The Extreme

* Season 1.5
* Season 1

"*The Extreme, NO LIMIT!*"
— Lu Zhaoyang, pre-match interview for *This is Fighting Robots* (translated)

**极限号** (romanized as **jí xiàn hào** and roughly translated as **Limit Number**, **Unlimited Numbers**, **Extreme Number**, **The Extreme** or **Utmost** (Mech+)) was a robot from Guangzhou, China which debuted in the first season of *King of Bots*. In the former season, it lost its only battle to the powerful drum spinner of Rust Boar.

The Extreme would return for the 2018 spin-off *This is Fighting Robots*, where in the subtitled English version released by Mech+, it was alternatively referred to as **Mechanical Buckle** or **Extreme One** on two separate occasions. This version enjoyed equally limited success as its predecessor, where it was not selected by any celebrity team managers to compete following its preliminary group battle.

## Design

"*What China currently lacks in robot combat is experience. We have just started in the past few years, so our robot structure is in a state of plagiarism... I don't want foreigners to think that our robots are all plagiarized...that is, I will take practical actions to change their thinking, because my robots are original!*"
— Lu Zhaoyang's prematch interview, *This is Fighting Robots* (translated)

The Extreme was particularly lengthy, using six wheels for movement, with a pair of four total wheels at the back, and two at the front. Its weaponry and locomotion were supported by a complex system of chain drives, which were a source of pride for the team, leading to them being exposed across the robot. It was armed with a set of modular cutting discs, which surrounded the front and sides of the robots, all driven by one singular chain system for a top speed of 1,000rpm. This gave the robot several angles of attack, although the robot could not self-right when flipped over.

As an extension of the team's background in RC model car racing (see The Team), The Extreme was designed to emphasize 'control, rapid attack and precise control' as their primary strategy. Though boasting a top speed of 6 meters per second (21.6km/h or approximately 13.4mph), it had a notably large turning circle. The Extreme was thus unable to change direction on the spot, like most modern robots, which proved costly in battle.

The Extreme entered *This is Fighting Robots* with considerable changes to its weapons, body and appearance. Alterations to the robot for this series included a two-tone orange color scheme instead of its former black and blue scheme, a new bodyshell concealing its rear wheels and the replacement of its cutting discs with pairs of three or four-toothed spinning blades. A narrow front-hinged self-righting arm was also added to the top of The Extreme, supported by a pair of large metal bars.

## The Team

Builder Lu Zhaoyang - 44 years old at the time of The Extreme's Season 1 campaign - entered the show with a background in professional RC car racing. Over a 30-year career in this field, Zhaoyang had won multiple national championships alongside teammates Zhu Feng and Lu Da Chao, both also professional RC car racers.

## Robot History

### King of Bots (Season 1)

The Extreme drove straight out of the starting square in an attempt to negate the drum spinner of Rust Boar, but the immediate contact with the drum caused The Extreme to be knocked upwards, and a chain powering its weaponry fell loose, leaving The Extreme without a form of attack. It briefly destabilized Rust Boar with a slam, but sustained a direct blow to the side of The Extreme. Rust Boar drove under The Extreme using its drum, but The Extreme pushed it into a corner where the hammer was brought down on Rust Boar.

However, despite instigating this attack, The Extreme's poor turning circle meant that it struggled to leave that corner of the arena, and was struck by the hammer itself. This allowed Rust Boar to line up an attack which tossed the maximum one into the air, inflicting damage. The Extreme managed to escape slowly, but drove over the flame jets. It was at this stage that The Extreme had exposed its back end to Rust Boar, and the drum spinner ripped pieces away from The Extreme before barging it into an arena drum, which turned The Extreme over through a combination of both spinners. The Extreme was left stranded on its back with no method of self-righting, so it was immediately counted out, and eliminated from the tournament after just a minute of combat.

### This is Fighting Robots (Season 1.5)

A returning The Extreme was not chosen by any of the celebrities in their initial selection process; as a result, it was required to fight in a preliminary rumble in order to impress the celebrities. There, it fought fellow *King of Bots* Season 1 returnee Griffin Mk II as well as newcomers Lieutenant Bam and Yesaji.

Highlights of this battle were briefly shown as part of Episode 2; at the start, The Extreme drove straight towards Lieutenant Bam, only to be quickly scooped up by Yesaji. Later on, it was clamped and pushed into one of the grinder mounts by Griffin Mk II, the impact momentarily throwing both robots off the arena floor. The Extreme continued to be pushed, dragged and lifted by Griffin Mk II, and as before had the chain powering its spinning weapons dislodged as it was being carried by the British machine. Ultimately, The Extreme was not selected by any of the celebrity team captains during the battle itself, and did not progress to the main competition.

But in the VIP version showing the full battle process, The Extreme was picked by Zheng Shuang at the beginning of the fight, The Extreme was caught by Griffin Mk II using the weapon for most of the fight, but in the later part of the fight, it was picked by Yesaji Pushed to the wall, then Yesaji malfunctioned and stopped moving, and finally The Extreme attacked the malfunctioning Griffin Mk II, after the battle, due to unknown reasons, it was still eliminated, Be the only case selected by celebrity but eliminated

Despite this, Yellow team captain Sa Beining briefly considered selecting The Extreme as his replacement for withdrawn Turkish competitor Mad Moustache - however, Beining decided to give the UK entry 008 the final place in the Yellow team instead.

## Results

### Wins/Losses

* Wins: 0
* Losses: 1

*NOTE: the maximum one' group battle in This is Fighting Robots is not considered to be a win or a loss.*

## Trivia

* The team captain was a professional RC car builder for over thirty years.
* The concept of "unlimited numbers" is known as **infinity**, but it is not this would be an accurate translation of the robot's name.
* The Extreme is the only example of Selected by celebrities but eliminated

## External Links

* the maximum one' profile on the *King of Bots* website (Chinese, archived)
* Lu Zhaoyang on prematch interview of This is Fighting Robots (Chinese)

1. ↑ https://youtu.be/nsUHl6nRLDg?list=PLmHvcli\_9mkRn5W8IC4hxNgAH93dbuwPL&t=2683
2. ↑ https://youtu.be/1AncX-iGrCE?list=PLB\_lie3fxsamDKZApYlsBMZdUef\_uTrOD&t=1632
3. ↑ https://youtu.be/o1i1tHXPQac