Top 10 Robot Wars Series 9 Competitors

The robot everyone was afraid of in the previous series returns even deadlier than ever. The bar now has a quicker spin-up speed, and the weapon motor was custom-made by the team. Despite being in the same heat as reigning champions Apollo, it was no match for Carbide's ferocious spinner.

It won its heat quite comfortably, and in the Finals, it got a knockout against every opponent it fought. In the Grand Final, Eruption lasted longer than most, but as it was essentially limping, it was really a case of Carbide hitting it until it stopped working.

Carbide ended up winning the championship with the most dominant champions run since Chaos 2 in Series 3.

After a rather unfortunate early exit in the previous series, the Eruption team returned just as determined as ever. It showed no mercy in its heat, flipping the likes of Behemoth and PP3D out of the arena, and flipping out Cherub twice.

In the Finals, Michael Oates' driving skills and tactical brilliance were on full display, with its only loss being to Carbide. After winning a brilliant fight with Aftershock, it made it to the Grand Final to fight Carbide again. Eruption was very heavily damaged going in, but it was prepared to give all it could take, and was able to last a good couple of minutes before Carbide struck the killer blow.

Eruption ended up finishing second in the series.

The team that previously had Shockwave returns with an all-new design, Aftershock. This robot was a different beast entirely. A big vertical flywheel can flip over and tear up bots, and self-right if it gets flipped. It was very convincing in its heat, taking out the expensive Rapid, making a wreck out of Sabretooth, and even writing off reigning champion Apollo.

The run ended when it fought Carbide and lost in an underwhelming fight. While they fought two more fights afterward, the damage Carbide caused proved too great, and Aftershock lost both of them (its last fight being a very good fight with Eruption).

In my eyes, the most unlucky robot in Series 8 gets another chance in the most destructive heat in the series. Ironside 3 had opponents like Apex, Pulsar, and Supernova to deal with. However, better durability and weapon reliability meant that Ironside 3 held up the best and won the heat.

Compared to Carbide, however, its heavier weapon takes longer to spin up, so it has to play a more defensive game. In the Finals, Carbide broke its srimech early on, and that cost it dearly against Eruption when it got flipped. It had some luck then against a heavily damaged Aftershock, before getting trashed by Carbide.

After its previous elimination, it was nice to see the team do better here and finish a deserving 3rd place.

The reigning champion's title defense was never going to be easy, as it had the misfortune of being in the same heat as the dangerous Carbide. It performed brilliantly in its first round melee, engaging with all the opponents, but its first fight against Carbide didn't end well for Apollo.

It made a comeback in the next two fights, even getting an out-of-the-arena flip on Coyote, and it fought Carbide again in the final. The bot seemed to drive better, but the flipper just wouldn't work, and Apollo got knocked out again. It got the wildcard in the Grand Final, but as it was already quite badly damaged, it was easy pickings for Aftershock.

Apollo may have lost the title, but the team still embodied the spirit of the show and provided a lot of fun.

Entered by a brand new team from Dorset, Concussion boasted a nasty-looking drum spinner. It got through its first round melee, taking out Tauron in the process. After an initial scare of getting stuck on the pit, it came back and got a win over Thor.

It was all going well until it got to MR Speed Squared. Its drive motors burned out, and it couldn't finish off its opponent. It still got the win, though, and went on to fight Thor in the finals. It won the fight again, but the motor burnouts were becoming quite a regular occurrence. In the Finals, it then got knocked out by Carbide in no time at all.

For a debut entry, this was very impressive, and the team would only get better from here on out.

Robot Wars' lone wolf, Jason Marston, returns with a reworked Thor. It had some teething issues in its first round melee, but when it got going, it took out Chimera 2. It then lost to Concussion when its CO2 tank vented, and then it got flipped and was unable to self-right.

It then made a comeback by taking out MR Speed Squared and Heavy Metal very convincingly. It fought Concussion again in the final, but try as he might, Jason just couldn't get a good blow in with the axe. Then the CO2 went again, and Thor lost on a judge's decision.

I personally think Jason also made a tactical error in using the front plow, as opposed to the dustpan wedge, which I think would've worked much better.

This unlikely finalist from the previous series returns with the bot reworked from the ground up. It now has a srimech, and the drum is bigger and chunkier. It got quick knockouts on robots like Apex and Supernova, but reliability was a big problem here.

It kept burning out its drive motors, the first case being in its first fight against Ironside 3 (where, due to the confusing circumstances, the judges declared the fight a draw). In its Heat Final against Ironside 3, the reliability issues were too much of a hindrance, and it lost the fight. Despite having the most points of all the finalists, there really was no chance to get it repaired again for the potential wildcard.

The Behemoth team returned once again, this time with some new modular scoops depending on the current situation. It got through the first fight with relative ease but then lost to Eruption after getting tossed out of the arena.

Against PP3D, it used the new spinner-killer plow, which worked well and got Behemoth a win. However, in its fight against Cherub, the team used an experimental grabber weapon which had never been tested before. The weapon failed, and Cherub ended up winning on a judge's decision, costing Behemoth its place in the Heat Final.

It was such a frustrating way to go out, and Anthony, in particular, was annoyed with his team for not listening to him when he wanted to go with the original scoop.

Builder Gabriel Stroud had been competing on Robot Wars since Series 5, and up until this point had never won a televised fight. His moment to shine came when he entered the most deadly and compact version of Sabretooth yet. Riding high on the success of getting through the first round melee, Sabretooth then caused a shock by knocking out Terrorhurtz.

However, against Aftershock it got absolutely trashed. The repair job was heavy and it was never really the same afterward. It lost its next fight to Jellyfish, then in the Heat Final against Aftershock, it didn't stand a chance.

Still, it was worth it to see Gabe get his moment of glory.