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ANGELA SCANLON IS BACK AS ANOTHER BATCH OF BOTS FIGHT IT OUT IN THE ARENA…
Amateur engineers from all across the country are ready to put their robots in the arena again this weekend, as Robot Wars returns for another series – but which of them has built a bot that’s sturdy and vicious enough to emerge victorious? We called up presenter Angela Scanlon in search of a few clues…
We’ve heard there are some changes to the format this year – can you tell us all about Robot Redemption?
Yes! In the past couple of series, what we’ve felt is that some unbelievable robots, some iconic models, and some that just add
colour and heart were kind of gone after one battle and you never saw them again – so we’ve introduced the Robot Redemption part to allow for the robots that are knocked out in those first group battles to have a go at coming back in. So there’s a kind of a last bite of the cherry, if you like, which I think people are really going to love.
And what’s this we’ve been hearing about the Fog Of War? Is it horror-themed?
Well, the Fog of War is joining the Dial of Doom. We take it very seriously! The Fog of War is essentially another element that fills the whole arena with fog, so basically the roboteers can’t see where their robots – or anyone else’s – are, or what they’re doing. So it can completely change the dynamics, and while the fog is down, our house robots can go out and attack as well…
How impressed were you by the high standards of the robots in the latest series?
Oh, the arena this time around feels like it took an absolute beating because the new robots are all so powerful! There were quite a few casualties – not human ones, thank God, but panels and lights were taken out. We were all hugely thankful for that layer of bulletproof glass, which I always thought was a bit of a ‘dramatic’ addition in the first series – but now I’m very, very grateful that we’re all covered!
You’re three series in – are you any better at predicting which robots will win?
In a word: no! I’m never not rooting for the underdogs, so the poor robot that’s made of a bin with a broom on top of it is the one that I want with all my heart and soul to win! Whereas Dara [Ó Briain] is much more clinical, much more unemotional about it – he chooses the most dominant, most innovative robots. So as you can maybe tell, my heart gets broken more than Dara’s!