Qualifiers

Qualifiers
Gyrobot vs Scrap Dragon vs The Stag vs Shell Shock, a Series 6 Qualifier
Structure Information
Format	Audition (Scrutineering & obstacle course, later replaced by combat battles)
History
UK Series	Series 2-3 (Auditions) Series 4-7 (Qualifiers)

"For the first series of RW it was almost a case of "Got a robot? You're in!" These days though, it's so popular that most robots have to win several qualifying battles to earn their place."

— Robot Wars Magazine, Issue 6, on the Series 4 qualifiers

The number of hopeful competitor robots far outnumbered the available spaces in every series of Robot Wars (with the exception of Series 1). All unseeded competitors were required to undergo a screening process known as the Qualifiers (or, initially, the auditions), in order for them to appear on the televised show. The robots would perform in front of the Robot Wars production and technical crews, giving demonstrations of control and mobility for entry into Series 2 and 3, and battling against other hopefuls from Series 4 to Series 7.

For Series 2 and 3, the auditions primarily consisted of initial safety and technical checks, weigh-ins, photography sessions and an obstacle course referred to as the 'driving test'. The 'driving test' involved prospective robots negotiating through certain obstacles or accomplishing various challenges similar to those encountered in the Gauntlet and Trial stages. These included knocking a football into a goal, driving over a see-saw, driving around or into some breeze blocks/barrels, driving in a figure-of-eight around some large springs and finally driving onto a piece of wood and spinning on the spot.

Obstacles and challenges used for the 'driving test' varied in between each of the two series; footage recorded by the King Buxton team suggests that the Stock Robot Eubank the Mouse was at one point included as an obstacle in the test area for Series 2. In the Series 3 auditions, some competitors were also allowed to perform weapon tests in front of Robot Wars personnel, notably Hypno-Disc and Toecutter.

For Series 4-7, the qualifiers assumed the form of one-on-one or melee battles between two or more prospective competitors. They would take place in a modified or partially-finished version of the Robot Wars Arena, depending on which series they took place in. The arena for the qualifiers usually featured the same structural design and aesthetics as its televised counterpart of the time. Some of these formed the basis for live events available to the general public, such as Robot Mayhem (2000, Series 4) and the Robot Wars Live Event tour (2001, Series 5), which also included the use of House Robots and active arena hazards.

Because of the arena's reduced safety capacity, roboteers were told not to flip their opponents out of the arena during their qualifier battles, although this did happen occasionally. Atomic is known to have flipped out four robots in separate qualifiers, but this did not seem to affect its eventual entry into the televised show.

The roboteers would be able to enter the qualifiers with more than one robot, but would only be able to qualify with one robot, this in particular affecting Team Mouse in Series 6 and 7. However, both Team Vader and Team Ming were able to enter Series 7 with two robots each.

Some robots which failed to qualify were still used as reserves on various occasions throughout the Classic Series. Notable reserves that were brought in include V-Max, Griffon and Steg-O-Saw-Us.

The qualifiers often used the otherwise little-seen House Robots Shove and Dozer as cleaners/sweepers, as well as to push any immobilised/damaged robots to the arena entry gates if they could not be driven out on their own. Contemporary roboteer accounts confirm that Shunt was also used for this purpose at Live Event qualifiers, with the additional ability to re-right overturned hopefuls using his pneumatic scoop.

In the event that any battles ended in draws, audience members would then be asked from the host/commentator to vote for the outright winner by giving a round of applause to each competitor. The robot that received the largest and/or loudest applause from the crowd would usually qualify or fight again later in the same qualifying session. There were occasions where both robots from a head-to-head battle were equally liked by the audience, thus qualifying together from their bout.

For Series 8-10, no qualifiers took place. The qualification process for this series took the form of the producers reviewing applications sent in by potential entrants, and selecting them to compete at their own discretion. A number of robots that were not selected for Series 8 did eventually take part in an untelevised pilot episode, which was held and filmed with a live studio audience to test the camera equipment ahead of the main series. Others, like in the Classic Series, attended filming as reserves, even those which were initially not selected to compete. A notable example of a reserve from the Revival Series run is TR2, which would be drafted into and finish third in Series 8.

It is known that, for Series 4-6, cameras were present at each of the qualifier sessions and the battles were recorded so the production team could view them in order to choose which robots would appear on the televised show. Various photographs and videos have surfaced of the qualifier sessions; a section in Issue 6 of the Robot Wars Magazine detailing the Series 4 Robot Mayhem event featured photographs of some of the battles that took place. Meanwhile, two news segments aired by BBC Wales Today in 2001 featured professionally-recorded footage from the Cardiff Live Event, including clips from at least two Series 5 qualifier battles. Amateur footage and photographs of qualifier battles shot by roboteers have also surfaced online, mostly from the period between Series 5 and Series 7. Online streaming service Mech+, who have released digitally-enhanced HD versions of most of the Classic Series media, have stated that they will look into the qualifier footage to perhaps release.

History

Series 1

As so few teams entered Series 1, no qualifiers were held for that series. In fact, there was actually a shortage of robots that were able to fight in the first series, as several robots suffered breakdowns etc. leading up to and during filming.^Citation? As a result, three Stock Robots - Eubank the Mouse, WYSIWYG and Grunt - were used to make up the numbers.

"We had to check out the robots to make sure that they conformed to all the Health and Safety rules. We also wanted to meet the actual teams and the people behind the robots to make sure they knew what they were letting themselves in for."

— Stephen Carsey explains the purpose of the Series 1 'audition' (The Making of Robot Wars)

An early version of Nemesis is tested during the Series 1 'audition'

However, all competing teams were required to attend the studio four weeks before filming, to allow for their robots to be scrutineered. According to Stephen Carsey in The Making of Robot Wars, this session was considered to be the first 'audition', footage of which was included in the aforementioned behind-the-scenes special. Roboteers were allowed to showcase and test-drive their robots, mostly as partially-finished builds, and speak to technical consultants Mat Irvine and Derek Foxwell for advice and feedback. The session also gave the producers an opportunity to practice some ideas they were planning for Trials, including an early version of Labyrinth.

One robot to change drastically between the audition and the televised series was Nemesis. The incarnation seen at the audition had a taller shell, while also lacking the 'mudguards', fur and face that would become signature parts of its finished design.

Series 2

King Buxton attacks barrels in the obstacle course, in video diary footage aired as part of Robot Wars Revealed

Enough teams tried entering Series 2 to make having the auditions worthwhile. According to a letter sent to prospective entries, the sessions - informally referred to as viewings - took place on the weekend of 18-19 July 1998 at the Royal Victoria Docks, London. These comprised of the aforementioned technical and safety checks, weigh-ins, a '5 minute run around' in the obstacle course, as well as opportunities for roboteers to socialise, exchange advice and see each others' robots in person. The obstacle course itself combined elements of the Gauntlet and Trial stages, which successful applicants would have to face in the main competition.

G.B.H. at the Series 2 rehearsals, minus bodyshell and flipping Eubank the Mouse

Though held to demonstrate the functionality of prospective applicants, it was not uncommon for robots to attend the Series 2 viewings in an incomplete state. Both King Buxton and G.B.H., for example, were tested without armour, the former also attending without a working lifting weapon.

"I don’t remember many bots running very well but luckily we ran ok- just asked to run around some obstacles and hit a ball into a goal ( which we did easily compared to many others) and were promised a place on the show. We then had a few weeks to make the bodywork and complete the lifter electronics - but still I remember that we were still assembling the Robot until about 3:30 AM on the day of filming"

— Simon Harrison in 2018

Series 2 also saw the first occurrences of initially-rejected competitors being selected as reserves, occasionally replacing robots which were originally selected to compete, but were unable to for various reasons. Panda Monium, Wheelosaurus and Griffon were brought in to replace Cassius, Minotaur and Reckless Endangerment respectively. However, Cassius was able to participate in a later heat, while Minotaur and Reckless Endangerment were entered into the Super Heavyweight Championship, broadcast at the end of the series.

To allow some of the robots which were not selected a chance to compete in the televised show, a Reserve Rumble was held at the end of the series and broadcast in the Grudge Matches special. The aforementioned battle was a one-off melee between five robots which were not selected for various reasons. Despite this, there were still some robots, like Team Power's Gnasher, which were not selected to compete and did not appear on the televised show at all.

Audition Structure

Following transmitter handovers and initial registration (including team photographs where necessary), the process in which the Series 2 auditions ran was as follows:

1. Weigh-ins.
2. Robot photographs and measurements.
3. Technical check/inspections.
4. Practice run (obstacle course, five minutes maximum).

Series 3

Toecutter demonstrates its weapon at the auditions

Series 3 saw a considerable leap in the number of robots applying to participate, as 600 robots came to apply to feature on the televised show. It was not decided at the time of auditions that Series 3 would have no Gauntlet and Trial stages, so a Gauntlet-style obstacle course was still used to assess potential competitors. As more robots were applying, the judging was much more strict than it was in the previous series. For example, some robots, such as the original Major Tom, completed the course, but were still refused entry into the televised show. Conversely, some robots, such as Milly-Ann Bug, were permitted entry without having to go through an audition.

Series 3 saw more reserve robots appearing in the main competition outright, with Binky, Flipper and Steg-O-Saw-Us replacing Daisy, The Parthian Shot and T-Wrecks respectively. Nevertheless, there were still many reserves, notably Wolverine, which would ultimately go unused.

A few robots which were not selected to compete in the main competition would still appear in the televised Series 3, competing in some of the side competitions such as Robotic Soccer and Pinball. Some of these, such as Six Pac and Dominator, would prove especially competitive in these side events. However, some robots which successfully entered the main competition, such as Evil Weevil, Razer and Killerhurtz, also competed in Robotic Soccer and Pinball, ostensibly to compare non-selected robots to robots which had been chosen for the main series.

The Series 3 auditions were held at the end of May 1999, over five months before the Series was filmed.

Series 4

Main article: Robot Mayhem

A two-page spread on Robot Mayhem from the original Robot Wars Magazine (Issue 6, pp.20-21)

A record-breaking 'over 1000' teams applied for this series, with 320 being chosen to qualify through the official Robot Mayhem live event. The switch to combat-only qualifiers not only reflected the change already evident in the televised series, but also a significantly increased uptake in prospective applicants around this time.

Qualifiers now consisted solely of head-to-head battles between hopeful competitors, which gave the possibility of draws being declared in the event that there was no clear winner. Ninety-six of the proposed 128 places would be decided through this method, with all 32 of the seeded robots for this series qualifying automatically. The televised Fourth Wars, however, would only feature 96 robots in the main competition altogether, including the already predetermined seeds.

The application form for the Series 4 qualifiers initially addressed this stage as the First Round Qualifying Tournament, possibly inferring that there was an initial proposal to form a mini-competition around these battles. As well as the Judges, members of the Robot Wars production staff would also oversee decisions if more than one robot survived a full fight. Provisional dates were listed as between 24 July and 12 August 2000, in between filming sessions for American Robot Wars 2000 and the main televised series. Though the qualifiers did not form part of the overall Series 4 championship format, the application form suggests the possibility that certain battles were planned to be televised at one stage.

Finalised dates for the Series 4 qualifiers were between 24 July and 3 August - the timeframe for the Robot Mayhem event - with an additional set of rehearsals on 22 July. Six battles were held per day, still formally referred to as the Qualifying Tournament in invitation forms and adopting a knockout format similar to the main show. Audience votes were introduced as part of the live show format, enabling spectators to weigh their consensus on potential hopefuls at the end of battles.

Competing robots would only be required to fight on one of the scheduled days, and would be guaranteed to fight at least once subject to passing technical checks. Upon winning their initial draw, robots could potentially take part in as many as two or three battles during their allocated session. It was estimated, according to the form, that three wins were required to secure a place in the televised series, such was the high level of competition expected.

Though the original application form suggested that these would take place in an 'unobstructed arena', as was to be the case in later series, the Robot Mayhem qualifiers would use House Robots and some of the arena hazards in similar ways to televised competitions.

Mincer, an example of a robot which won its qualifier battle but did not qualify for Series 4

Due to some of these battles being decidedly 'boring', even robots that won their qualifier battles were refused entry into the televised show, such as Dantomkia, Mincer and Sharky. Conversely, discretionary places were awarded to robots exemplifying 'creativity, innovation and team-spirit', or which had been considered to put on more entertaining performances regardless of whether they won, lost or drew. The latter condition proved especially pivotal in audience votes, enabling machines such as Robochicken and Dominator 2 to qualify despite drawing or losing their initial qualifiers.

V-Max, which originally failed to qualify, was selected as a reserve, and replaced Onslaught after it withdrew from the main competition at the last minute. There were other reserves for the Fourth Wars, notably Charybdis, which went unused.

Unlike Series 3, no robot that failed to qualify participated in side events that were held during filming of the main competition.

Series 5

Main article: Robot Wars Live Events

Advertisement from the Robot Wars Magazine promoting the Live Events serving as the Series 5 qualifiers

The 2001 Live Event arena; audience member's view from the Birmingham stage

Like the previous series, the majority of Series 5 qualifiers were also staged in front of a live audience to promote the upcoming series, forming part of the 2001 Robot Wars Live Event tour. Eight such events took place at Glasgow, Manchester, Cardiff, Sheffield, Birmingham, Newcastle, London and Wembley respectively, with qualifiers again utilising House Robots and functioning hazards such as the Pit of Oblivion. Most of the battles were still head-to-heads, although melees were often used to quicken the judging and selection processes.

Panic Attack fights Evil Weevil in a Cardiff qualifier, televised by BBC Wales Today

A qualifier melee involving the eventual fourth seeds Razer

An August 2001 Northern Echo article states that around 3,500 robots applied for Series 5 in total. A letter received by Team Panda alternatively stated that 900 were claimed to have auditioned for the series, presumably including those competing on the Live Event tour.

At the time of the qualifiers, most of the top 16 seeds had already been decided, with ten provisional places being featured in souvenir programmes handed out for the Live Event tour. As the total number of seeds was reduced from 32 to 24, the remaining eight seeds were decided during the Live Event qualifiers. One example was the nineteenth seed, which was given to returning Heat Finalist Mini Morg following its appearance at the Cardiff leg. Some already-seeded robots - such as Razer and Panic Attack - would nevertheless compete in qualifiers themselves to test potential hopefuls, the former even taking part as a 'guest' House Robot on occasions.

For most of the Live Events, a 'heat' structure was adopted for the qualifiers (dubbed Metal Mayhem), with robots being typically allocated into groups of four. There would be two one-on-one first-round battles, the winners of which would then fight each other in the 'final' for an automatic place in the televised Series 5. For example, S3 and Dynachrome fought one other robot each each before facing off against each other. S3 won the 'final', automatically qualifying as a result. Regional championships are also documented to have been integrated into the head-to-head 'heat' format, such as the "North West Championship" awarded to T-Bone following its victories at the Manchester event.

Cataclysmic Variabot and Toecutter 2 do battle in a qualifier for Series 5

Dome vs Vader

Following the conclusion of the Live Event tour, additional qualifiers were held on 22, 23 and 24 August at Elstree Studios, shortly before filming of the main series started. These differed from the Live Event battles in that the arena was unobstructed and did not appear to have any House Robots or active hazards. No audience members were allowed to view these qualifiers, the overall process being very similar to that adopted for Series 6-7.

Despite the above information, winning a battle still did not guarantee a robot's place in the main competition. Robots such as Cataclysmic Variabot and Barbaric Response failed to qualify despite winning their battles. Conversely, some robots which lost their battles, such as Kat 3, were awarded discretionary places.

Some robots, such as Spirit of Knightmare and Arnold A. Terminegger, despite failing to qualify for the Fifth Wars, would still enter competitions in the first series of Robot Wars Extreme, which were filmed prior to or at the same time as the main series.

Dutch Series 1

An interim version of MaxiMill demolishes breeze blocks during Dutch Series 1 rehearsals

For the first series of Dutch Robot Wars, the rehearsal model was adopted for scrutineering, testing and team selections ahead of the televised series. Rehearsals took place at Eindhoven, The Netherlands, in June 2001; teams who were chosen would travel by road and Eurotunnel shuttle to Elstree Studios, England, for filming. Official footage of the rehearsals and selection processes was aired in the one-off BNN special Robot Wars: The Kick-Off, serving as a preview for the then soon-to-be-launched Dutch Series.

The process in which the rehearsals were carried out was not too dissimilar to the auditions from UK Series 2-3. Teams were permitted to bring 'prototype' versions of their machines for inspection and testing, leading to many arriving at the site incomplete and/or with design differences from their finalised incarnations. Pika and MaxiMill are two competitors known to have arrived in completely different incarnations to those seen in the televised Dutch Series 1; the latter was represented by a version similar to that originally competing in Extreme Series 1. In spite of the aforementioned view on 'prototype' and incomplete robots, the 'decoration' criteria still emphasised completeness as key to selection. PullverizeR is known to have been chosen for having a fully-completed construction and paint scheme.

Alongside weigh-ins and technical inspections, a variety of indoor and outdoor tests were organised to showcase drive, weapon and/or self-righting capabilities. The majority of these took place in an enclosed test arena sectioned off by metal barriers.

Series 6

Haardervark and Velocirippa at the Series 6 qualifiers

For Series 6, the qualifiers were mostly four-way melees, like the first-round battles in the televised show, however some consisted of only two or three robots depending on availability. Unlike past series, each robot was strictly limited to one qualifier battle in most cases, and the winners would be guaranteed qualification. However, losers could still be awarded discretionary places.

One applicant, Atomic, is known to have withdrawn after successfully qualifying for the series. Though it won its qualifier battle against Steg 3 and was selected on that criteria, the Atomic team were not able to attend filming.

Robots in The Pits during the Series 6 qualifiers

Unlike Series 5, all of the Series 6 qualifiers were held at RAF Newton, with the arena closely resembling the form it took in the televised series. No active hazards or House Robots were featured in any of the qualifier battles, a practice which was to be repeated in Series 7. As the qualifiers were no longer held as a live event, the battles would not be held in front of an audience, with only producers and crew members serving as spectators in the seating areas.

Notably, future series champions Typhoon 2 would fail to qualify for this series after losing its qualifier battle.

8645T 2 was disqualified from the qualifiers altogether, after suffering weapon switch issues and damaging the arena floor mid-battle.

Team Mouse had successfully qualified with both Mighty Mouse and Velocirippa, but as the team was only able to enter the televised show with one robot, Velocirippa had to be withdrawn.

Some robots, such as Lightning, Cerberus and Typhoon 2, despite failing to qualify for Series 6, would still fight in competitions in the second series of Extreme, filmed a few months later that same year. In particular, robots such as Mad Dog, Chip and Pressure got their first chance to appear on the show in the New Blood Championship, broadcast as part of the latter. The production crew looked at recordings made at the Series 6 qualifiers to decide on some of the competitors for the New Blood, as well as reading applications.

Series 7

Various teams line up for the Series 7 qualifiers

The Series 7 qualifiers, taking place on 22-23 August 2003, adopted the same format as those of Series 6, comprising of melees between up to four robots. Qualification was guaranteed for the winners, with other robots being granted discretionary places on a case-by-case basis. Around 200 robots attempted to qualify for this series. Though not needing to fight, seeded robots were also required to be present for technical checks ahead of the televised series.

For the first time in the UK Championship, teams from outside the UK attempted to qualify. Twenty-two roboteers from eastern and central Europe pooled their money for transportation to the qualifiers. Arthur Chilcott of Random Violence Technologies even allowed them to use his back garden as a campground. Of the teams which failed to qualify, some of those would still fight for the right to enter in the Third World Championships, held at the end of the series.

Gyrobot battles Terror Turtle, while Fluffy lies immobile

For the second consecutive series, Typhoon 2 lost its qualifier battle, this time to Ewe 2, losing alongside Big Nipper and Araknia. However, it, Big Nipper and Araknia were all given discretionary places for the Seventh Wars, with Typhoon 2 eventually going on to win the series.

Once again, Team Mouse were forced to only qualify with one robot, this time opting for Velocirippa, but Mighty Mouse was still listed as a reserve, and later brought in for Heat J, due to the team living nearby to the studio and being able to make it to filming in a short amount of time.

M2 flips King B Powerworks, with Pressure and Thunderpants in the background

Despite the rule of only entering one robot per team, Team Ming was able to enter the Seventh Wars with Ming Dienasty and Zorro. Vader and IG-88, the two robots built by Team Vader, both entered the Seventh Wars because they were entered as separate teams.

"...I entered Vader seperately {sic} to Paul Rose who entered IG-88. Whilst I was involved in assisting with the build of IG-88, I never appeared with the machine or was listed on the entry forms. My entry of Vader was a fairly late decision as I was at a loose end and the machine was just sitting in the garage, and then surprisingly during the qualifying "auditions" it was unbelievably dominant in it's heat."

— Simon Latham on Facebook

The Arena used for the Qualifiers

There were some occurrences during the Seventh Wars where reserves could have potentially been brought in, but were not. Terrorhurtz was disqualified from its heat due to a behind-the-scenes technicality, while Thunderpants was red-carded by Refbot after it was unable to leave its entry gate just before its first-round battle. In both cases, no reserves were allocated to take their places, and the first-round battles they were scheduled to fight in began without them. Tanto had been considered as a reserve, but for unknown reasons was not brought in to fight when Thunderpants broke down.

"Even fifty feet or more away, the noise from the Arena was frightening: an air-horn would signal the start of a fight, and then there would be some tremendous crashes. My wife and children went round to watch some: there were no house robots or special effects (pit, flame pit, etc), just straight combat watched by the producer and a few other judges. Although we had been told to wear our 'costumes' (in our case, black T-shirts with 'Team Zoid' labels stuck on them) there was no filming, which was a disappointment."

— Roboteer account of the Series 7 qualifiers (Andrew Wylie, Skorpizoid)

According to Andrew Wylie, team captain of series applicant Skorpizoid, no official filming is known to have taken place at the Series 7 qualifiers, in stark contrast to public knowledge available for the Series 4-6 qualifiers.

See Also

• The Robot Wars Wiki's list of known qualifier battles that took place from Series 4-7 can be found here.
• The wiki's list of known robots that failed to qualify or were not selected for each series can be found here.
• Video of The Stag vs Gyrobot vs Scrap Dragon vs Shell Shock (Series 6)
• Video of Gyrobot vs Terror Turtle vs Fluffy (Series 7)
• Video of M2 vs King B Powerworks vs Pressure vs Thunderpants (Series 7)
• Video of Gravity vs Mechaniac vs RCC 2 (Series 7)