Clash Bots

**Controversial**
***KNOCKOUT!*** - Kathryn Godfrey

The contents of this page have been noted as controversial among the robotics community. Exercise caution while reading.

**Reason:** Throughout both the filming and distribution of Clash Bots in 2018, the production was marred with controversies and incriminating allegations. Due to these allegations and the producing companies heavily featured sponsorship with Kentucky Fried Chicken, the competition has been derided as the "KFC Death Camps" by builders and fans alike.

## Overview

**Clash Bots** (Chinese: *机器人争霸*), sometimes shortened to **CBS**, was a Chinese television show which aired from March to June 2018. The show followed the success of *King of Bots*, a robot combat show which premiered a year prior.

The show aired exclusively on the online video platform iQIYI, taking up an 8pm timeslot every Thursday. Following the conclusion of the competition, no future seasons of *Clash Bots* were commissioned and the show went into hiatus.

Filmed in the capital, Beijing, *Clash Bots* saw heavyweight robots from Asia, Europe, the United States and Brazil compete to become the overall champion. Fights and other events took place within the *Clash Bots* Arena, which took heavy inspiration from the US show *BattleBots* and its BattleBox. *Clash Bots* also had a smaller tabletop-style arena for driving practice, which itself was inspired by the Fight to the Finish arena from *Robotica*.

*Clash Bots* was presented by Zhao Lixin, with celebrity faces Angelababy, Sheng Yilun, Li Chen and Lin Gengxin captaining each of the four teams. Commentary was provided by Yan Zijing and Guan Zeyuan. The show was produced by iQIYI senior vice president Chen Wei.

## Format

*Clash Bots* followed a unique format, as it was not a straight competition. Episodes included 1v1 battles, rumbles featuring multiple robots and even themed demolition tasks held between team captains. The competition followed numerous phases:

### First Phase

30 robots were selected to compete in this phase of the competition. Of these, two robots were granted automatic seeds and were able to skip these qualifiers - AU Thumper and Spicy Newt. The remaining 28 fought in 1v1 battles to split the field in half.

### Second Phase

The 14 victorious robots were joined by AU Thumper and Spicy Newt, and each celebrity captain was drafted a team of robots.

The remaining robots fought in more 1v1 battles to earn wins for their respective team captain. However, only 12 robots fought in these. The six winning robots advanced in the competition, whereas the losing six robots were relegated into a field which later took part in destruction challenges.

### Demolition Task #1

Towards the end of Episode 2, the first demolition task took place. Four robots controlled by the celebrity captains were selected to destroy wooden crates and metal boxes, which revealed either red or blue smoke when destroyed. The items containing blue smoke scored 1 point, meaning the corresponding team could select one more robot for their roster, whereas each item containing red smoke scored 2 points, meaning the task's winner could add two robots to their team. The robots were not fighting against one another, instead earning an advantage for their team. The crates and metal boxes were prepared by two industrial diggers sporting *Clash Bots* logos.

Hurricane, controlled by Angelababy, ultimately destroyed the red crate worth 2 additions to her team. The other celebrity captains earned 1 addition to their teams by destroying blue crates with Love Hug, Brain Storm and Eggbeater.

## Competitors

All competing robots in *Clash Bots* are listed below. As well as these, House Robots were produced for the show, named Crocodile and Dominator.

 Dark Wolf | 黑狼
 Flame Tyrannosaurus | 赤焰暴龍
 Spicy Newt | 火蜥蜴
 Toxic Fangs | 毒牙

## Star Robots

Category:Clash Bots Competitors

Star robots were built by *Clash Bots* producers (with the exception of **Battle Ax** and **Smilodon**) and took part take part in several fights across the series, including the initial four-way celebrity battle.

## Boss Robots

These robots acted as bosses in special competition formats. Several of these, including Cloud Beast and Red Spider, were repainted versions of entrants from the main competition.

(previously Soaring Shell)
(previously Black Bull)

## Controversy

Throughout both the filming and distribution of *Clash Bots* in 2018, the production was marred with controversies and incriminating allegations. Due to these allegations and the producing companies heavily featured sponsorship with Kentucky Fried Chicken, the competition has been derided as the "KFC Death Camps" by builders and fans alike.

### Plagiarism

Within its robotic field, *Clash Bots* attempted to model their competitors after *Robot Wars* and *BattleBots* alumni, with some designs less subtle than others. According to builder Craig Danby of Hyena, production rejected his original design of a scorpion-esque walker due to their wishes for a bot that closely resembled his *Robot Wars* entry Foxic, leading to Hyena's creation.

In addition, the production team themselves created Soaring Shell, a near-identical copy of *Robot Wars* champion Apollo, prompting heavy condemnation from Apollo's Team MAD on social media and the wider community.

Although to a lesser degree, the robot Sparta held more than a slight resemblance to *BattleBots* competitor Mohawk, which competed in the first three seasons of *BattleBots* on ABC and Discovery. Driven by John Findlay, who also fought with Ripper and Smasher, Sparta ultimately lost out to Dark Wolf.

During Episode 5 of *Clash Bots*, celebrities were shown to a mini arena to test driving robots in. This arena was square, raised high above the floor and featured four barriers which would retract after a set amount of time. This mini arena bore a remarkably strong resemblance to the Fight to the Finish arena which featured heavily within all three seasons of the TLC show *Robotica*.

### Roboteer Neglect

The most notable events to spawn from *Clash Bots* production, however, were the tales of the treatment of competitors during filming. According to Craig Danby, 20-hour production days in the winters of Beijing were common, with builders being prohibited from leaving the venue until production was concluded for the day. In addition to the poor living conditions, participants were only fed cold, sometimes moldy KFC chicken in accordance with their sponsor.

Safety was also not a main priority during filming, with no railings on entrance and exit ramps, leading to Chris Danby injuring himself. Rather than seeking proper medical treatment, Danby was put on copious amounts of painkillers in order to get through the production process.

Due to these conditions, both rumors and confirmations circulated of competitors deliberately sabotaging their fights in an attempt to depart early. After filming, many robots were kept and confiscated by the production company due to contractual stipulation, despite being told that the robots would be shipped by by *Clash Bots* production after the event. This was alluded to by several competitors, and confirmed on Reddit by the Angry Frog team. Even robots that were not built by production or even for the competition such as Spicy Newt, which first competed as **Poison Arrow** on *BattleBots*, were impacted by this.

"*They kept everyone's bot... I'm nearly done making a new one for RoboGames.*"
— The Angry Frog team on Reddit
When the team behind Princess of Wales attempted to reach out to rent their robot, the funding companies informed them that the robot had been damaged in a warehouse, prompting mass suspicion and scrutiny from fans.

"*Sad news today, we've had a message from the Clash Bots TV company. Princess of Wales has been destroyed. There was some sort of accident in the warehouse apparently. We know she was not a real dragon and we know she was unlikely to ever return home, but it is still sad to learn that she no longer exists. We've worked really hard for several years to buy her back, or lease her from them, to get her home and show her off, as she was April's first complete solo design, and she loved her. (we all did) We know there are bigger problems in the world and we are not after sympathy, but we know a few of you liked our dragon, so we wanted to say goodbye to her on here.*"
— Team GlitterBomb on Facebook
Only a few robots are known to have survived, including Hyena and Ripper.

### Mobile Game

Released following the show's airing, the *Clash Bots* Mobile Game featured numerous stolen robot designs from within and outside of *Clash Bots*. Chief among which were clones of the UK *Robot Wars* champion **Razer** and the submitted CAD for *Clash Bots* third-place finisher AU Thumper.

## Trivia

* *Clash Bots* had the shortest run of any televised robot combat show, with just a single series airing.
* *Clash Bots* was the only television show whose main sponsor was a fast food chain - KFC.

## References

1. ↑ https://www.reddit.com/r/battlebots/comments/7zla02/clashbots\_cbs\_2018\_info\_thread/
2. ↑ http://www.chinadaily.com.cn/a/201802/14/WS5a83807aa3106e7dcc13ca20\_4.html
3. ↑ https://baike.baidu.hk/item/%E6%A9%9F%E5%99%A8%E4%BA%BA%E7%88%AD%E9%9C%B8/22192403
4. ↑ https://gametechmods.com/forums/real-robotics-discussion/clash-bots-discussion-thread/
5. ↑ Public comment from Craig Danby in the Out of the Arena Discord server.
6. ↑ Public comment from Craig Danby in the Out of the Arena Discord server.
7. ↑ https://www.reddit.com/r/battlebots/comments/95limb/comment/e3vuwqr/?utm\_source=share&utm\_medium=web2x&context=3
8. ↑ https://fb.watch/gN1VbRmqlk/
9. ↑ https://www.reddit.com/r/battlebots/comments/95limb/clashbots\_have\_a\_game\_and\_theyre\_still\_ripping/
10. ↑ https://www.reddit.com/r/battlebots/comments/95limb/comment/e3toyf1/?utm\_source=share&utm\_medium=web2x&context=3