T.R.A.C.I.E. (which stands for Terrestrial Robotic Artificial Computerised Intelligent Engine) was the first invertible combat robot seen on the British TV series Robot Wars. The robot was built by staff and students at King Edward VI Grammar School in Chelmsford. It took part in the first series of the BBC show in 1998, reaching the Grand Final.
Another robot named S.H.A.R.O.N. was due to compete in the third series but was rejected by producers.
One of the students involved with the project was Inbetweeners star Joe Thomas.
T.R.A.C.I.E. competed in the final Heat (Heat F) of the first series of Robot Wars UK. In the Gauntlet stage of the heat, T.R.A.C.I.E took the left route. It crawled past house robot Sergeant Bash, only to stop just past halfway and get attacked by the house robots, when cease was called, it had been calculated that T.R.A.C.I.E. had covered a distance of only 8.70 metres, finishing 4th on the leaderboard, therefore enough for T.R.A.C.I.E. to progress to the Trial stage of the Heat.
Here, T.R.A.C.I.E. narrowly avoided elimination from the competition in the Snooker Trial having pocketed the joint least number of balls (0), it became impaled on the side netting almost immediately with its spikes, keeping it there in position until cease was called long afterwards. However, the stock robot for the heat, The Mouse, who also pocketed no balls, was said to have irreparably broken down as it was not allowed to compete in the arena. Despite this, The Mouse was moving for longer before stopping than T.R.A.C.I.E. was.
In the Arena stage of the Heat, T.R.A.C.I.E. defeated Heat favourites Prince of Darkness by puncturing both of its large tyres with its front spike weapons. T.R.A.C.I.E. finished the fight on the grille, unable to fight, but Prince of Darkness was already declared immobilised by the judges.
T.R.A.C.I.E. was again the far more aggressive in the Heat Final battle against Skarab, who had its radio contol mast snapped off. T.R.A.C.I.E. then attacked house robot Sergeant Bash as revenge for holding it up in the Gauntlet stage. However, it sustained no major damage from the house robot. The battle went to a judges' decision, and the judges voted in favour of T.R.A.C.I.E., putting it through to the Grand Final of the First Wars, which aired later on in the program.
Tracie Cunning Plan T.R.A.C.I.E. is eliminated from the Grand Final In the Grand Final, T.R.A.C.I.E. was in a six-way melee for the title and was placed up against Bodyhammer, Robot The Bruce, Cunning Plan, Recyclopse and Roadblock. Despite a strong start in the battle, where T.R.A.C.I.E. speared Recyclopse's weak side, it was immobilised not long into the battle when it drove up onto the supposedly out of control Cunning Plan and got wedged there due to its low ground clearance. Its weight, however, was too much for the featherweight Cunning Plan to move either robot, they were both declared immobilised immediately and ruled out of the title.
This could be seen as a breach of the rules, which in later series firmly stated that robots stuck in a, deadly or otherwise, embrace must be separated whilst the competition was paused.
At just 52.9 kg, T.R.A.C.I.E. was one of the lightest heavyweights in the competition at the time; by modern weight regulations, it would be classed as a middleweight. It was also the only Grand Finalist in any series whose team didn't qualify for another.