Episode 1 Robot Wars

Welcome to Robot Wars, UK versus the Rest Of The World.

Tag teams, knockout fights and a final battle of the bosses,

right here in our bulletproof arena.

Who has the world's toughest robots? Let international battle commence.

Tonight, the UK's best roboteers...

..take on teams from the rest of the world.

They'll fight it out in our brand-new tag team battles.

Fighting in pairs,

one robot must stay out of the action whilst the other battles.

Each fight earning their side valuable points.

With the team that gets the most points winning the competition.

-THEY CHEER

-Two sides from across the globe...

All here to prove they have what it takes to be world-class.

Captain of the UK team is former champion...

Apollo!

From Conwy...

Dave from Apollo, you've earned the right to head up this team.

But it's a different proposition, isn't it?

This is going to be interesting.

We've got a good variety of robots here.

And not just robots, roboteers as well.

It's a weird mixed bag of people.

We're bringing the expertise of winning the first series

of Robot Wars and the most powerful flipper in the UK.

Joining him are...

From Grove...

Well, my robot is a lot different to most others, in as much that

it's got really, really big wheels and an even bigger sword.

From Haslemere...

For Team UK, I bring...greatness.

From Oxford...

I think Terrorhurtz brings to the UK team the vicious overhead hits.

Not everyone is perfectly armed on top.

That's Team UK. Time to meet Team Rest Of The World.

Four unique robot fighting teams ready for battle -

led by a Robot Wars legend.

From the Republic of Ireland, Peter Redmond...

If we had no other reason to do this international competition,

we'd have this, the return of Diotoir.

Look at this legendary robot!

One of the great names in Robot Wars.

Diotoir is a firm fan favourite,

first fighting at the end of the last century,

but his reputation wasn't solely based on his ability to win.

But more of that later.

Peter Redmond, it is a pleasure to have you back.

-A pleasure to be here.

-In your role as international captain as well.

Absolutely, yeah, leading the team here.

-We're going to take over.

-Do you think?

-Absolutely.

How is it working, this international ragbag of countries?

Yeah, well, it's interesting. We've been working together,

we have different robots that will do different things.

Joining him are...

From the Netherlands...

We are the Dutch Rebel Girls.

There are two members on our team right now,

me and Esther Tissing.

We have the blunt side

and we have the pointy side.

Depending on our opponents, we can switch it.

From Belgium...

Cobra is a very strong robot -

it can pull a lorry from 15,000 kilos -

and it's got a crusher.

From Portugal...

To beat the robot, you must first beat the mind behind the machine.

Here's how the competition works.

We start with the tag team battles.

Two robots preside, but only one can fight at a time,

tagging their team-mate in when required.

Then the head to heads,

before the two captains face off in our final.

Remember, each victory earns their side precious points,

with the highest scoring team winning the competition.

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

Representing the UK are team captain Dave with Apollo and Gabriel.

Our tactics for taking on the Rest Of The World is using

the experience and the driver skill that we bring to Team UK.

Yes! Well done.

The other Rest Of The World teams

haven't got the experience that we've got.

We can flip 'em out of the arena...

Whoo, come on!

..and Gabriel can just do its thing in the corner and distract them.

Heavens to Betsy, Gabriel! You can take some punishment.

Up against a Rest Of The World team starring Cobra with axe bot TMHWK.

I need to think of my tactics.

If I'm not such a good driver, if I'm new,

I need to find, like a real roboteer, another way around it.

And another way around it is letting him believe...

"Ah, she's new, let's be gentle." Bang!

And after that, I can't do that. That's only a one-time trick.

So, for the first time this evening, it's over to Jonathan Pearce.

Thanks, Dara and Angela.

The rules for these tag team battles are simple.

Each team has two robots in the arena.

One robot fights until they're immobilised or

are tagged in by a team-mate in the Corner Patrol Zone,

where they'll be waiting.

Teams can tag as many times as they like,

but only one active robot from each team can fight at any one time.

These tag team rounds are three minutes

and, if there's no clear winner, then our judges will adjudicate

based on control, damage and aggression.

And those judges are Professor Sethu Vijayakumar,

Dr Lucy Rogers and head judge Professor Noel Sharkey.

For our international teams, this arena is definitely not a holiday,

as the pit, the fire, the flipper, the spikes, the fog of war

and the house robots are all in attendance to make things

as unpleasant as possible.

It's time for both these teams to put their international money

where their international mouths are

because it's battle time.

In the arena for this battle...

Dead Metal, or as the French call him, Dead Michel.

-Roboteers, stand by.

-Come on, UK!

Three, two, one...

Activate!

Team UK very confident here.

Apollo with the Union Jack,

taking on Cobra, with the venomous bite.

Apollo's doing the chasing, but Cobra is out-running Apollo.

Now, this is significant.

Up over the wedge-shaped Apollo, but no damage sustained.

Tyre release releases the pits of the doom and oblivion.

Now, Cobra quite happy to ride up on Apollo.

Apollo not getting in any flips at the moment.

Here! That's it!

Or is Dave just waiting his opportunity?

Look at the power, the shove of Cobra!

Shoving against the... There goes the flip!

But Cobra rode it.

And now, there's the tag and out comes TMHWK,

different sort of machine.

This time, the fog of war is released.

Who will hide in the murk? Not Gabriel 2.

-Where the hell am I?

-That one, that one!

Gabriel 2 into the fray, out they come, the Colliass.

Looks awkward, doesn't it? Looks a little bit wobbly.

Don't let looks deceive you.

It's Gabriel 2 now against TMHWK.

And down comes the mighty weapon of Gabriel 2.

That is a huge, powerful sledgehammer-type weapon.

And they're battering TMHWK. And they're up on the side wheels.

Oh, wow!

Great battle, this. They lock weaponry.

The sword hammer of Gabriel 2 and there, underneath, the TMHWK axe.

They can change that axe, it's interchangeable,

but the one they've got out there is doing the business.

What a battle this is!

This has been a tale of two halves, this tug-of-war.

The first was quite even. What's happening now?

Apollo back in here with Cobra.

We know Cobra's got great speed across the arena floor

at 20km an hour. And Dead Metal awaits in the CPZ.

Cobra has been flipped, has it lost power? Has it lost power?

Has it lost traction? Apollo senses something here.

Comes in with the wedge, trying get underneath the ground clearance.

Trying to get a flip, pushing into Dead Metal

off the floor flipper, they're heating up.

Apollo takes on Dead Metal, is that wise?

They got caught I think by Dead Metal,

they fought back after. Cobra went flying,

but you can see Apollo got tangled with Dead Metal.

And didn't like it, and fought against Dead Metal.

Overturned and they're still fighting!

THEY GROAN

Oh, you need to get out because this could be damage sustained.

And another flip for Cobra!

Go and hit Dead Metal!

Gabriel 2 comes back out. The big old wobbly wheels.

They can take loads of punishment on those wheels

and still wobble on, wobble on, and they take on TMHWK.

Massive ground clearance, of course, for Gabriel 2.

That can negate some weaponry from opponents.

And now, it's a free-for-all. This is madness!

They're all in there now.

Something's come off.

Something flew away there...

Across the arena floor.

Some sort of piston, I'm not too sure.

Something came flying out.

I tell you what, TMHWK took a fly and landed,

crash-landed, that is.

There's bits of machinery, there's mayhem,

there's a mashing and bashing and crashing. But...!

Dead Metal's up on the side. Cobra is underneath.

Oh, this is brilliant.

TMHWK and Gabriel 2, Cobra and Apollo wedging Dead Metal.

Dead Metal was trying to restore some order out there.

It got flipped on its side.

So much for the power of House Robots.

Oh, Gabriel 2 dug in on the side of the picture.

Oh, TMHWK! No, no, no!

KLAXON

Oh, TMHWK literally gets the axe from this fight.

Drove itself into the pit!

Dead Metal's angry.

Dead Metal is angry.

And that's a forlorn sight.

But what a battle!

A victory for the UK.

-Well done, well done.

-Brilliant!

-Handshakes all round.

This is the first time I have seen Gabriel land so many shots.

-It was, he landed lots of...

-It was good tag-teaming, I thought.

Well, Apollo went in underneath Cobra,

but Cobra read it. Look at the fur of Diotoir there.

Little team mascot.

Dead Metal and Apollo ground together.

Now, did Apollo sustain any real damage there?

Gabriel 2, hit after hit after hit throughout that tag team battle.

Bouncing, flouncing.

Traction...

..gained by those rubber tyres on the great wheels.

And then Dead Metal caught in a pincer movement.

TMHWK straight into the pit.

Why? Why?

Ah, we enjoyed that.

That was a lot of fun, that was very good, that was great.

You were still going at the end there. That's a bit harsh!

Here, let me get between the two of you. That was a great old fight.

Didn't dip anyone out, you're still in there.

-Then you drove into a hole for some reason.

-She did.

-Sorry!

You drove into a hole, for some reason.

Because honestly, we were watching you flipping a house robot

and then, out of the corner of my eye,

under no danger or no imminent attack,

you decided to, "I'm in the pit." And slowly as well.

A brilliant fight, a really great fight.

But because it was a judges decision,

it will only be two points for the winner, but the winner was Team UK!

Well done!

-Well done!

-Thank you.

I mean, I'm saying well done, you did end up in the pit.

Come on, let's move. Come on, help me out!

I should go after you!

It wasn't the plan, I assume, to end up in the pit.

-No, I had a little technical problem.

-A little technical problem.

-Yeah, we're going to solve it.

-You are?

-We'll come back.

OK, I love the positivity. Go, solve the problem.

Solve the problem!

There are so many male teams, or male-female teams,

but no female teams.

And now we have this mission, like, we want to do this ourselves.

You have all the tools, all the power tools.

So, I really want to encourage all the females out of there,

all the female roboteers, all the new females,

come and start your own female robot team.

It was a good battle, actually.

We felt a bit rusty with regards to the driving.

Toby's accuracy wasn't as good as it usually is.

We got plenty of good hits on TMHWK, which was great.

And those ladies are so gracious

and they had such good fun, it was really, really good.

And we're really pleased to actually get a win.

It's a strong start for Team UK...

Time now for the second tag team battle.

Team UK's Terrorhurtz and Sabretooth...

..taking on Diotoir and a Rabid M8 from the Rest Of The World.

The competition is quite stiff.

UK robots are well-advanced

and they've been going now for a number of competitions.

The rest of the world...

..maybe not so much.

But it's going to be a good competition.

And at the end of it, we're going to win.

Keen to get some points on the board,

team captain Peter has a plan and seems focused on the victory.

We've got to make sure that we work together as a team,

so we have to come in, let the other robot out as many times as we can.

-Let's do it.

-Let's go.

In contrast, UK captain Dave feeling confident.

There's no other robots in the world like UK robots.

All the other countries are following us,

but they're nowhere near the level that the UK are doing so far.

What do you want us to do?

Right, maybe you go for Diotoir with your axe.

Who are we going to start with, though?

-I think, whoever they choose, we choose...

-Yes, we react to them.

-We'll wait for them.

-All clear?

-It's cool, I love that.

-Let's go, team!

In the arena for this round, international robot of mystery...

..Shunt.

Roboteers, stand by.

Three, two, one...

Activate.

15 years of waiting is over

for Diotoir, coming into the arena to meet Terrorhurtz. Oh!

Well, one of the eyes has gone straight away.

-Terrorhurtz has taken his eyes out.

-Taken his eyebrow off now.

-Next! He's dead.

-Ah!

I think poor old Peter's team have gone here straightaway!

The first impact of the big axe.

You can see the weaponry spinning of Diotoir,

they're going nowhere, though.

And they're immobilised there, which means Rabid M8 can come in.

Terrorhurtz can go back into the CPZ

and be tagged by Sabretooth, that's what happened.

-And that's that.

-What?

-Come on!

-Well done, lads.

Well, well, well.

What happened here, in that Corner Patrol Zone?

Good attack by Sabretooth, spinning Rabid M8 onto its side.

And I think three points here for Team UK coming their way,

unless there's a massive fight back from the rest of the world.

There's the tyre. Goes to that right-hand side, as we see it,

which means we have fog of war,

which can be used as a tactic, of course.

Robots can hide in the fog, it didn't last very long.

-KLAXON

-Just brutalised Diotoir.

Cease is called and a win for the UK.

Has to be, has to be. Poor old Diotoir!

Burn, baby! Go on!

Yes! He's going!

Aw!

-Witch!

-Fire!

-Burn, baby, burn!

-I didn't even hit him. We didn't hit him very hard.

-All I can say is you got away with it lucky there.

-Yeah, we did!

Well, Diotoir clearly weren't ready for what was to come

and what came at them, Terrorhurtz. A wry smile from Peter,

he knows it's all over there.

Underwhelming from the Rest Of The World team.

They're going to have to do a lot better than this,

otherwise it's going to be a whitewash

because in came Rabid M8 and one hit from Sabretooth

was enough to put paid to Portugal's finest.

You can just see there, the removable safety link

come flying out.

Crashed down, no way back from there.

Too easy, John Reid, wasn't it, really?

It will have to get tougher from here. It will do.

And then, over and out, Diotoir. Muah!

Could you do me a favour? If you find any bits of Diotoir,

I mean, this...

-This is an eyeball.

-And a brush.

-That's an eyebrow.

-Oh, sorry!

That stuff that came off. This is...

You did fine, there's another bit of eyeball over there.

God love him, would you look at him? The poor thing.

He said he promised he'd go on fire.

Yes, you won, you won very well.

That's three points for Team UK!

THEY CHEER

The Rest Of The World have yet to score

and team captain Peter's feeling the pressure.

Peter, Peter, Peter, what happened? What was the problem?

Apart from this.

-The thing about these robots is they're very dangerous.

-Yes.

So, they make us do something about putting these safety links in,

so that they can pull them out if the robot gets out of control.

Unfortunately, the safety link fell out and made it too safe.

-In fact, it just killed it.

-How far into it?

-Right at the very start.

-So, that's all that happened? What a killer.

-OK.

-It's the worst way to die.

It is the worst way to die but it means that it's not a major issue.

-Everything's working perfectly.

-OK.

I've got some new fresh fur, fix the eyes, new eyebrows,

-we'll be sorted.

-I was just going to say,

you're going to dickie him up again before he goes in.

I can imagine the international teams

will be a bit disappointed with that.

I'm sure they'll be working furiously on their machines,

getting them ready and sorting them out

and taping the links in, so they don't pop out.

So, I suspect the next fight might be a bit tougher.

It's really great to see Pete from the Diotoir team back again

after all these years,

just that unique colour scheme he has.

We were on pit tables next to each other in Series 5.

Such an iconic machine,

so recognisable, distinctive with his red fur on there.

Bit of fire, occasionally.

Diotoir did what he's famous for,

but it was a frustrating return to the arena for Peter.

-A lot of people love this robot, from old.

-A long time ago.

-Yeah.

Do you feel that at all?

From your fellow team-mates?

There's a wonderful atmosphere

and I feel I've disappointed some of the fans.

You know, but the support is there as well.

I can feel the support, the warmth in the room.

And, you know, we're all rooting for it.

Robot Wars has changed a lot since we first started.

Three, two, one... Activate!

When we first started, robots were made out of tinfoil

and wood and plastic.

Now, they're made out of high-grade metals and Hardox.

Diotoir's a lot of fun and our team was always a lot of fun.

But we did some serious damage out of there,

we took some trophies home and we won a lot of matches.

What a shock this is!

Diotoir nearly went in but Tornado crash out.

We lost a lot and we went on fire a lot, but we took home some trophies.

Diotoir's on fire.

We've seen that before.

After the tag team battles, the UK are in front with five points.

Now, robots from each team must go head-to-head.

First up in the solo head-to-head rounds,

it's Sabretooth from the UK against a Belgium's Cobra.

Like most of these teams here, Marco's day job couldn't be

further away from the world of robot fighting.

Can I interrupted Team Cobra?

I know you're in the middle of doing a lot of

very important high-powered work, Marco.

This isn't your day job though, is it?

No, I'm selling fish on local markets each day.

-You sell fish in a market?

-Yeah.

Oh, fantastic, wow! That's really...

That's as removed from this as you could possibly imagine.

Yes, nothing to do with any technical...

And Sabretooth, are you scared of Sabretooth?

A little bit.

Sabretooth's drum is very dangerous.

It has really destroyed several robots, so...

I'm scared.

Give it to him, give it to him! Come on!

Hit him again, go and hit him!

I don't care, hit him!

How will we beat an expensive robot like Sabretooth?

I think we're going to grab them into the CPZ area,

see with the house robot, or push them into the pit.

-Right, just before you go to the arena, are we all set?

-Yes, we are.

It's a little bit of a change of gear because, obviously,

you had a tag team last time, back in the zone.

But with the weight of a team on top of you,

does that change how you fight?

Erm, well, you've got to follow the captain.

That's obviously important in a team.

So, what has he ordered you to do?

He's ordered us to get that drum going, do some drifting.

Does it change the dynamic?

An international team, you're up against Cobra.

-Do they fight differently...?

-Of course they fight differently.

Different countries are all going to fight differently from each other.

-OK, right, good luck.

-Thank you very much.

I've had a look round Cobra. Good, solid robot, powerful robot.

Very chunky, good chunky tyres, got lots of good outer armour.

But I think with the drum running up full blast,

we should be able to shave those bits and pieces off him.

Sabretooth looks set to rely on brute force,

so the Rest Of The World team hatch a plan

to counter the UK drum spinner.

I think, if you hold back for too long,

you're going to lose points for aggression.

So, it would probably be a good idea to not hold back so long

and try and get in there.

Remember they only have 2WD, you've got 4WD,

you've got twice as much power as them.

You'll be able to push them around. If you can get that pit down,

-you definitely have the advantage with the 4WD.

-Absolutely.

OK, like this.

-Ready?

-Hey!

It's a crucial bout for the Rest Of The World team,

who need some points on the board.

Marco van Hek is a fish salesmen

and is entirely self-taught as a roboteer.

He saw Robot Wars years ago and thought he could do better.

Also on his team is his teenage son Bran.

The robot has a hydraulic crusher

and is interchangeable with a lifter.

It may look like a simple machine, but it's not be underestimated.

It boasts incredible pushing power.

It's protected by 2-3mm of hardened steel

and it has four-wheel-drive.

Sabretooth and their powerful drum spinner round off Team UK.

This hand-built machine led by the ever emotional

Gabriel Stroud from Surrey will be looking to deal some damage out

with their enormous drum spinner,

a 22-kilo solid steel barrel that's been handcrafted

and the machine, taking over 200 hours of labour to complete.

Will that hard work pay off and bring the points home for the UK?

Or will it be failure once again for Team Sabretooth?

In the arena for this battle,

the UN special envoys for moody killer robots

and destruction of all humankind -

Sir Killalot and Dead Metal.

Roboteers, stand by!

Team UK! Come on! Going down!

-Let's do this.

-Three, two, one...

Activate!

Marco and Cobra, entirely self-taught,

against Sabretooth and Gabriel, who's quietly confident.

A lovely man.

He's become very mean with Robot Wars.

There's a little nudge onto the Dial Of Doom,

tactically done to bring out the fog of war.

In that fog, you can take up a decent position on the arena floor

to come in with maybe a different angle of attack

to hit an opponent on the side.

Cobra from Belgium did just that then on Sabretooth,

-the smaller machine.

-Get in there, come on, Gabe!

Both very quick, Cobra the quicker machine by 5mph.

-Go, robot, go, robot!

-There goes the Dial Of Doom -

that's released the house robot to come out into play

and attacking Sabretooth immediately.

Sir Killalot out there in the arena floor.

Oh, that's the most resilient hit we've seen so far,

the biggest impact, and it came from Cobra on Sabretooth.

Cobra with a drive.

Onto Sabretooth, into the CPZ.

They need to get out of that coroner.

Get out of there, get out of there!

They're piggybacking, not sustaining any damage.

If they can sandwich them, Cobra, between their weaponry

and the arena wall, then they can cause damage.

Sabretooth seems to be OK.

In again, same tactic.

Into that corner.

Sabretooth up on one side, dancing, prancing.

That's a new trick from Gabriel.

Yeah! Yeah!

Oh, and he's done it.

He's self-righted using the spinning drum...

With that balletic poise.

Or was he showboating?

Big head-to-head.

Cobra got in underneath with the front flipper weaponry.

Sabretooth's drum spinning at 7,000 rpm.

Dancing away, there, from the pincers of Killalot.

And again, Cobra using the extra speed, the weight,

the power to get in underneath Sabretooth.

Cobra in control of this head-to-head.

They just need to stay out of trouble and they didn't do it there,

and now pinched by Dead Metal.

You! Ha-ha!

Well, they've recovered strongly because it was all Cobra earlier on.

Will it be Cobra's turn again?

How much damage is being sustained by Sabretooth?

They look to be in control as they pirouetted.

Cobra, not a controlled dash across the arena floor.

Is this showboating from Sabretooth, I wonder?

Or are they fully in control?

But Cobra coming.

The Dial...

Not quite released,

which means that Cobra was put in peril in the CPZ.

They've got away. Again, this strange dancing by Sabretooth.

Is that other wheel working or are they restricted?

-See? We've got style.

-Yay! And it's out.

Come on, Dave, you know better than that. In goes Cobra!

Again, Sabretooth seemed to be riding this sort of

punishing frontal attack by Cobra.

Back to corner! Take him out.

A pensive, focused team captain there.

KLAXON

-Cease is called.

-Yeah!

-Whoohoo!

-That was awesome.

-Well done, guys.

-Come on, no, no running away!

-That was amazing. Brilliant, well done.

-Well done, guys.

I've never seen them doing that before.

-The gyro dance, they call it the gyro dance.

-The gyro dance.

There's Cobra on the attack on Sabretooth.

Sabretooth managed to repel the attacks.

We loved the dancing, got in underneath Cobra.

This is a resilient machine from Belgium, isn't it?

But its great weaponry and manoeuvrability...

Oh, we love this. Ah!

And Sabretooth dances on.

Ah, in super slow-mo, it looks even better.

Hang on, it's not celebration time just yet.

But it was certainly a better attempt.

It looked like Team UK were going to steam-roll straight through this.

That was a bit more of a fair battle. Do you want to hear who won?

-Yeah, go on, then.

-OK, the judges made a unanimous decision...

..in favour of...

-..Cobra!

-Yay!

And that means that Cobra are off the mark with two points,

five points to the UK, but it's a contest again.

That fight was amazing, I think it was one of our best fights.

And you see our pirouette, our dance? What can be better than that?

We should have won on that alone.

It is Strictly Come Dancing, that was an amazing dance.

We did lots of damage, and you know what?

I don't care if we didn't win

because that was the fight of your dreams, wasn't it?

That's what it was.

Sabretooth, there's nothing to talk about Sabretooth.

He likes to talk but that's all he's doing, just talk and no action.

That judges decision gives the Rest Of The World Team two points

and that gets them back in the competition.

The scores now stand...

It's not all about the heavyweight robots.

Dara caught up with head Judge Noel to talk about the surprising power

of the antweights.

Noel, we see these huge beasts of robots that we have here.

And people might watch it and go, "I could never get

"involved in the sport because I can't do engineering at that scale."

-But this is really only the tip of the iceberg.

-Yes, it is.

I mean, there's a lot of other kinds of robot.

To build a robot, that would cost you about 1,500 quid

at the low end and up to 38,000 they're paying for them.

So, really, where you want to start is in these,

and these are called antweights. So, it's a very good place to start.

One of our expert micro-robot drivers

is Alex from Nuts.

Yeah, so this is a very popular weight class,

very easy to get involved, cheap to build.

You can try out some unusual ideas with these

without breaking the bank.

OK, that's a flipper.

Let me see it, go on, touch the pen, see if you can do it.

Oh! Nicely done.

-First go!

-Yeah.

THEY LAUGH And even celebrates!

They're gorgeous, how much would that be?

So, this one only cost me I think about £90 to build.

You're using the same controls, so it all just scales up from there.

That's antweight, what are we up to when we get to this size?

-Beetleweight.

-Beetleweight.

-That's right.

And it just moves up, like boxing, for example?

Yes, this is the next big one.

This is where you'd want to move really, from there.

-Yes.

-So, that's a featherweight.

Start with this, move to this

and then start to get onto the big ones.

That's fantastic. Go on, give me one more celebration.

Thank you very much.

And if you still don't think the ants can beat the giants,

here's Alex last series, taking on the might

of the Behemoth and even Carbide.

That's one of the Nuts 2 little minibots out there.

And they've pushed the pit, and down goes Behemoth!

What happened there?

The little one pushed the pit.

Oh, dang it!

Carbide has one wheel spinning but not the other. They need to move.

They've been counted down, goodness me, how can they survive that?

Just one second, he got away!

They were nearly counted out.

A little nudge from the wedge helps.

That's two on top. Carbide need a miracle.

Basically, a tiny robot is beating Carbide.

Oh, the ignominy!

The champions being chased around by a tiny, teeny touchy little thing.

Up next, it's a battle of the axes,

as the UK's Terrorhurtz faces TMHWK from the Netherlands.

John Reid is a very experienced driver.

He is really amazing and I admire him.

And what I did over the years, I watched his performance

time and again, learned from him and I know that he will expect

other roboteers to know what he will be doing.

So, I need to get him off balance.

But then, at the moment that he least expects it,

come in and hit him where he is least armoured.

But there is a strange conflict of interest for John from Terrorhurtz,

as the team from the Netherlands are using his old axe.

TMHWK, another axe, same as us.

Its mechanism was inspired by the mechanism

I designed for Terrorhurtz back in 2002

and it actually has an old axe arm from Terrorhurtz.

I gave the original owner an old axe arm, I was redesigning mine,

so I gave him my old one and it's still on there, 12 years later.

So, it's good to see Terrorhurtz fighting Terrorhurtz.

Well, it's an honour to be with you in the arena.

So, we've got to be pretty careful out there.

We don't want to be beaten by our own axe.

It would be quite nice to break it, wouldn't it?

-A lot of their bodywork is quite open.

-Yes.

I think the main thing is to try and get in, around as quickly

as possible, and get as many hits in on top of the robot as you can.

-Sound good?

-OK.

-Let's do this.

-All right!

-OK!

Terrorhurtz with John Reid, the veteran of the UK team.

Some say he's related to King Arthur.

John and the weapons operator Nick will attempt to

rain down over one tonne of pain on their opponents with an axe

that fires at speeds of 100mph.

Terrorhurtz are the only team in tonight's competition to have

been around long enough to have featured on the series

when the Rest Of The World team captain Diotoir was on our screens.

I've heard the fur might be a weakness.

John and Nick will be up against the devastating Dutch axe

of TMHWK in their head-to-head clash,

a machine that uses technology that John himself invented.

Annita van der Meer is a former maths and physics teacher.

She designs her own board games.

For the past 16 years,

Team TMHWK have been members of the Dutch Robot Games Organisation.

They want to inspire younger generations of female engineers.

The robot has pneumatic powered interchangeable axe heads,

3.2mm hardened steel armour.

Terrorhurtz has been the king of the axe bot for years.

Is it now time for the Dutch robot queens to take over?

Who's up for the chop, as these two axe bots bash blades in the arena?

The house robots for this international head-to-head,

fresh from a cheeky little city break...

It's Matilda and Killalot.

Three, two, one...

Activate.

The master and the apprentice.

John Reid is the hero of the TMHWK team.

Indeed, that TMHWK axe used to belong to Terrorhurtz.

Two team captains up in their control booths as well,

Peter Redmond and Dave Young to give advice.

TMHWK goes for the Dial Of Doom, which releases the pit of gloom.

And they're wedged in there on the side... Big hit!

-And again, and again!

-You've got to get out of there.

Now...both captains giving advice.

Is that bothersome for the competitors?

I wonder, do you need that advice in there?

They need to focus on what they're doing.

Big hits, but they missed, both of them.

Bring it into the middle, guys. Whoa!

John, who's been around since 1066.

-Try not to be between him and the...

-Stop talking!

-Stop talking?!

-THEY LAUGH

She's just told Peter Redmond to shut up, I think!

She's had enough!

Now comes the blast...

Terrorhurtz. Oh, weaponry!

And I think the axe of TMHWK is gone. Oh, look at this!

The axe is broken off.

The impact against the arena wall and from the house robot

has left Annita defenceless.

-Oh, the axe has come off!

-What?!

Their axe has fallen off.

Yeah, the hammer just came off.

Right, she's got to run around now.

And all they can do now is avoid Terrorhurtz, avoid the house robots.

-No, no!

-Go, go!

And we all know what's going to happen, don't we? Do we? Yes, we do.

-One last hit.

-One last hit, go on.

-One good hit. Wait, wait...

Wait for the good hit.

Now!

Next time, take your own remote control.

Ah, there you go. "Shut up, captain!"

Great fight, thank you very much.

-Yes, well done.

-Yes, very! Very good!

-Good job.

-Thank you, John. I loved it.

Well, Terrorhurtz was the more aggressive and caused more damage.

Had the greater control.

Just look at that sort of damage they can mete out

with that mighty weapon.

But once the weaponry had gone, one winner only.

Terrorhurtz, for me, always the best.

That was a battle of the hammers.

Happy with that?

Yeah, that was good, wasn't it?

Obviously, you've got the bigger axe

-and that proved the point of it, then.

-Yeah.

Nick got to get...put in...get in a few hits.

He did, you got a fair few hits in.

And they didn't, cos I thought you were possibly vulnerable

to another hammer. But they couldn't quite get it fired up.

-Little bit risky, but...

-Well done, you. 8-2 up. Congratulations.

-Thank you.

-Fantastic.

It was a pity our axe broke down because, else,

we might have won, we might have hit them in the right place.

OK, John, we don't want it any more.

We're going to go home and build a better axe.

We're going to smash it to pieces.

-Look forward to it.

-OK!

Well done.

-There you go.

-Thank you.

-Thank you.

-Bye.

-Until next time.

This is one of the reasons I got rid of it.

We realised it was a little bit skinny.

Little bit too light, too much weight saving.

Now, we've actually gone to a solid axe shaft, now,

so it's a lot stronger.

But...nice to see it again.

They are a very nice team, so it's a bit of a shame.

But they're new, you know, so it's good experience,

all good experience.

I'm sure they'll come back better and stronger.

John's expert driving has handed Team UK the three points,

giving them a total of eight.

Next to fight, it's Rabid M8 from Portugal

against UK's Gabriel 2.

With only two points, defeat in this next fight would mean

the Rest of the World team will have lost the competition,

so a lot of pressure for the Portuguese roboteers.

Portugal, how are we?

So, this is a thwackbot, yeah?

Yeah, it's a thwackbot.

-So you're up against Gabriel...

-Yes.

..who's, like, a giant, unpredictable version of this.

-Yes, yes.

-What's the tactics?

-The tactic will be, first, try and hit the wheels.

-OK.

Because this type of robot, the weak point is the wheels.

They take a lot of beating.

Rabid M8's plan to focus on the wheels is a big gamble -

even previous champion Carbide

couldn't smash their way through them.

Gabriel, how are you all?

Looking forward to this?

It is yourselves against another thwackbot.

Where are they going to go for,

where do you think they'll attack you?

I think they're going to go for the wheels, but we're also going

to be going for their wheels, so that they can't move as well.

These wheels, we know this, we've seen you go up against Carbide,

you will keep running on these wheels forever.

It is impossible to stop you.

If we didn't have a three-minute time delay on this,

could this fight go on for days?

-Yes.

-Yeah.

OK. OK, fine. Grand

I think you're more likely to hit them than they hit you.

-Are you enjoying representing team UK?

-Yes.

Is it fun to work with the other teams, rather than...?

-Yeah. It's a bit weird, though, cos we're just like...

-Yeah...

-..we're usually against them.

-Yeah.

I know. And now you have to cheer them on. It's grand.

I think it's bringing out something very nice in people.

Best of luck. It's always a pleasure to see Gabriel out on the floor.

-Enjoy your fight.

-Thank you.

-Goodbye.

With so much at stake and battle imminent,

the teams get some final words of wisdom from their captains.

OK, guys, it's got rubber all round the plastic.

If you can manage to take off as much of that rubber,

it'll have no traction and it'll be sliding around the arena.

-That should work pretty well, yeah?

-Yes.

-Yeah?

-Yes.

-Let's do that. OK.

-Let's go.

-Let's go.

-Main tactic is, though, don't listen to your dad.

-OK.

-He's soft.

We know you're angry, you can get angry and aggressive.

Go in there, smash them, we can get them.

-They can't cause any damage to us, can they?

-No.

-Team UK all the way. Yeah!

-Yeah!

-Come on!

Guilherme Ferreira is finishing studying

and works for one of the world's largest elevator companies.

He's obsessed with robots.

His ten years of experience comes with featherweights

and he's among the top ten competitors in the UK

in that weight bracket.

This is his first heavyweight robot.

The thwackbot is essentially a full-body hammer.

It can travel at 15mph

and has 25 millimetre hardened steel armour.

The most successful thwackbot in Robot Wars history,

Carbide called their battle against Gabriel 2 one of the toughest

fights they've ever had, and that's no mean feat.

The team from Oxfordshire boast the fastest robot in the arena,

along with being practically indestructible,

with its enormous HDPE wheels.

This battle is going to be chaos.

Two thwackbots, the most difficult robots to drive, mind you.

In the arena for this battle,

the only foreign phrase they know "Tora, tora, tora."

It's Shunt and Dead Metal!

Roboteers, stand by.

CHEERING

-Good luck.

-Thanks.

Three, two, one.

Activate.

If Gabriel 2 wins this, the UK win the trophy.

But if Rabid M8 can get the points on the board,

the Rest Of The World are still in it.

Two thwackbots, very unpredictable battles.

They'll go for the wheels, I would imagine.

And the whack-a-mole begins.

At the controls of Gabriel 2, Toby Colliass.

Young Toby doing well.

Gabriel 2

controlled sensibly by Toby, just standing off, keeping his distance,

waiting for its moment.

That's a good piece of control there, though, by Rabid M8.

Good turn of speed across the arena floor.

It can get up to 15mph, this big thwackbot with a full-body hammer.

Very, very close, so far.

This is a sustained attack going on by Rabid M8.

First time they've had a heavyweight machine.

Guilherme Ferreira and his mechanic, Pedro Mourao,

they've done well.

And they're trying to gain some momentum by spinning,

which, of course, gives added velocity and weight

to the head of the hammer,

if they can get close enough to hammer attack.

Oh, Gabriel 2,

Toby got caught right on the edge there of the Floor Flipper.

It's controlled by the man we call Devilish Floor Flipper Man -

to give him his full name.

-Yeah, OK.

-I can see, I can see...

Gabriel 2, again...

Oh, onto the Floor Pit!

Toby...a little bit better control than that.

Synchronised! Well done.

-It's the National Floor-Hitting Championships!

-Yeah!

SHE LAUGHS

Again, trying to get up a head of steam.

Gabriel 2, bang, bang, bang,

but onto the arena floor man.

Nothing more than that, won't get you points, hitting the floor.

Got to hit at least a house robot.

Shunt is getting mighty close to getting a hit...

Using the Dial of Doom,

they've released the house robot.

Are we doing this fight off Shunt? Well done.

Pins Gabriel 2 to the arena...

..wall, and though one wheel is spinning, the other is

dug into the arena floor and I don't think, actually, is working.

They're on one wheel.

Oh, yeah.

Which means they can spin around, but don't know where.

And I think Peter Redmond, the captain

of the Rest Of The World team, senses a big victory here.

A crucial victory, it would deny Gabriel 2

and the UK team the trophy in this particular heat.

Great fightback by the Rest of the World here.

Rabid M8 -

really good machine.

Got to consider, they've only been used to featherweight robots

in the past, but they're good roboteers.

One wheel's not working...

Don't give away our secret! Stop...

-One wheel's not working.

-Oh, it's stopped completely now.

What's Gabriel 2 doing here?

Well, we salute you, those who are about to die.

Have they died?

Will the countdown down start? Oh!

See, something has just recued...

Well done. Well done, Toby. Well done.

That was a good one.

It'll go to the judges and it'll be very close.

Good battle, that, this is going to be close.

Good fight by the arena floor.

The arena floor fighting back against the robots.

That was a good hit by Gabriel 2, but largely they missed the target,

hitting the arena floor, while Rabid M8's attacks were more controlled.

Tactically, I think Rabid M8 was the better machine.

Using the house robots underneath Gabriel 2,

lots of energy from Gabriel 2, of course, we expect that.

For me, it's Rabid M8. Very close.

Well, I'm excited to have seen the first-ever

International Floor-Hitting Championships...

LAUGHTER

..from two teams who really disliked that floor.

Had you stopped at the end?

Yes, we'd...

We're not quite sure why, but in the end it...

It stopped about five seconds before the end of the fight.

This could mean you squeak through because, you know,

-if it stopped five seconds before that...

-Yeah.

..then it would have been a win.

Right? But this could mean you win the whole thing, now,

because they managed to hold out for two minutes and 35 seconds.

I mean, how do you think they did?

I think they did a great job. The idea of the spinning was...

There was very little vulnerable on that robot,

bar from the little bits of rubber around the tyres,

and we thought, if we could whack that off,

then it could make it slip a bit more.

-There's nothing vulnerable, it is an unkillable robot.

-Exactly.

We have seen this robot go into battle

and nothing short of a tank will destroy it.

The judges have looked at it,

they've gone through on their various criteria,

they've checked through, they've gone through an entire replay of it.

And it was incredibly tight.

But the adjudication is split decision,

as we know, it's normally a unanimous decision,

but split decision, and it has gone to

the Rest Of The World!

THEY CHEER

It is currently 8-4 to the UK against the Rest Of The World,

but the last fight is worth possibly five points for a knockout,

four for a judges' decision.,

So still a lot to play for.

Big fight, the last fight coming up.

Guilherme and Rabid M8 gained two points and a much-needed lifeline.

They now trail Team UK by four points.

But with the final battle worth a maximum of five,

they're still in with a chance.

The final battle and the two team captains

must take to the arena to prove their own worth.

Rest Of The World's old-school legend Diotoir

against former champion Apollo.

You're the captains.

By the way, that thing is quite flammable,

so let's just keep away from the naked flame.

-The... You're the team captains. This is the big one, lads. It's come down to this.

-Yeah.

It is, you know...

Winner takes all. Or winner takes draw, maybe, depending on... But anyway, listen.

It is critically important. What are you going to do?

Flip him out of the arena, feed him to the house robots.

Flip everyone out of the arena.

That is...cold. What are you going to do?

Just going to shred him. Just shred him.

-Also go on fire.

-Oh, yeah.

-At some point you'll go on fire.

We're totally fireproof, but we'll go on fire.

Yeah, of course you will.

That's part of the whole thing. Ladies and gentlemen,

this is the deciding fight of the International Series.

Please, captains, go to your robots.

No, no, go, go. Go to your robots. Right.

LAUGHTER

CHEERING AND APPLAUSE

Both captains have guided their teams through this competition.

Apollo has dominated the arena again.

The former champion worked hard to prove that they're still

one of the world's fiercest flippers,

dealing damage to competitors and house robots alike.

We're bringing the experience of winning Robot Wars to the team.

There's not many teams that have done it

and it's an experience that is invaluable.

In tonight's episode,

this battle-hardened team face a true Robot Wars legend.

I think Apollo is an awesome robot. I think it's really strong,

it's really hard, it's really fast and it's really manoeuvrable,

and it's going to be hard to beat.

But we're up to the task.

Even if we're on fire and all our fur is burning away,

we're still a killing machine and we're coming for you.

It's the old against the new, experience against the new wave,

face-to-face in this decisive battle.

But only one can win this Robot Wars World Series.

CHEERING AND APPLAUSE

-POSH ACCENT:

-And in the arena, for this captains' battle,

the best of British.

It's Sir Killalot and Dead Metal.

Three, two, one...

..activate.

The trophy rests on this.

And Apollo comes out fast out of the traps to use

-the flipper underneath Diotoir.

-HE CHUCKLES

It's unbelievable, isn't it? The one place you do not want to be

when you've got fur on your side is on the flames

and they went straight for it! Oh, look at that!

It's a flaming gorgeous sight if you're a UK supporter.

But the Rest Of The World hopes...

..up in flames, but we'll wait and see.

I've waited so long to see Diotoir back in the arena, I have to admit.

And there's sir Killalot in this, the last battle

of this international special.

And Apollo gets a flip in, and Diotoir,

he knows they're in trouble straight away.

Oh, look at that, the face of Dave Young.

He has a point to prove, as well, with Apollo.

Oh, wow! That was brutal!

Up in the air went Diotoir.

Maybe the cold air in the upper atmosphere in the arena might

dull those flames - don't think so.

Nothing extinguished, apart from the hopes of Diotoir.

They'll need a miracle here. Apollo relentless on the arena wall.

A little bit of trouble there. Got too close to Dead Metal.

Ooh! "Have some of this, Dead Metal," says Apollo.

Killalot's coming for you. Turn straight on at him.

Turn straight at him.

-Straight at it, straight at it.

-In the corner.

But was that sensible by Dave?

That drew Sir Killalot into the fray

and this gives Diotoir a hope.

Not much of a hope, to be honest, but anyway...

-CROWD CHANT:

-Apollo! Apollo!

..because that flip from Apollo was a mighty one,

and I think that ended Diotoir's dream.

Come on, self-right. Come on, come on, come on...

Yeah... No.

There they lie. But Apollo got too close to the house robots,

and they want revenge now. Out they come.

I think the victory is Apollo's if they can stay out of trouble here.

Even if it goes to the judges, they won't lose the trophy.

But they've done enough. Diotoir immobilised. Great win for Apollo.

-Oh, there we are, winning with Dead Metal.

-Go on, smash 'em up!

Smash 'em up! Take them on, I don't care! It's all over!

Get out of the way, Killalot, you bully.

He's going to trample down on Apollo.

Go straight at him, straight at him.

Dave looks... Oh, he looks focused! He knew what he was doing.

Oh, go on!

The side-on attack underneath

the tracks of Sir Killalot nearly paid off.

One final flip for Diotoir.

A big hit early on from Apollo.

Diotoir already on fire because, crazily,

they drove onto the flames in the opening exchanges.

A massive hit there, look. What, four, five feet into the air?

Came crashing down in Killalot territory.

Always on the back foot, Diotoir. They needed the points...

..for the victory to give the Rest Of The World the trophy.

Apollo decided it had beaten Diotoir and wanted the house robots,

and that was nearly the biggest flip of the night.

They've raised the roof. Nearly raised Killalot off the arena floor.

But victory for Apollo, victory for the UK.

And a bit of showboating, too.

CHEERING AND APPLAUSE

Well, you might not have won,

but there is something uniquely beautiful about a flying

Diotoir launched into the sky, flames lifting around.

It was beautiful to see you back.

It was beautiful to be here and it was great.

Ladies and gentlemen, the Rest Of The World team!

CHEERING

Well, they put on a show, you finished the job.

Yeah, absolutely fantastic to see Diotoir back and in flames, as well,

and launched across the arena.

And we thought we'd have a signature pop at the house robots, as well.

Well, you almost took Killalot out.

Almost going over. Very close.

We'll get him next time, don't worry about that.

They wanted to see him on his nose! Yes, next time!

Well done to you guys. Please, a round of applause for Team UK!

CHEERING AND APPLAUSE

Well, there also was only one winner.

With the trophy, please, on behalf of the captain, Dave,

the winners are Team UK, ladies and gentlemen!

CHEERING AND APPLAUSE

-That's all from us. Good night.

-Good night.