball in a tumble dryer,

it's Sir Killalot -

and the angriest robot scorpion hedgehog in Glasgow,

it's Dead Metal.

Three, two, one...

..activate.

Two young teams, bright team captains -

and Expulsion's tactics early on...

The Fog Of War.

-..to create the Fog Of War -

-MOTOR WHIRS

but what am I hearing?

I'm hearing Magnetar's death drum whirring up!

Oh, what a powerful onslaught!

Ellis used that Fog Of War brilliantly

to get his weapon up to speed,

his lethal drum catapulting Expulsion right onto that flipper

Dara warned Georgina to avoid -

that's exactly where she ended up yet again.

God almighty, will they ever have a break?

This poor team.

-Nothing, absolutely nothing.

-No.

A wry smile - how can you smile

when your machine's just had that done to it?

Press the button.

-They have had the worst run.

-The worst luck.

Well, they went for the tactic of trying to confuse Magnetar.

I don't think we've got drive, either.

KLAXON Cease.

You can hear Magnetar's death drum - all over for Expulsion.

That was spectacular!

It was spectacular - it is all over and done with

for a bright, young team, the team of Expulsion.

Plenty of potential - but in the pit they go.

Whoa, Magnetar looks devilishly powerful.

That's what they tried to do early on.

Dial of Doom, release the Fog of War.

You can hear Magnetar's drum thrumming away.

That's what happened...

..and the floor flipper didn't help.

Six feet in the air, bash, crash, down and out.

Great win for Magnetar -

Expulsion through to the third floor.

Still got a chance.

Come on! How will you last more than four seconds in a fight?

-Is there any...?

-We did last time!

Ah, and that was... You know, we'll get to you, we'll get to you.

But this, in itself, is a story, because you...

-You, tactically, you went, you hit the bumper...

-Yeah.

..and then there was smoke everywhere,

and it was really exciting,

-and then it was ping, pong, ping and gone.

-Yeah!

-Yeah.

It was like a ball wasn't it? Bouncing everywhere.

Were you happy how it went for those first three seconds?

It was quite spectacular - we wanted to make a nice fight, so...!

You flung them up, and then you just caught the flipper

just at the right moment,

-and - man you got altitude, you really did. Yeah.

-Yeah.

My commiserations to Expulsion - but, my God, well done.

-I know!

-That felt good, yeah?

-It was quick.

Yeah, it was quick, yeah -

but it was er, that was a very, fairly destructive bit of...

That Fog of War, that's terrifying, you can't see a thing.

Yes, cos anything could be happening.

I literally had no idea where I was.

There's just no advantage to either team, really.

No, not really, that's a good point.

Yeah, and then you hung back, you didn't...

Just one hit, I don't want to wreck it

any more than absolutely necessary, so that was good, it all worked.

Well, how gracious of you,

he doesn't want to wreck it any more than he absolutely has to.

-Wreck me, or wreck him?

-That didn't come across...!

-You know what I mean.

-You have a third place playoff to do,

but going into the final is Magnetar.

Ladies and gentlemen, Magnetar give them a round of applause.

Well done.

I just hung back when the Fog Of War came through.

You can't see anything.

It's a lot more potent than I thought it was -

but that actually gave me time to spin up,

so, then, by the time I could see,

it was a matter of creeping forwards and more or less just touching them.

I was a bit disappointed the floor flipper made them go higher, but...

So, Ellis' Magnetar

make it to tonight's final,

where he'll take on Jason's Thor.

But all is not lost

for Georgina's Expulsion or Jamie's Coyote.

This series, a wild card will make up the sixth team

in our grand final.

To earn the wild card, they must win our mammoth, winner takes all,

no time limit, fight to the death, 10 Robot Rumble,

made up of the second and third place teams from every heat.

They are Apollo...

..Sabretooth...

..Eruption...

..Big Nipper...

..Terrorhurtz...

..Track-tion...

..Concussion...

..and Iron-Awe 6...

..all battling for a last chance to become the new Robot Wars champion.

Jamie from Coyote and Georgina from Expulsion

are both determined to secure their spot

in that explosive ten-way fight -

but only one can go through.

So, we're in the third place playoff against, um...Expulsion,

on the other bench, there.

We fought them in the melee,

we took them out quite quickly,

just pushed them against a wall, and they couldn't self-right,

but I've just had a wee look

and I think they've made a couple of attachments

to try and stop them from tipping over as easily.

Yeah, and down. OK, and hold on.

What are you doing to do to make sure you don't end up on your face

like we've seen you before?

We've added a few more sort of bars

so that we actually, physically, can't fall on our face,

unless we're thrown in the air by the floor flipper -

so I just have to not drive on the floor flipper.

Cos they're pretty vicious at the moment, aren't they?

-Yeah.

-OK, so, but aside from that you'll be able to stay up?

-Yeah, hopefully.

-Hopefully. Hopefully.

-Fingers crossed.

-OK.

-And then get into the ten-way.

-Yeah.

-And then it's a free-for-all.

-Exactly!

-OK.

Well, you look positive, you look confident - enjoy it.

Thank you!

In the corner patrol zones, luminous eyes and powerful thighs -

it's Matilda...

..and part-time table saw Dead Metal.

Three, two, one...

..activate.

Both teams have had to fight every round in this heat -

how much has that taken out of them?

Expulsion moving their way dangerously towards Matilda,

gets a slam in there on Coyote -

they changed their blade,

I expect them to be a little bit more aggressive.

You need to be a little bit more accurate with your driving,

there, Georgina and the team.

Straight onto the arena sidewall,

pinned there by Coyote with the big weaponry we know.

Look at this blade, though, of Expulsion - that's impressive.

It's all about ramming the electronics,

the engineering skills of Robot Wars for Georgina and her team,

and they've done it so many...

You just need to learn to drive!

Good display so far, though -

but back come Coyote.

He's been tactically astute all the way through, Jamie.

Ooh, what's happened here?

The shovel's working...

..but I think they've lost traction or something, they've stopped.

Expulsion still... Oh, still working but still a bit daft,

going onto the blade of Matilda - they're on the arena wall.

I think Expulsion, here, are immobile.

It will surely go to a countdown to count them out...

Matilda!

..and can Expulsion survive?

-Oh, that's us out.

-Weapon's gone.

-I've lost drive.

-Yeah.

We're into the countdown - I think they've gone, Coyote.

They've moved - they're going to make it to the melee.

And there's a little bit of movement there from Expulsion.

-KLAXON

-Will they survive the countdown?

-Cease.

-I think they have.

They really improved this machine -

yes, a little bit of entanglement or something came off Expulsion,

there, from Coyote.

Coyote got a decent attack in,

but never felt we had the crushability factor

of Coyote's weaponry.

By this stage, when Expulsion was hit by Matilda,

it was all over, for me,

and Expulsion had already won the third spot.

Expulsion have won,

Coyote were counted down and out, and immobile.

Oh, nice pirouette Matilda -

what a win then for Expulsion. Well done.

For Jamie and Coyote, the harsh reality

is that they must now leave the competition...

..but for Georgina and team Expulsion,

the good news is they now need to get ready

for the ten-way robot rumble.

Expulsion, you won!

-Oh, my God, did we?!

-Yes, you did.

-Oh, my...!

Yeah, straight countdown for Coyote, so you got through into the ten-way.

Oh, my God, that's bad.

We have a crier!

She's like, "I didn't think I'd cry at Robot Wars!"

So, who are you, now, with all your tools?

What are you doing here?

I'm-I'm literally just the driver,

but I'm one of their teachers, as well.

OK, well, get the hammer in there.

-Yes, well done, guys!

-Oh, I love criers.

Oh, is he going to cry?

Oh, we have another one!

Right, what do we need to do?

-Is he crying, as well?

-No, I'm not, no.

I am so proud of you, though.

Go get it fixed, go.

It's an amazing achievement for Georgina and team Expulsion -

but now it's time

for our main event,

our final between Jason and Ellis...

..and Jason has a cunning plan

to bring Ellis' winning streak to an end.

What are these?

Yeah, these are steel ropes

with a breaking strain of about seven tonnes,

and, er, hopefully we can get them,

-deliver those into Magnetar's drum...

-Right.

..and as it goes round,

it should snap the drive belt and disable his weapon.

Have entanglement devices

really improved the chances of an axe getting through?

I think so - cos even if it doesn't go into the machine

and stop the drum from going round,

he's already changing his driving tactics cos he's worried about it.

So, it's working already, before we even get into the arena.

For Ellis, all that remains to be done before the final

is some fine-tuning of his precision machine.

Yeah!

Time, then, for tonight's final

between Jason, the Northampton builder

behind the axe wielding Thor...

..and family team Magnetar,

with one of the deadliest spinners in the competition.

Builder Jason Marston has been handcrafting his machine

for over a decade.

A one-man army driven by his passion for victory.

I think I've just been doing it that long, it's just part of my life.

I am the lone wolf.

A one tonne axe blow partnered with Jason's speed and control

catapulted Thor straight into the semifinals...

..but Jason's showboating to the final

was dealt a blow from Matilda...

..which left him weaponless.

What the hell was that for?

Can Jason recover from this setback

and win his first heat final in over a decade?

Jason will be facing Magnetar.

Ellis Ware left school at 15

to build his own precision engineered combat robots.

I like to do my own thing, prove that that can work,

and evolve the sport.

His hard work paid off, as he proved Magnetar was not only pretty,

but pretty deadly in the group stages.

Ellis' skill was on display again

when he used the cover of the Fog of War

to spin up and decimate Expulsion in the semifinal.

Winning this final will prove that this school dropout

has what it takes to join the Robot Wars elite.

For both these captains, this is the greatest test yet.

Tar v head, here.

Thor comes out of the imagination of Jason,

Magnetar out of the precision engineering of Ellis Ware.

Three, two, one...

..activate.

Fascinating - ooh, and look - Thor has the entanglement device

on the side...

..and flipped over.

CO2 now fully restored.

Repairs have been made.

Hammer against drum spinner.

Oh, wow.

He needs to entangle that drum spinner.

I think Thor is onto...

Oh, off the floor flipper -

which means he needs to use, expense CO2, to self-right.

Uh-oh, he's gone flying.

You only have so many hits in that axe -

he looks resigned there, Jason.

Is the weaponry working now, for Thor?

Magnetar's on top, we can hear the whir of the drum.

Watch out, Thor...

Oh, my goodness me!

No! Man.

Oh, that was... Dammit.

That is wham, bam, thank you, ma'am.

What a hit that was by Magnetar.

The CO2's all over the arena floor.

You are out.

Wow.

That is amazing.

Yes.

Magnetar - and we know it has the power,

we now know it has the control,

we now know it has a place in the grand final.

KLAXON Great bit of fighting.

Cease.

That was savage.

And Jason so valiant.

Knew what he had to do -

but when he had to self-right, he was using CO2.

I think that limited the weaponry.

Got a hit there, needed to get more,

needed to stop the drum whirring up to full speed.

There you are, over went Thor, this is the big crash,

onto the floor it goes again.

Another hit from the floor flipper,

and that is where the drum penetrated the CO2 system,

and out it came...

..and out go Thor.

They will be in the 10 Robot Rumble before the grand final.

Magnetar have an automatic place as heat winners.

Whoo!

The smell of smoke in this arena!

That wasn't quite how you envisaged that ending, was it, Thor?

That didn't go at all to plan, not at all.

-Er...

-I mean, you said before we went in

how you were going to try, if at all possible,

to avoid the hazards, because they've been in vicious form -

and you got fed by the flipper directly into his spinner.

That's about as worse as it can get -

upside down onto a rotating drum is, er, yeah, not good.

-It's the worse case scenario.

-Yeah, yeah!

And what, CO2 gone?

All went, yeah, and I can't turn back over.

-So you're dead.

-Done.

-You were your own Fog of War!

-We enjoyed it, it was lovely to watch.

-It looked good, didn't it?

Majestic even -

and also your beautiful necklace was a bit useless.

Yeah, that didn't work either, did it?!

I was so surprised at how easily it cut through.

Yeah, erm... We'll go back to the drawing board with that, I think.

-Back to the drawing board.

-Yeah.

Well, you've been absolutely amazing.

Jason slash Thor - make some noise, please!

Well done.

Yes, but you look sort of untroubled.

That was quite smooth for you, wasn't it?

I was in trouble when he had me against the wall.

-Really?

-Yeah, because...

-He's got more pushing power?

He has. He was underneath, I couldn't drive backwards -

if he'd gone on that weapon belt

-it would have been a very different fight.

-You cut through that -

you modified this specifically to deal with this kind of...

Yeah, these little bits,

the idea was if I got caught on one of the steel ropes

it would kind of deflect them upwards, and...

Don't know if it worked, I'll check the slow-mo.

And you were in the right place at the right time when he got flipped,

-with the weapon going and then - beautiful.

-Yeah.

-Are you looking forward to the grand final now?

-I am, yeah.

I'm really looking forward to it yeah.

Ladies and gentlemen, give it up for Magnetar!

Well done again.

-Thank you, that's all from us tonight, goodnight.

-Goodnight.

Next time on Robot Wars...

..it's the grand final.

And it starts with a 10 Robot Rumble.

Roboteers stand by.

It's just going to be, like, last man standing.

Enemies everywhere.

It'll just look like a complete warzone.

It's going to be utter chaos.

It's going to be pretty cool, isn't it?