Robot Wars, Series 9 - Heat A

[00:00:02]Fighting robots represent probably one of the biggest challenges in engineering because there is no perfect design.

[00:00:13]40 robot fighting teams are about to take on one of the most intense engineering [music] challenges in the world. Advice I'd give to roboters entering the arena is don't panic and try not to die.

[00:00:27]to design, build, and battle heavyweight fighting robots to compete for the ultimate prize.

[00:00:38][music] Through chaotic group battles and fierce head-to-heads, new and veteran teams of robot engineers must push their reinforced war machines to the limits.

[00:00:48]Their robots are harder, faster, stronger. Designed for one thing, total destruction in pursuit of victory.

[00:01:08]>> [cheering] >> Welcome to Robot Wars, where the greatest engineering brains have come together to create ever more fish ways of smashing lumps out of each other.

[00:01:23]>> Teams from across the globe, from all walks of life determined to leave here as the new Robot Wars champions.

[00:01:30]>> And the machines are still evolving.

[00:01:32]tougher armor, spinners that reach speeds of over 250 mph, and a couple that look like they fell off the back of a carnival float.

[00:01:40]>> They will, of course, have to impress our trio of judges with their aggression, damage, and control.

[00:01:45]>> And it all takes place right here in our bulletproof arena.

[00:01:51]>> Here's how the competition [music] works.

[00:01:55]We begin with two huge group battles.

[00:01:58]The top two robots from each group progress to the head-to-heads. After three fights a piece, the two teams with the most points face each other in the final. The winner of tonight's show will progress to the grand final for the chance to be the Robot Wars champion.

[00:02:12]>> In the first group battle is Rapid Jellyfish, Nuts 2 and Terraz. Let's meet our teams.

[00:02:21]>> Rapid Flipper.

[00:02:25]Rapid is built as being one of the most advanced and expensive flippers ever built and 15 times more powerful than champion Apollo.

[00:02:33]>> This is by some distance the most polished looking literally the most polished looking robot that we have.

[00:02:39]This is Rapid. Also, I believe the most expensive robot in the competition this year.

[00:02:42]>> I can't comment on that.

[00:02:43]>> No, of course not. But I can. It is. H.

[00:02:46]And [laughter] >> what does it do?

[00:02:47]>> Uh, it's got a probably the biggest flipper you're going to see today.

[00:02:50]>> Does it have any weakness?

[00:02:51]>> It does scratch quite easily.

[00:02:52]>> It scratches. Really? Well, I'm sorry boohoo that your scratches. Give it up for rapid ladies and gentlemen.

[00:03:01]>> Jimmy Fish clamp bot.

[00:03:03]>> Having defected the last series from people's favorite nuts, Dave Lur has made his new robot from reclaimed materials, including a trampoline, bike tires, and a horse tooth file.

[00:03:14]>> Let's talk about the weapon.

[00:03:16]>> This arm runs across the entire width of the machine.

[00:03:19]>> Right.

[00:03:19]>> So, we'll retract it to the side.

[00:03:22]>> Yeah.

[00:03:22]>> We'll ram a robot. will bring the arm in, give them a gentle cuddle, and then we can then drive that robot with ours.

[00:03:29]We've used four tools. We've used no computers. There's no welding.

[00:03:34]Literally, anyone could put it together.

[00:03:35]And we just wanted to show you could still succeed with a design that thinks outside the box.

[00:03:40]>> I for one cannot wait to see this one.

[00:03:42]>> Yeah, me too. [laughter] >> Give it up for Jellyfish, please.

[00:03:49]>> Two, Flailbot.

[00:03:51]>> Last series. This flailbot entertain the crowd with its spirited but chaotic performance. The new nuts is four times more powerful. But can they control it to beat previous teammate jellyfish?

[00:04:04]>> The wingspan looks a little terrifying.

[00:04:07]>> Got a meter and a half of uh flail.

[00:04:10]Should hit about 150 mph.

[00:04:12]>> It was quite out of control last time.

[00:04:15]Will you be able to control it this time?

[00:04:17]>> Even less. It's going to be [laughter] so good.

[00:04:19]>> That's what I thought. Now, let's talk about jellyfish. your old power. They went off and they've done their own thing and good luck to them, but once you get in the arena, you know, it's every robot to themselves. And our aim is to really make jellyfish our sushi.

[00:04:33][laughter] >> Please go nuts for nuts.

[00:04:41]>> Axe.

[00:04:43]>> This experienced axot never fulfilled its potential last time, but with a new improved weapon system, could this be their year?

[00:04:53]Here we are with terraertz, but improved terrors. More terror, more hurting. H how it will inflict terror and hurt.

[00:05:01]It's >> big axe. It's all about the big axe.

[00:05:03]Hopefully that works this year.

[00:05:04]>> What was the problem that stopped you firing last year?

[00:05:07]>> We had this ridiculously complicated system. We had two transmitters cabled together.

[00:05:11]>> Okay.

[00:05:12]>> It's just not very good. Sort of complete change. We could two independent systems now.

[00:05:16]>> Brilliant. So, we're going to see the axe firing.

[00:05:17]>> Yeah. With a bit of luck.

[00:05:19]>> Fantastic. Ladies, I'm good for terraertz. [applause and cheering] >> Our four teams head into battle. Tactics and experience will play a big part in surviving our hazard packed arena. But this series, there's a fish new twist.

[00:05:37]The rogue house robots.

[00:05:40]>> Hitting the tire now has a deadly new dimension. At random, the huge Doom Dog will either swing left to lower the pit or to the right, unleashing a house robot to escape its base and go marauding for 10 seconds. So, sit back and for the first time this series, it's over to the master of the arena, Jonathan Pierce. Thanks very much, Dar and Angela. And before we introduce the weird and wonderful robots competing in tonight's first group battle, there's a bit of housekeeping to do. Battles in the competition are fought over 3 minutes. A robot is out if they find themselves immobile are thrown out of the arena or find themselves in the pit of oblivion. If there isn't a clear winner at the end of the fight, then it's up to our judging panel, Professor Satu Vijayakumar, Dr. Lucy Rogers and head judge, the man, the legend, Professor No Sharky. The roboteers for our first group battle are in the arena [cheering] >> from Hampshire 2. Nuts now reaches a top speed of 20 mph and will SPIN AT 540 RPM. THE BOYS say being attacked by nuts will be like being hit by a sledgehammer 18 times a second. From central London, Rapid.

[00:06:52]>> Team Rapid run a research and development engineering firm with offices around the world. Rapid cost £25,000 to make and the team can flip a transit VAN A METER IN THE AIR.

[00:07:01]>> From ancient Northern Ireland, jellyfish. Team Captain Dave is a writer and wife Gemma is a horse dentist. They built jellyfish to absorb damage with its high density polyester armor.

[00:07:17]>> 16 years in development, Terraertz is back. Team Captain John Reed is a design engineer and teammate Nick is a rocket scientist. Their CO2 powered axe develops a ton of force. The house robot for this battle is the delicious Matilda. SWIPE LEFT or she'll take a swipe at you. weighing in at a trim of 350 kilos.

[00:07:41]>> Rubers, stand by.

[00:07:44]I can't wait for this. The teams in the control booth. It's battle time.

[00:07:52][applause] >> 3 2 1 activate.

[00:08:00]>> I love the smell of the robot wars ARENA IN THE MORNING. OH, AND ELM JELLYFISH IS UP IN THE AIR. The lowest, smallest robot in the competition in terms of height. The flailing chains of nuts. A 3 M DIAMETER ON THAT FEARSOME WEAPON.

[00:08:18]Jellyfish in trouble.

[00:08:23]>> Dame Lurorry at the controls with Gemma alongside him. They'll try and clamp and hold on and hold on to their reasoning and hold on to a place in the competition. I'll tell you what, they aren't doing BADLY TO STAY. OH, LEFT OF THAT ATTACK THERE.

[00:08:41]MIGHTY BLOW FROM THE TERRAERTZ AND THE LITTLE CLUSTER BOXER out there as well belonging to the nuts team. THERE WE SEE RAPID IN UNDERNEATH AND FLIPPING JELLYFISH INTO THE AIR. Rapid with that incredible flipper. Well armored too. 15 times more powerful THAN ANY OTHER FLIPPER EVER BUILT. But where are they in the competition now? In after nuts.

[00:09:10]Turning, spinning, control problems.

[00:09:13][screaming] What about this? Oh, Matilda.

[00:09:19]>> Don't mess with the rear end of Matilda.

[00:09:21]Oh, it's a grizzly place to be. And that's a doomed place to be. NUTS. OH, THE NUTTY boys out.

[00:09:32]One robot for lawn and forgotten. Three remain. The little cluster box of nuts still out there trying to create nuisance value more than anything else.

[00:09:43]No. No. No more firing. No more firing.

[00:09:45]That mighty acts of terahertz. The experienced John Reed in there. And here we have Terraz chasing after Rapid.

[00:09:53]They're leaving Jellyfish alone because they think Jellyfish is immobilized and spinning awkwardly but going nowhere.

[00:09:58]This is ALL ABOUT THE DAMAGE NOW. The terraertz could cause on rapid thinking about later in the competition. Good plan AND GOOD TACTICS HERE BY JOHN REED.

[00:10:10]>> Cicious call >> justed enough. Probably >> just [laughter] one booth boyed by victory. One boo beaten. The attack on Jellyfish, I think, damaged the controls there. They were never really active on those dirt bike tire treads. And you could see their nuts having problems with the controls. And that onslaught from Matilda ended their dreams.

[00:10:38]>> Rapid. You should be very happy with this presumably.

[00:10:40]>> Okay.

[00:10:41]>> Yeah. You got under some but didn't get under others.

[00:10:43]>> Well, it's a balance between getting it low enough and not getting caught on every screw at the bottom of the arena.

[00:10:47]>> Yeah.

[00:10:48]>> So, we've got to find that balance. And at one stage though, you had a chain under caught in your mouth eating it.

[00:10:53]>> However, there was a significant part of the bout where you were running away backwards from this lot. You did very very well there.

[00:11:00]>> Nice little driving test. That was >> Were you happy with how the axis there?

[00:11:03]>> No.

[00:11:04]>> Really?

[00:11:04]>> Start very limited. No, it's not happy at all. So, we'll have to look at that.

[00:11:08]>> Nonetheless, you're through. Rapid and terraertz. Well done to both of you.

[00:11:12]Well done, guys. Well [cheering] done.

[00:11:14]It's an early exit for friends turned rivals nuts and jellyfish, but John has expertly driven terraertz into the [music] next round.

[00:11:24]>> He now has two hours in the pits to fix that axe.

[00:11:27]>> Nice. The axe mechanism is really, really stiff. Looks like we're going to have to disassemble, strip the whole machine down to his base and look at the ram. Look at the inside of the ram. See what we've got. [music] >> Rapid managed to coast this group stage nearly intact.

[00:11:43]bent our front fork, but otherwise we should be able to bend that. And that one's come off a bit. We can add some weld onto that.

[00:11:49]>> Our second group battle is between Tomahawk, Aftershock, Cranky, and Saber-tooth.

[00:11:56]>> Sabertooth drum spinner.

[00:12:00]>> A complete rebuild since last series.

[00:12:02]Team Saber-tooth is back. The color scheme is all that remains as the team pin their hopes on their new spinning drum weapon.

[00:12:13]It's been 16 years of televised fights.

[00:12:16]You've never won a battle.

[00:12:17]>> We've never won a fight.

[00:12:19]>> You're a glutton for punishment.

[00:12:20]>> We've learned so many lessons. The key lesson is this time it runs both ways up.

[00:12:27]>> Okay.

[00:12:27]>> The drum is a monster.

[00:12:29]>> So, you're just going to mow everything out of the way.

[00:12:31]>> That's the dream.

[00:12:32]>> Sabertooth, EVERYONE.

[00:12:38]>> TOMAHAWK. AXBOT.

[00:12:41]This experienced international team planned to rain down hits with their dualged weapon.

[00:12:51]>> How far have you traveled?

[00:12:52]>> Quite a long distance from Holland. From Rotterdam.

[00:12:54]>> Well, welcome. Welcome. Or as you say in Holland. Welcome. Cuz your English is excellent.

[00:12:59]>> No problem for us.

[00:13:01]>> What can Tomahawk do?

[00:13:02]>> Tomahawk has an very strong X. It has two ways we can use it. a point uh to make inserts and the uh other side to just do damage.

[00:13:12]>> Now, sometimes we found if the axe misses, you can do yourself some damage with the axe.

[00:13:16]>> We know that. So, we won't miss >> Crank E vertical spinner.

[00:13:24]>> Having taken out Robot Wars legend Razer in the last series, Killy Cranky has been overhauled and now claims to be spinner proof.

[00:13:35]Very subdued here. Everything's under control.

[00:13:38]>> Yeah, we're just making the final preparations ready for battle.

[00:13:41]>> Does that include roasting your robot in tin foil?

[00:13:45]>> Uh, yeah, something like that. It's to to keep it cool inside in case we put get put on the flame pit. It's just like when you put a chicken in the oven and you put it in tin foil, it keeps keeps it from burning on the skin.

[00:13:57]>> Aftershock vertical spinner.

[00:14:03]Last series, they made it to the grand final with Shockwave.

[00:14:09]>> But hungry to win, they've completely redesigned their new robot, Aftershock, with its vertical spinner.

[00:14:17]>> Welcome back.

[00:14:18]>> Thank you. It's good to be back.

[00:14:19]>> Different iteration this time round.

[00:14:21]>> Definitely. We've been refining this design of a vertical spinner for over 10 years now, and it should rip anything to pieces.

[00:14:27]>> Right. That's the plan, right?

[00:14:28]>> If it works. If it works. Are you are you confident that it will work?

[00:14:32]>> Well, yeah. We've not really tested it.

[00:14:33]That's the trouble, you know. You can't test these things. So, we've had it spinning. We've had it driving, but we've not had it doing it at the same time. [laughter] >> Good luck after.

[00:14:45]>> It's the moment of truth for the teams.

[00:14:48]All that stands between them and a shot of the title are five hazards, four house robots, and three competitors.

[00:14:55]Over to you, Jonathan. Thanks once again Dara and Angela. Yes, the teams in the second group battle tonight. Now entering the arena >> from Hazeln Sabertooth father and daughter team the shrouds back with Rob Pikford and Al Cannon. Saber-tooth is back and now has the biggest spinning drum in the competition spinning AT AN INTIMIDATING 7,000 RPM FROM Ready Aftershock.

[00:15:20]>> Last year, father and son Will and Ian Thomas competed with Pusherbot Shockwave. The robot has a 500 mm 23 kilo spinning disc that can spin at 3,500 RPM.

[00:15:29]>> From the Netherlands, Tomahawk.

[00:15:33]>> Tomahawk has interchangeable a heads for spearing opponents or bludgeoning them.

[00:15:37]The robot's axe hits are controlled by a microcontroller which gives them four different kinds of hits for ultra tactical combat.

[00:15:43]>> From Kate Ness, Cranky >> Team Captain Robin Heric decommissions NUCLEAR POWER STATIONS. CRANK IS A TWO WHEEL DRIVE WITH A 22 kilo central vertical spinner with a tip speed of 223 mph.

[00:15:57]For the first time tonight, he's an axe to the max. It's the titanium TIPPED AXE of shunt.

[00:16:07]>> Roboteers stand by.

[00:16:11]>> After this battle, two of these robots will be going home. It is battle time.

[00:16:16][cheering and applause] 3 2 1 activate.

[00:16:24]>> Interesting to see how Cranky gets on.

[00:16:26]Oh, not very well from the start.

[00:16:28]Flipped up and over. Hasn't been tested.

[00:16:30]The wheels could be vulnerable. We see the mighty spinner of Aftershock. And we see very much a robot in peril.

[00:16:42]pincered between the two and Cranky very much in trouble. Look at that 3 AND A HALF THOUSAND RPM spinning blade of Aftershot. Now the attack on the girls from the Netherlands, the Tomahawk T.

[00:17:03]>> That is the big rolling blade of Sabertooth can launch another machine 2 m in the air. WE'RE AFTER SHOT. GATHER RELEASED THE TIRE AND THIS TIME THE PIT OF OBLIVION DESCENDS.

[00:17:22]>> LOOK AT THE DAMAGE ON CRANKY on the armament there. The stakes arament.

[00:17:29]>> Wow.

[00:17:32]>> IMMOBILIZED MACHINES, NOT AFTERSHOCK certainly there. Tomahawk and the Netherlands scene. It's all double dutch for them.

[00:17:47]>> See, we were not going to pop the smoke, but our LM went it.

[00:17:51]>> Wait, wait, wait. Did we?

[00:17:54]>> Who's through? Who's in trouble? That's the question they're asking. Well, Aftershock was the most impressive in that group battle. Most damage to Cranky. looked to me as if Saber-Tooth were in control and capable of going further.

[00:18:11]The road has ended, but Cranky, >> I mean, it looks like Aftershock are back and better than ever before. The improvements have certainly paid off.

[00:18:20]>> It seemed to work. The disc uh caused a lot of damage by the look of things.

[00:18:23]>> I think we might have blown it up, though.

[00:18:25]>> You think it's blown up?

[00:18:26]>> There was a small uh with the smoke coming out of smoke and >> Oh, we thought that was just for dramatic effect.

[00:18:30]>> Special effects. Team Saber 2. 16 years you've waited for a little sniff of glory.

[00:18:38]>> But have we won?

[00:18:39]>> What? [laughter] >> No wonder it took 16 years. Yeah. Well, I mean, you're through. Yeah.

[00:18:48]>> What's that?

[00:18:49]>> I need it confirmed. I need it confirmed. It's been so long.

[00:18:52]>> Can you write it down? [laughter] >> Yes. You're through the head to head.

[00:18:58]>> That's amazing.

[00:18:58]>> Well, good luck in the headto heads and well done. Thank you very much.

[00:19:02]>> Thank you. [cheering] >> Aftershock already a force to be reckoned with, but that great power comes with its own problems in the form of an overworked electrical system.

[00:19:14]>> We're probably drawing well over 1,000 amps at maximum power. So, it's burnt out some wiring. If we replace that, we should be good to go for the next fight.

[00:19:24]After their first ever televised victory, it's a jubilant team Saber-Tooth who return to the pits to check for damage.

[00:19:31]>> The only issue we really had was it was catching the floor with a scooper. It's so flat, so we're just going to increase the spaces underneath so it sits a tiny bit higher and it'll run around much more easily.

[00:19:42]>> At the end of the group battles, four teams have made it through to the next stage of the competition. Aftershock, [music] Sabertooth, Terraertz, and Rapid.

[00:19:53]First to face each other in the head-to-heads are Saber-Tooth and Terraz.

[00:20:00]>> In the pits, team Terraertz have been working on their slow firing ax, but rather than stripping the machine apart, they've opted for a quick fix.

[00:20:09]>> We're trying to look at the problem so stiff. So, we just squirted some lube in the cylinder and it's it's better. It's not as good as it should be, but it's a lot better. Opponents Saber-tooth have also been working hard trying to raise the clearance on their 7,000 RPM spinning drum. These essential adjustments can be the difference between victory and destruction.

[00:20:31]>> For Gabriel, daughter Esme, and the rest of team Saber-tooth, the extensive repairs are keeping a dream alive 16 years in the making.

[00:20:41]>> I'm Gabriel Straoud. I'm team captain of Sabertooth.

[00:20:47]I run my own company. Esme is a student, Rob is a builder, and Al is an engineer.

[00:20:56]After all the effort for last series of all the work we put in to go out in the first round was terrible.

[00:21:08]Our drum spins at 150 mph. When it hits an opponent, it's going to rip them to pieces.

[00:21:17]To win Rob Wars would mean so much to my dad. I think it's probably his ultimate dream.

[00:21:25]On this series of Robot Wars, you'll hear Saber-Tooth roar.

[00:21:33]>> Team Terraertz are relying on their quick fix to unleash the potential of their axe. For Jon and Nick, this is a culmination of years of hard work.

[00:21:45]I'm John. I'm from Oxford. Our robot is Terraz.

[00:21:50]I'm a mechanical design engineer. I design racing car simulators. Also on the team, we have Nick. He's an amateur rocket physicist and he operates the axe.

[00:22:04]Terz is all about the axe. Very powerful powered by CO2. So, it's really built around the weapon.

[00:22:11]I spent a lot of time on the design side of things. I probably must have spent thousands of hours designing terz. I think my combat strategies is always attack. Just full on attack. Just get stuck in and go for it. See what happens.

[00:22:30][cheering] The house robot in the arena. He's not grumpy. He's a bit spiky. It's the vertical saw of dead metal.

[00:22:41]Rubio, stand by.

[00:22:45]>> Saber-tooth against Terraz. Terraertz's armor perfectly suited to deflect blows then from Saber-tooth's drum. Sabertooth have their work cut out for them here.

[00:22:53]>> Three, two, one, activate.

[00:23:00]>> Is the terahertz weapon a mere toothpick at the moment? Saber-tooth's weapon a bit of a humrum affair. But there is that question about the terraertz arament around the side there. You can see they're going full frontal attack on Sabertooth.

[00:23:14]One improvement for Sabertooth by the way. Fully invertible. It's the best evolution BENEATH THE LAST TERRIBLE TROUBLE THERE. The terraertz.

[00:23:24]It's very bad. Okay, let's get out of here.

[00:23:29]>> OH, AND OFF GOES THE ALUMINUM TAIL. AND THAT IS ABSOLUTELY CRUCIAL FOR THE WEAPONRY TO WORK PROPERLY.

[00:23:36]TERRA'S IN TROUBLE NOW.

[00:23:40]AND ALL OF A SUDDEN, SABERTOOTH AFTER 16 years of misery and hurt are looking delightful.

[00:23:48]>> Yes. Yes.

[00:23:51]>> They didn't even know THEY'D WON THE PREVIOUS BOUT. SO UNUSED to victory.

[00:23:56]There is smoke. Do we have WIRING ISSUES? DO WE HAVE a burnout there?

[00:24:03]Which machine will last the longest?

[00:24:10]At its best, ONE TON OF FORCE IN EACH HIT 100 MILESPH. THEY ARE GOING FOR IT.

[00:24:17]>> Wait for it. Wait for it. Wait for it.

[00:24:18]Ready. Get ready. Get ready. Get ready.

[00:24:20]Ready. No. Wait for it. Wait for it.

[00:24:22]Wait for it. Wait for Wait for a good hit. Wait for a good hit.

[00:24:26]>> A WAITING GAME. A PATIENT GAME.

[00:24:29]OKAY, good one. Excellent fail. Okay, it's fine. It's fine.

[00:24:34]>> I'm not too sure whether it is fine, John, because for me at the moment, Sabertooth on top of it does go to the judges.

[00:24:41]>> That's a chunk out that drum in it.

[00:24:43]>> Is the drum dented.

[00:24:46]>> Do we have another drum?

[00:24:47]>> No.

[00:24:48]>> Well, well, well. A battle of attrition now.

[00:24:51]>> Wait for a good hit. Has to be a good hit.

[00:24:54]>> One big hit is needed.

[00:24:59]You want to go for the pit game?

[00:25:01]>> No, >> he's not moving. Look, he's not moving.

[00:25:03]He's done his wheel then.

[00:25:05]>> Unless we get Rogue House robot.

[00:25:06]>> Yeah, >> the wheel HAS BEEN DAMAGED. THEY KNOW THAT THE PIT RELEASED. WHICH WAY WOULD IT GO?

[00:25:12]>> House robots are [screaming] rogue.

[00:25:15]>> Who hit the bus?

[00:25:17]>> Into the arena.

[00:25:19]SHUNT GETTING INVOLVED WITH THE BIG POWER. THE BIG PUSH. DEAD metal awaits.

[00:25:27]The crowd want them in the pit. The crowd merciless, cruel, delicious.

[00:25:36][screaming] >> No. No. Wait for a good hit. No. No more. No more. No more.

[00:25:42]>> They're going to be counted out. Immo.

[00:25:46]>> Big big win here, I think, for Sabertooth.

[00:25:50][applause] THERE'S THE DAMAGE CAUSED ON TERRAERTZ.

[00:25:56]They were never really fully ACTIVE AFTER THAT, BUT DAMAGE TO THE SABER-TOOTH DRUM AND MAYBE THE electric can against them later on. They don't have a replacement drum and that's where the final damage occurred for Terraz.

[00:26:08]>> Thank you to both you. That was a great bash. That was a proper taking lumps out of each other. There was smoke coming out of yours at one stage.

[00:26:16]>> Oh, yours was smoking as well.

[00:26:17]>> Yeah, there was bits of wheel coming out of yours. The uh Well, what happened?

[00:26:21]Uh, just bad driving.

[00:26:23]>> No, come on. I mean, did you expose yourself to them?

[00:26:26]>> Exposed his my bot to him. Yeah.

[00:26:28]>> Yeah. [laughter] At which point you then bumped into the tire to release, you know, the >> house.

[00:26:35]>> And then you let the house robbers finish him off. BUT IT'S A WIN.

[00:26:39]>> WIN. My commiserations to yourselves, but congratulations at three points.

[00:26:43]Three points. Go to Sabot. COME ON, GUYS.

[00:26:46]>> THANK YOU. Well done. [applause] Saber-tooth's clever use of the rogue house robot paid off as Shund crucially dealt terraertz the killer blow.

[00:26:57]>> That was a stupendous fight. Crazy crazy fight. Um >> we got a lot of damage. We've taken some damage which we need to repair. I hope we got all the bits.

[00:27:07]>> But the joy of victory is shortlived as the extent of their own damage becomes apparent.

[00:27:12]>> Oh, we've lost a great chunk of the drum.

[00:27:16]Got to somehow get that screwed back in.

[00:27:18]There's a lot of work to do to fix that.

[00:27:20]It's going to be touch and go, but we'll see what happens.

[00:27:23]>> Oh, it's fine. There you go.

[00:27:24]>> It's fine.

[00:27:25]>> It's got some sticky types.

[00:27:29]>> There's trouble, too, for team terraertz, who have a hole in their firing ram, courtesy of rogue house robot shunt and a crucial part of their design that was destroyed by Sabertooth.

[00:27:41]It's a very long tail, so you can you basically lever against that for the axe to fire. But if you don't have that tail, the whole robot just rears up in the air.

[00:27:51]>> In other words, without a tail, there'll be no [music] axe.

[00:27:58]>> Next into the arena is flipper rapid versus huge spinner aftershock.

[00:28:04]Rapid rely on getting under their opponents to flip them, but the hard steel alloy has been bent and it's incredibly hard to repair quickly.

[00:28:14]We've got these forks that come down to the floor to keep the robot close to the ground and they've just got bent in the last fight. So, I'm trying to replace them with a bit more support, but we've only got 30 minutes to do it. This stuff is really hard to work with. So, up against it.

[00:28:29]Opponents after shock's biggest fear is controlling the power in their untested spinner. A design Will has come to after 10 years of trial and error.

[00:28:41]We're team shock from Graves End. And our brand new robot is Aftershock.

[00:28:47]I'm Will Thomas. I'm the team captain and the driver of Aftershock. My dad, Ian Thomas, is our main engineer responsible for building the robot.

[00:28:55][snorts] After getting knocked out of the last series, we wanted to build a brand new robot and come back even stronger. The day after, I got into CAD and started designing the beast that we've got now.

[00:29:06]You really don't want to get in its way.

[00:29:11]Our major worry with Aftershock is flippers. If we get turned over, we're not sure how well it will self-righte as it's currently untested.

[00:29:19]The ultimate dream for Aftershock is to become the Robot Wars champion. That's what we've built it for. That's what we're here for, and that's what we're going to do.

[00:29:32]Having now sharpened their machine to get them as close as possible to the floor, this incredible ominous looking robot hides a world of high-tech engineering.

[00:29:45]Team Rapid is made up of me, Josh Fman, as the team captain, Andy the engineer and driver, and Lety, our tactician.

[00:29:52]I started my engineering career when I was about 10 years old, and that started with Robot Wars. For the last 5 years, I've now been running a company making everything from consumer goods all the way through to aerospace components.

[00:30:02]Rapid is completely overengineered.

[00:30:05]Most robots have valves this big, and we're standing here with a valve this big.

[00:30:12]I think if we go out of the competition, it's going to be our fault. I don't think it's going to be the opponent.

[00:30:19]The adrenaline of robot fighting comes down to 3 minutes. With months and months of work, it all comes down to that one moment.

[00:30:31]in the arena for this bout. Oh, we've all got a crush on this house robot killer and shunt [cheering] 3 2 1.

[00:30:45]>> Front forks against blown up wiring. Who has done the best repairs? Rapid on the drive, very quick. But here comes that Aftershock spinning the blade. Can Rapid flip Aftershock over? We know it doesn't have a self-riding mechanism. It needs one of ITS OWN RAPID NOW BECAUSE LOOK AT THE POWER AND THE PUNISHING FACTOR OF THAT AFTERSHOCK 23 kilo spinning disc.

[00:31:10]Ow. Ow.

[00:31:12]>> I think they've killed Rapid.

[00:31:14]>> Leave him. Let's not do anything silly then.

[00:31:18]They don't need to do anything silly BECAUSE THEY KNOW THEY HAVE the victory AGAINST THE MOST EXPENSIVE robot of the series. 25,000 WORTH OF MACHINERY. HOURS AND HOURS OF work ends up like that. Sympathy done here. Heart of hearts. Good attack early on from Rap. That's what they needed to do. They needed to get Aftershock over.

[00:31:44]But Aftershock actually used the arena wall to bounce off clean on the drive again.

[00:31:50]No effect to THE FLIPPER THAT TIME. AND IN IN FACT WHEN THE FLIPPER opened up AFTER SHOT WENT IN AND ATTACKED. GOOD VALUE ON THAT ATTACK. RAPID NOW IN real problem.

[00:32:01]Upended and it all went bear shake.

[00:32:06]>> Aftershock now know they can self-right.

[00:32:09]Powerful machines like this often do themselves a huge amount of internal damage. We have taken a little bit of damage. Uh we're not quite sure what what the problem is yet, but the the disc is is not spinning very easily. So, I think we've uh we've got to replace the motor and I think we might have bent the bottom chassis, but we we've got to find out what's what's gone wrong.

[00:32:30]>> Team Rapids plan to build the toughest machine in the arena may bizarrely have backfired.

[00:32:37]So, this is a solid fillet with of titanium. The vibration and the shock seems to be wearing it down. The material isn't so expensive on its own.

[00:32:44]It's the cost of of machining it because it's such a hard material to machine a a solid piece of that size takes, you know, a good eight or so hours to machine. So, that's that's where the price comes from.

[00:32:56]>> With less than 2 hours until their next fight, there's a limit to the repairs the team can make. If Rapid can't fix it, they'll forfeit their place in the competition.

[00:33:08]>> After the first round of head-to-head, this is the leaderboard.

[00:33:12]After Shock and Saber-tooth both on three points, Terraz and Rapid yet to score.

[00:33:18]>> Preparing to fight next are the [music] two spinners sitting at the top of the table. Saber-tooth and Aftershock.

[00:33:26]>> At this stage of the competition, the pits begin filling up with teams busy with makeorb breakak repairs.

[00:33:32]While Aftershock only have a motor to swap out and batteries to charge, team Sabertooth have had to work out an ingenious repair system for their shattered drum.

[00:33:42]>> What we're going to do is uh going to screw this piece back on to hold the the bar in. And then we've made up some steel rings which we're going to put on there so that it uh supports the tooth.

[00:33:57]weld it to the other side and then drill holes all the way around and screw it onto the drum. Hopefully, it'll stay put.

[00:34:07]With the teams working hard to prepare for their next fight, we're catching up with judge Professor Setu Vijayakamar.

[00:34:16]>> Why is Ana playing four in a row against a robot? This is an example uh of a robot uh which is able to change its behavior in response to something that changes in the environment or in this case a person playing a game. Although as simple as it may seem is exactly the technologies that we're using in driverless cars right now to create a strategy for not hitting a person exactly like that.

[00:34:41]>> And also reading a situation so it's not mapped out ahead of time. It's reacting to my moves which obviously it can't predict.

[00:34:48]>> Absolutely. In the next 5 to 10 years, we have a concept called shared autonomy where humans and robots work much more closely with each other. Robots are very good at doing very repetitive stuff.

[00:35:00]Humans are much better at understanding context. So collaborating to do things faster, better, much more efficiently.

[00:35:07]>> We're just slowly watching Angela being beaten.

[00:35:09]>> I'm on defense.

[00:35:10]>> Yeah. And defense will always lose you.

[00:35:12]>> I don't think you should underestimate it. Maybe she's played the perfect game.

[00:35:15]>> Perhaps. Perhaps. I I don't think so.

[00:35:18]>> [laughter] >> Sassy, thank you very much. Thank you.

[00:35:21]Thank you.

[00:35:25]>> Time is up and the teams head to the arena. Team Saber-Tooth have done an incredible job, but must hope they've [music] done enough to survive a duel with top of the table Aftershock.

[00:35:34][cheering] >> In the arena for this batch, it's Shump and Silot.

[00:35:45]>> Well, they're not bagging the drum now.

[00:35:47]Sabertooth. How effective will the weaponry be? Wheels exposed. METAL FLIES. AFTER SHOT ON THE ATTACK NEARLY GOT CAUGHT BY THE FLOOR THERE.

[00:36:01]>> THERE'S NO LIFE IN SABER Su now.

[00:36:05]Oh, they need a good drummer out there.

[00:36:08]Bill Collins anywhere? No, he's not here. Aftershock certainly on top now and one OF THE MOST IMPRESSIVE ROBOTS WE'VE SEEN.

[00:36:18]Down [screaming] goes the pit of Oblivion.

[00:36:23]Sabertooth hit by Killerox. [screaming] THE ARAMENT'S GONE FROM the top. The hopes are gone.

[00:36:35]A Oh dear. dreams shattered.

[00:36:42]Machine in charge.

[00:36:45]>> They're a dead [cheering] >> and they know they've won.

[00:36:52]No further punishment. The Cuda Gr already given.

[00:36:57][music] >> Oh dear.

[00:37:04]>> No bite on Sabertooth in the end. And the drum was always a problem. But after shot, well, they needed the disc to spin properly and it certainly did up to almost full speed, if not full speed.

[00:37:14]That was the moment of danger when they got themselves pinned in. Not great driving there. Will need to do better.

[00:37:21]He knows that. But almost flawless the performance.

[00:37:25]>> Sabertooth took a real beating and now the drum looks to be the least of their worries. They got no gearbox on one side. Um, we didn't quite finish repairing that strap on the drum, so that needs to be dealt with. and speed control has gone in the middle.

[00:37:42]>> It's a different story for Aftershock, who are already [music] proving themselves to be worthy contenders for the title.

[00:37:48]>> That was awesome. We go a little bit speechless. Really feel for the other team, but you know, Trial was >> with Aftershock powering ahead. It leaves a second place spot wide open.

[00:38:00]So, it's all to play for in our next bout between joint last place terraertz and rapid, but team Rapid are in big trouble.

[00:38:11]>> So, basically what you can see with this is that the wheels just go round. Normal drive, easy peasy. However, this one, you can see how it doesn't turn just because of the noise it makes, which means that we'll basically go around in circles.

[00:38:24]>> Something's got into the gearbox, and the problem is the gearboxes are just too deep inside for us to fix that in time. So, I think we're going to have to forfeit. Going to be too long to to get back into the game.

[00:38:33]>> This robot may have huge potential, but ultimately it's proved too complicated to repair.

[00:38:40]>> Rapid are packing their bags and they're out, which means third place from the group battles are back in this guy. This is a bit of a curveball.

[00:38:49]>> Uh yeah, we weren't expecting this at all. I mean, Rapid is quite a high-spec, fantastic, neat, technical robot, and it is now being replaced by jellyfish.

[00:39:01]Yeah. There was a lot of talk before the group battled about the rivalry between you and your old pal, Nuts, but they seem to be back in the zone.

[00:39:11]>> Yeah. Well, we had a think about reuniting the old team, and they've been very gracious in coming over, and uh, >> you know, the boys are back. Back together again, the old gang. Good luck and we'll see you back in there.

[00:39:26]>> And so the competition's most expensive machine is replaced with the cheapest.

[00:39:32]>> We're the lries from Antrim in Northern Ireland and our robot is Jellyfish.

[00:39:39]I'm Dave. I'm the team captain and the driver. Gemma's a horse dentist, believe it or not. She brings a lot of the stuff from that trade in, so she's handy with tools and things.

[00:39:51]We really want to show that anybody who wants to build a robot can get involved with robot walls. Jellyfish is a 1 and a half meter wide clamp bot designed to latch on to the opponent and control them, drive them where we want them to go.

[00:40:07]I think that not having specific engineering skills has actually given us an advantage. It's allowed us to think outside the box and do things that other teams wouldn't even think of.

[00:40:18]A group of jellyfish is called a smack.

[00:40:21]We're coming to Robot Wars to lay the smack down.

[00:40:29]Beginning with zero points, their first opponents are joint last place terraertz, who've patched up their firing ram and welded back their tail plate.

[00:40:38]>> So, with the help of team nuts, the outlandish jellyfish is good to go. For team terraertz, after such a huge repair job, it's fingers crossed [music] their work will bear fruit.

[00:40:49]>> In the CPZ for this bout, it's Matilda and dead metal. [applause] >> 3 [snorts] 2 1 activate.

[00:41:04]>> Canc Jellyfish the hair dryer treatment.

[00:41:08]They're in underneath. Jellyfish trying to batter them into submission.

[00:41:14]Dodging away there from Matilda.

[00:41:16]>> Oh no, he's not dead already, is he? One more hit.

[00:41:19]>> What's happened to Jellyfish here?

[00:41:22]Reed's having a cursory glance.

[00:41:23]Jellyfish, the team from Antrim in Northern Ireland. Doesn't seem to be moving at all.

[00:41:30]>> Two.

[00:41:32]>> No wonder the Nuts teammates have been back to help you. By the way, there she's out. Of course they had something to do and they're not going to GO VERY FURTHER NOW. OH, JELLYFISH. JELLYFISH.

[00:41:41]THE WORLD'S not your lobster, my son.

[00:41:44]Down comes the act. Goodness me. And there is a happy end to that terraertz tail. Ultimately back at fighting and winning John Reed and Nick Lynch.

[00:41:58]>> Terraz walk away with the three points.

[00:42:00]So the scoreboard looks like this.

[00:42:04]Aftershocker still on top with six points. That win has put Terraz level with Sabertooth [music] with three points each. After being immobilized, Jellyfish stay on zero.

[00:42:17]So, an easy ride for Team Terraz, but they're keen to use their repair time wisely as they face Leagueers Aftershock next. [music] >> Jellyfish only sustained a single blow from the axe, but it proved to be lethal.

[00:42:34]I can't even find where the axe actually hit it. So, we'll have to do a diagnostic.

[00:42:40]>> The impact has damaged the speed controls, which is Rory's area of expertise. However, on a robot built from toothbrushes and bike tires, it's hard to imagine where to start.

[00:42:49]>> I'm not sure why you've been hit here.

[00:42:52]>> The next head-to-head is Terraertz [music] versus Aftershock.

[00:42:59]Still suffering from mechanical weapon [music] issues, John needs to think tactically for this fight.

[00:43:06]>> So, the last one we're going to fight is aftershock. That's a beast of a machine.

[00:43:11]But we've got we've got this amazing front armor. That's what it's designed for. So, as long as I keep my calm, keep the nose at him, we should be okay.

[00:43:23]Aftershock may be the robot to beat, but it's [music] still relatively untested and against the experience of terraertz, anything could happen.

[00:43:32]>> The house robot in the arena for this bout. It's king of the ringot and shunt.

[00:43:39]>> All right, just do what you got to do.

[00:43:40]>> I will go for them, John.

[00:43:43]>> Can't do do not use that at all. Do not use that.

[00:43:48]>> Three, two, one.

[00:43:52]activate.

[00:43:53]>> Very interesting tactical talk there.

[00:43:55]John seeming to say don't use the axe. I wonder if he's worried about the axe getting caught into the spinner. Sucked in. That would be his methodology here.

[00:44:05]In comes Shunt. And again, YOU SEE THE SPARKS FLYING. THEY'RE REALLY FLYING OF THE AFTERSHOCK SPINNER.

[00:44:15]LAD AND DAD ARE BOTH VERY, very bad and evil. But it's not going all the way forward. THOMAS AND UP GOES TERRAERTZ.

[00:44:26]AND LOOK AT THE SPEED AND RECOVERY.

[00:44:29]>> RETRACT.

[00:44:31]>> Being pushed across the arena floor.

[00:44:35]LITTLE BIT UPENDED, BUT IT WAS CAUGHT BY THE FLIPPER AND AFTERSHOCK AT THE SAME TIME. It used the back tail to balance and write itself. And then brilliant driving away from one of the best drivers in the history of Robot Wars, John Reed.

[00:44:56]Beyond the floor spikes. This is a good battle, isn't it? This isn't the way we thought it would go. I have to admit, I THOUGHT AFTERSHOT WOULD WIN THIS EASY PEASY. And that's not the way it's happening. But they're crowling around trying to get the weaponry in.

[00:45:13]ROUND THOSE YAKS NOW. GETTING bouldered by the minute.

[00:45:19]Nick Lynch defying THE ORDERS. OH, [screaming] John Reed. But is that the end? Is that the end? It's surely the end.

[00:45:31]Hold on.

[00:45:33]aftershock is quaking the world of robot wars.

[00:45:39]They had to wait the moment. The moment has come.

[00:45:43]They know they've won it. That is the famous robot wars. Spin [cheering] to win. [applause] [laughter] Good start by Terraz. Then it went up in the air. But I think this is a brilliant piece of robot wars here. The way they controlled the escape. got away.

[00:46:04]Aftershock buffeted by the floor spikes.

[00:46:08]Then that vertical spinner creating damage to the arena floor but not itself. That's crucial. That's a crucial development. That was a crucial moment in the fight. That was the moment in the fight.

[00:46:20]>> Yet again, Aftershock have put on a masterly display. Terraertz have fought their last head-to-head. So now need Jellyfish to beat Sabertooth by three points for the chance to go through.

[00:46:32]Let's take a look at the leaderboard.

[00:46:35]>> Aftershock are on top with a full nine points. Saber-tooth and Terz remain on three with Jellyfish on zero. Any of the bottom three teams could still join Aftershock in the final, so every point matters. Next, it's Jellyfish versus Sabertooth.

[00:46:53]>> Saber-tooth have had to create ever more ingenious ways of repairing the extensive damage they've sustained.

[00:47:00]The team are shattered after working non-stop for hours on end. And they're nowhere near having a machine that works.

[00:47:10]>> Competitors Jellyfish are in the midst of their own huge repair job.

[00:47:16]>> The sheer force that came from Terraz's axe has actually managed to shear one of the magnets into an awful lot of pieces.

[00:47:24]This here needs to be fixed before we can do anything or else it'll be a one wheeled jelly.

[00:47:31]>> Having worked tirelessly to repair their robot, it's now time to test if saber-tooth will work at all. If the drum fails to spin, the team will be out.

[00:47:41]>> That's fine.

[00:47:43]>> Yeah.

[00:47:46]Uh two hours ago I think that was in pieces and there's so many people helped that um so I'm just yeah we're we're back on track.

[00:47:58]>> Thank you.

[00:47:59]>> They've done us. It's time to head to the arena.

[00:48:04]>> Team Sabertooth back from the dead.

[00:48:07]>> I It's magic, isn't it?

[00:48:09]>> It I'm literally magic. We've had so much help in the pits and but we've all been Al's been doing so I mean he is the lucky charm and he's also he's the super expert. He knows he can fix anything.

[00:48:22]Rob has beaten these rings out of flat steel. He's beaten them like a blacksmith. But he's it's the stuff of legend and I don't know how I'm just I'm I'm a shock to myself of how we've actually got to this point.

[00:48:33]>> Aftershock went a bit >> I do feel I don't I feel funny after Aftershock. He's like totally distraught.

[00:48:41]Good luck. PLEASE GIVE IT UP FOR SABERTOOTH. [cheering and applause] >> Before their final bout, I'm with Jellyfish. Do you have a plan?

[00:48:50]>> Yeah.

[00:48:51]>> What are you going to do?

[00:48:52]>> I'm going to beat him.

[00:48:53]>> The best of luck. Ladies, I'm give it up for Jellyfish.

[00:48:57][cheering] >> 750 kilos. That's a killer in the arena for this bout.

[00:49:04]and Matilda.

[00:49:06]>> Let's prove a few people wrong, eh?

[00:49:10]>> 3 2 1 activate.

[00:49:17]It's magical. It's wonderful. It is a shot that Saber-Tooth are back and fighting after the rebuild of the gearbox speed control, the drum strap.

[00:49:27]And we know that Jellyfish would love to give it a big hug. Is there going to be a jellyfish sting in the tail of robot wars? Can they yet make it to the final?

[00:49:36]>> Come on, Jerry.

[00:49:41]>> It is unconventional as a robot. The tactics unconventional, but it is working as planned. Look, they're hugging. They're pushing it in towards the [cheering] CPZ and onto the arena floor. Dangers as well. And Sabertooth for all the repairs. Are they running freely?

[00:50:00]>> I think the steering's backwards.

[00:50:04]>> He wanted to prove a few people wrong here, Dave.

[00:50:07]>> Gemma and her magnetic charm working in the pitch. They've got those magnets working now. And this is all jellyfish.

[00:50:16]>> That's it. Jelly's hug has cled.

[00:50:20]>> And it's Jellyfish's hug. And they pinch them in.

[00:50:24]>> That's a nice little dance, Jelly.

[00:50:26]>> Well, well, well. This is a stunner.

[00:50:29]>> Stuck on him.

[00:50:31]>> They are stuck.

[00:50:33]Gabriel and Esme Shroud and Rob Pikford, their team >> is ending the dream.

[00:50:41]>> Yeah. Don't do the drums where wound up in his thing.

[00:50:43]>> They are trying to nudge Jellyfish away.

[00:50:46]>> Trying to get off him.

[00:50:47]>> Caught on the bent pole.

[00:50:49]>> They're caught. They're trapped. Will one of them be deemed immobile? In comes Killer to free things up, I think. Well done. Neither of the realm after all, gentlemen. They're over at Orina. We know that.

[00:51:04]This looks it could go all the way.

[00:51:08]>> I did on purpose, mate. To show it's still working.

[00:51:11]>> They need to show it's still working.

[00:51:12]Otherwise, they will be out. They need to move beyond a complete circumference of themselves.

[00:51:18]>> No, don't. He's stuck on him.

[00:51:21]>> Come on.

[00:51:23]>> Who is the quick or the dead? Well, neither of them are quick, let's be honest. Woohoo! This is going to be close.

[00:51:30]>> It's a judges decision.

[00:51:33]>> Certainly is.

[00:51:35]>> Tattered wheels, tattered armament. I think jellyfish was the more aggressive.

[00:51:41]I've been badly wrong before, but it looks to me as if this could be a huge shock. Just getting away. Oh, goodness me. Jelly is just getting away from kill pins in time.

[00:51:53]Aggression from Sabertooth. Little bit of damage there came off jellyfish, but it's all superficial.

[00:52:00]Stickers are pretty, but they're not greatly effective. That was >> Let's have one small just brief moment of realistic analysis of that. Yes, you got it back up running again, right? And you have two more. But >> I can tell you a thing.

[00:52:15]>> Yeah, go on.

[00:52:15]>> So the drum we in our haste, we wired it the wrong way.

[00:52:20]>> Who was [laughter] going?

[00:52:22]So the drummer was going to >> So instead of So instead of hailing them into the air, we rode over the top of them.

[00:52:30]>> This is the matter at hand though. There was a judges adjudication on this bout and it was a close one and it went on for some time and the judges were split.

[00:52:39]It was two to one at the end of this right and at the end of the adjudication the battle was awarded to Jellyfish.

[00:52:49]>> [applause] >> SO THE scoreboard looks like this.

[00:52:52]Aftershock end on the maximum nine points. Both Saber-Tooth and Terz have three points each. But as Saber-Tooth won their head-to-head, it means they join Aftershock in tonight's final.

[00:53:03]Although Jellyfish now leave the competition, they do so with their heads held high.

[00:53:09]Over eight battles, our two finalists have tested their brains and robot brawn to breaking point.

[00:53:17]Redesigned from the ground up, Team Sabertooth easily navigated the group battle.

[00:53:28]>> Now, now wind you back now. Wind you back.

[00:53:32]>> 16 years you've waited for a little sniff of glory.

[00:53:41]>> Their monstrous spinning drums prove lethal in the headto heads. Yes, >> that's very bad. Okay, let's get out of here.

[00:53:49]>> What about with Aftershock?

[00:53:51]>> No.

[00:53:52]>> Had the team facing a gargantuan repair job.

[00:53:57]>> Storm.

[00:53:59]>> Miraculously, they made it back to the arena. Now battle hardened, can they pull out all the stops and defeat their biggest fear, Aftershock?

[00:54:09]>> I think this time round, we'll give the Aftershock boys a little bit of a taste of their own medicine.

[00:54:15]Aftershock are pushing their brand new spinner to its limits. In their first outing, they walted through the group battles.

[00:54:24]>> The improvements have certainly paid off.

[00:54:26]>> It seemed to work. The disc caused a lot of damage by the look of things.

[00:54:29]>> Yeah.

[00:54:29]>> Since then, they've grappled with a 24 kg disc, throwing them and their opponents around the arena.

[00:54:43]They'll have to unleash its power one more time in their quest for victory.

[00:54:48][cheering] >> The journey to the robot wars final is never easy. For 16 years, Sabertooth honed their craft before earning their place in tonight's final.

[00:54:59]>> Their opponents, Aftershock, completely rebuilt their robot after total destruction last series. So, after blood, sweat, and tears, literally, it's time to find out who's going through to our grand final.

[00:55:11]>> So, for the last time this evening, over to you, Jonathan.

[00:55:15]>> In the arena for this bout, it's Chunt and Sick.

[00:55:22][snorts] >> Both deserving robots, both brand new designs. Who can pull a victory out of the bag one last time?

[00:55:31]3 [snorts] 2 [screaming] 1 activation.

[00:55:37]>> Has Sabertooth taken too much damage?

[00:55:40]Oo. And immediately Sabertooth feeling the effect of the Aftershock spinning disc. They needed to ride the problems of that spinning disc early on.

[00:55:54]And they're certainly good dish jockeyies in that aftershock team because look at Sabertooth. Oh, wonky.

[00:56:01]>> All right, steady, steady.

[00:56:05]>> Let's wait the weight.

[00:56:06]>> They're calm.

[00:56:08]They're composed. They're patient because they know they can come in for the kill. It was just too much to ask for Sabers. One bridge too far. Kill a lot toys with them. They've done brilliantly.

[00:56:19]>> Spin down. Spin down. Spin in case they start up again.

[00:56:25]>> [cheering] >> Don't he'll hit you.

[00:56:27]>> No, that's it.

[00:56:28]>> It's been an emotional night for the Aftershock boys. Will and Ian will.

[00:56:33]>> We've got a real contender here and an emotional night for Gabriel as me. Robin Al three spin down cuz he was trying to drive.

[00:56:41]>> Spin down.

[00:56:43]>> AFTER SHOT THE HEAT WINNERS.

[00:56:46]>> Well done, Will and first attack.

[00:56:50]Crucial attack.

[00:56:53]And there on the flame pit torched ashes to ashes.

[00:57:01]>> Oh, this I mean has been more emotional for you than it feels for most. Do >> you know what? We've rebuilt it twice, I think, pretty much in the pits from scratch. And the fact that we've got to this point is, I think, an amazing feat of skills, engineering, everything. And it's all down to these guys. and and we've um we we've had an amazing ride and it's been really good.

[00:57:24]>> Brilliant. Please cheers for Sabertooth.

[00:57:26]Absolutely wonderful. Thank you. Bring Al back as well.

[00:57:30]>> He's awesome. [applause] >> What is this monster you have created that has powered through this entire episode without anyone coming close to it.

[00:57:40]>> We genuinely cannot believe it. It's a big departure from Shockwave, but it definitely seems to have paid off. We learned some lessons from carbide last time and >> yeah, we just can't believe it.

[00:57:49]>> Three weeks ago, we we blew it up when we tested. We had we had to start from scratch all our weapon motor. Um we had to lose 8 kg which is a massive amount of metal to cut away from it. So we really put the hours in.

[00:58:00]>> So the bigger challenge now waits.

[00:58:01]>> Definitely. Yeah, we can't wait.

[00:58:04]>> It won and it won well the entire way through the show. It's your winner tonight. Give it up for Aftershock.

[00:58:08]>> Thank you.

[00:58:11]>> [applause and cheering] >> Well, we'll see them again in the grand final. But for now, that's all from Robot Wars. Thank you and good night.

[00:58:18]>> Good night.

[00:58:20]>> Coming soon on Robot Wars.

[00:58:22]>> We're going to make it two times Robot Wars champions. It'd be good to have another puppet Apollo. Definitely.

[00:58:39][music] [music]