The BBC Is Bringing Back Robot Wars, The Original Robot Fighting Show

The BBC Is Bringing Back Robot Wars, The Original Robot Fighting Show

Sure, BattleBots was cool, but let’s not forget the real father of Robot TV deathmatches broadcast for our pleasure: the classic BBC series Robot Wars. Fans of violent robotic combat rejoice then, because the BBC are bringing back the series with more robots, and some mandatory science bits to distract you from the FIGHTING ROBOTS.

Robot Wars ran on the BBC between 1998 and 2003, and was hugely popular at the time. BattleBots itself branched off from the original idea for the United States version of Robot Wars, sparking a plethora of spin offs across the world. The new series will be filmed at a new custom built Robo-arena in Glasgow, Scotland and will once again task amateur robot builders to create and control their own mecha-gladiators to do battle for the right to be crowned champion.

The six-episode season will have a new format that highlights the technology and science that goes into creating these modern robot competitors. Considering that it’s been over a decade since Robot Wars was around, there’s been enough advances in robotics that it will make for fascinating viewing alongside robots shredding and burning each other into ruined piles of scrap. Back in the day you were impressed if a robot had a self-righting mechanism to flip itself back up if it was knocked over. Even more so if it had a whirling buzzsaw of doom. Imagine what sort of chaos could occur with the tech we have today?

Though there’s no word on just when Robot Wars will return in the UK, it’s certainly possible that an Australian broadcaster will pick up the revived series for Australian audiences.

After all, murderous robot battles are something that can be universally appreciated.

[BBC Media Center]


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