Iron Scrap

**废铁** (romanized as **Fèi tiě**, translated as **Iron Scrap** or **Scrap Iron**) was a Chinese competitor robot which fought in Season 2 of *King of Bots*. Built by Team Knock Together, it was the heavyweight version of their highly successful featherweight Patchwork, which had itself been known as Iron Scrap outside of the 2019 Opening Battle.

Iron Scrap started the season successfully, being selected to compete in the opening episode and taking Ocean Waves apart in its first battle, to join Tu Ziya's team. It then collected an impressive win over Cat King from the USA, defending its place on Tu Ziya's team. It suffered its first loss in a two-on-two battle against Deep-Sea Shark and Thunder, but redeemed this with an impressive victory over Black Rabbit for the benefit of Tu Ziya and her team. Iron Scrap then collected its most impressive victory to date, knocking the Season 1.5 runner-up Tánshè out of the tournament. Despite its winning streak, Iron Scrap was suddenly eliminated from the competition after Yesaji lost on Tu Ziya's behalf, leaving her without enough robots to continue in the tournament.

## Design

Iron Scrap, much like the featherweight Patchwork, is an invertible robot driven by two wheels, armed with a powerful drum spinner weapon, rotating at speeds of up to 8000rpm. The robot was quick, reliable, and capable of outputting severe damage, making it one of the most highly rated Chinese robots. The heavyweight version of Iron Scrap was distinguished from its featherweight versions through its purple color-scheme, with a green drum spinner. Two sharpened wedgelets were positioned at either side of the drum, to lead other robots into the powerful weapon.

The robot's color scheme and logo are based on Unit 01 from the anime franchise *Neon Genesis Evangelion*.

## Robot History

### King of Bots II (Season 2)

Iron Scrap made its heavyweight debut in Episode 1 of Season 2, where it was selected by Tu Ziya for the third round of head-to-head battles. In its battle, it faced the youthful team behind Ocean Waves.

Iron Scrap immediately darted across the arena, slamming into and inflicting significant damage to the front of the much slower Ocean Waves. Ocean Waves appeared to have difficulty moving forwards, and sustained more damage while being pushed back into the red corner by Iron Scrap. Briefly, Iron Scrap retreated and drove around Ocean Waves as the blue machine briefly moved forward, tearing a large chunk of armor from Ocean Waves’s right-rear corner. Ocean Waves shuttled back and forth, then sustained another blow from Iron Scrap’s drum which further damaged its front end. Seconds later, the two robots collided head-on once more; Iron Scrap threw Ocean Waves upwards on contact, tearing another piece of armor off and immobilizing Ocean Waves completely. With its front end badly damaged, Ocean Waves was counted out, awarding Iron Scrap a knockout victory and the first place on Tu Ziya’s team.

Iron Scrap's position on Tu Ziya's team was tested in Episode 3, where the American robot Cat King attempted to defeat Iron Scrap and take its place on Tu Ziya's roster.

Both robots quickly accelerated their spinning weapons, and in the first six seconds, Iron Scrap crashed into the side of Cat King to break through its armor, and send it spinning into the corner of the arena. Although Cat King was slowed by this attack, Iron Scrap willingly drove head-on into Cat King, slipping under its opponent's wedgelets, and overpowering Cat King's spinner to knock it backwards.

One minute into the fight, Iron Scrap crashed into the arena wall, tearing away one of the spikes, but Cat King had little mobility left. Using only one side of drive, Cat King attempted to pivot away, but exposed its backside to Iron Scrap in the process, which allowed Iron Scrap to directly strike one of Cat King's back wheels, not causing visible damage, but contributing to Cat King's impaired mobility.

Cat King still managed to move into the center of the arena, but another weapon-to-weapon hit worked in Iron Scrap's favor, with Cat King being flung into the air, and back to where it came from. With a string of two attacks, Iron Scrap individually hit each wedgelet of Cat King, and with one more slam, Iron Scrap immobilized Cat King two minutes into the bout. Iron Scrap still launched another hit on the back of Cat King, which seemed to be collapsing centrally, and Cat King could only spin its blade and move its lifters until the referee counted it out. Iron Scrap therefore retained its place on Tu Ziya's team, having comfortably defeated the American veteran.

Representing Tu Ziya's team in the next round, Iron Scrap partnered with Earth Mover to fight against Deep-Sea Shark and Thunder of Huang Jian Xiang's team.

Straight away, Thunder and Earth Mover charged into each other, while Deep-Sea Shark and Iron Scrap powered up their vertical spinners. Iron Scrap then collided with the front of Deep-Sea Shark, but threw itself over using its own drum. Thunder shunted Earth Mover side-on while Iron Scrap self-righted using a gyro-dance, but Thunder caught up to block its landing and press Iron Scrap's drum into the arena floor.

This presented a big opportunity for Deep-Sea Shark to creep up on the rear of Iron Scrap and pelt it into a Grinder with a powerful hit. This provided Iron Scrap with lasting concerns, but it self-righted again while Thunder pushed Earth Mover across the arena again. Working in combination again, Thunder deflected the drum of Iron Scrap, allowing Deep-Sea Shark to hit it from behind again, and a push from Thunder on Earth Mover carried it across the arena until one of its rear forks hit an imperfection in the floor and negated the drive, forcing Thunder to hook under Earth Mover again and drag it on a separate attack.

Iron Scrap started to assert itself, visibly jolting Deep-Sea Shark upwards with an attack and caused damage, but then missed on its next charge, instead colliding with the arena wall to rip a spike away from it. Iron Scrap then managed to attack Deep-Sea Shark again, but briefly stopped moving upon delivering this attack, and Deep-Sea Shark knocked it aside with another blow. All four robots separated, but Earth Mover drove over the floor flipper, and was overturned, forcing it to self-right.

In the meantime, Iron Scrap was surrounded by both of its opponents, and with a forward drive, Thunder slammed into Iron Scrap and pushed it onto the arena saw slots. This proved to be the final attack Iron Scrap could survive, having been somewhat hindered by its earlier attacks from Deep-Sea Shark, and it stopped moving. This left Earth Mover to fight alone, and it took a blow to the front from Deep-Sea Shark, largely taking evasive measures while hoping for Iron Scrap's revival, but nevertheless Iron Scrap was counted out.

Deep-Sea Shark and Thunder targeted Earth Mover for the remainder of the match, which proceeded to a Judges' decision in favor of Huang Jian Xiang's team, leading to Iron Scrap's first loss. Tu Ziya's team ultimately lost their series of three battles to Huang Jian Xiang by a 2-1 margin, and Earth Mover was cut from the roster as a result.

Nevertheless, Iron Scrap returned for the second wave of celebrity team battles, where it entered the arena alone to fight Black Rabbit of Zhu Zheng Ting's team.

Within seconds, it approached and drove drum-first into Black Rabbit, hopping onto one side as both robots exchanged sparks. Immediately, it was thrown over by Black Rabbit, but hit its opponent's drum while being pushed and steered into the blue corner. This did not prevent Iron Scrap from being scooped up and pushed towards the grinders by Black Rabbit, as the two robots exchanged yet more sparks. Iron Scrap spun and lifted itself onto one side, allowing Black Rabbit to nudge it into the grinder itself. The grinder threw Iron Scrap back upright, allowing the purple and green machine to dart away from a pursuing Black Rabbit.

For some time, Iron Scrap avoided Black Rabbit's pursuit, then chased the black and red machine around in circles. This was until it drove head-on into Black Rabbit once more, ripping off one of its opponent's wedgelets, but in turn getting lifted upwards and thrown into somersaults. Iron Scrap crashed drum-first onto the pit panel, bouncing back onto its wheels and gyrating itself towards the wall spikes. Although succeeding in re-righting itself, it left itself vulnerable to another blow from Black Rabbit, before speeding away towards the grinders on the right-hand side. As it turned round and drove forwards, Iron Scrap was collected and thrown upside-down yet again by Black Rabbit, but successfully re-righted itself in the nearest corner. Almost immediately, Iron Scrap retaliated, throwing Black Rabbit sideways across the arena perimeter and removing its remaining wedgelet.

Following a few unsuccessful lunges, Iron Scrap briefly collided with Black Rabbit once more, before landing three more powerful blows on Black Rabbit. The second blow was enough to flip Black Rabbit forwards, while the third allowed Iron Scrap to catapult its now-inverted opponent across the arena. While Black Rabbit struggled to gyrate itself back over following these attacks, Iron Scrap drove around the center of the arena in anticipation, before turning round and charging towards Black Rabbit. It tapped Black Rabbit just as the latter sped into a nearby grinder, which flipped Black Rabbit over and caused it to get stranded on one of the grinder's mounts with a minute remaining. Black Rabbit was counted out shortly afterwards, gifting Iron Scrap a knockout win following a spectacular and evenly-fought battle.

Iron Scrap's victory allowed Tu Ziya to equalize Zhu Zheng Ting on points, with both celebrities having earned one win apiece at this stage. However, another defeat in a later battle saw Tu Ziya ultimately lose the round 2-1 to Zhu Zheng Ting, resulting in Emerald being dropped from her roster at this stage of the competition. Iron Scrap would next compete in Episode 9, where it represented Tu Ziya against Zhu Zheng Ting's team for the second time, fighting the Season 1.5 runner-up Tánshè.

Before the battle began, Tánshè suffered a gas leak, which severely hindered the power of its flipper in the battle. Iron Scrap took advantage and immediately hit the side of Tánshè's flipper, after John Reid had sped Tánshè across the arena to meet it. This allowed Iron Scrap to get directly behind Tánshè and churn at its rear end, while the arena hammer also fell on Tánshè. Escaping, Tánshè did carry out a more measured attack, ramping under Iron Scrap and coming out unscathed, although it soon took lighter hits to its side pods. The next blow from Iron Scrap was more decisive, knocking it back in a flurry of sparks.

Iron Scrap's ground clearance was briefly exposed and Tánshè moved it towards the wall, although Tánshè could hardly lift Iron Scrap off the floor due to its earlier gas leak. Tánshè was not able to completely retract its flipper in time, and Iron Scrap surged under it to throw Tánshè high into the air with a big blow. Tánshè recovered by driving into the side of Iron Scrap, but again fired its flipper to no effect, and was punished by another hit from Iron Scrap which threw Tánshè directly onto its back.

Stuck on its back, Tánshè was briefly motionless, and eventually fired its flipper but did not nearly boast the power needed for Tánshè to self-right. Iron Scrap retreated, believing it had won the fight by knockout, but Tánshè eventually summoned just enough power to self-right, allowing the battle to continue. Iron Scrap still caught back up and jabbed the side of Tánshè's flipper, causing the British machine to retreat again. Maintaining its upper hand, Iron Scrap charged into Tánshè's flipper, and delivered a hit so powerful that Tánshè's bungee cords were snapped, and the entire flipper weapon was thrown loosely over to the back end of the robot. Tánshè was clueless, and drove over the arena saws, although it then did manage to catch Iron Scrap from behind and push it into the arena wall.

Iron Scrap was held in front of the arena spikes by Tánshè, forcing it to stop spinning its drum momentarily. However, the arena hammer landed not on Iron Scrap, but on Tánshè, allowing Iron Scrap to escape and spin back up to speed. Tánshè charged back in, but rode up the front of Iron Scrap, and then suffered a glancing blow to its back end. Tánshè maintained aggression, bumping into the front of Iron Scrap repeatedly but sustained numerous drum spinner attacks in the process, until time expired on the battle. The Judges voted in favor of Iron Scrap, completing its upset over the Season 1.5 runner-up.

Despite this impressive win, it would prove to be Iron Scrap's last, after Yesaji single-handedly represented Tu Ziya in a battle against Zhu Zheng Ting's Black Rabbit. Yesaji was defeated, leaving Tu Ziya without enough robots to continue in the competition, leading to Iron Scrap's sudden elimination.

Following the season's conclusion, the driving skills of captain Lin Xinghua were later recognized by the *King of Bots* Organizing Committee, who awarded him and Iron Scrap the 'Best Driving Award' for *King of Bots II*.

## Results

### Wins/Losses

* Wins: 4
* Losses: 1

## Series Record

 Season 2 | **Tu Ziya's team**(4-1 record)

*NOTE: The team also competed in the 2019 Opening Battle with the featherweight Patchwork.*

## Outside King of Bots

At least four versions of Iron Scrap have competed in featherweight live events across China, each achieving significant success in competition. In 2017, the original version won the second *Fighting My Bots* 15kg championship, defeating Panther in the final round. **Iron Scrap 2** would follow on from this by finishing third at the 2018 FMB World Cup final, while **Iron Scrap 2S** and **Iron Scrap 3** (alternatively Patchwork) both reached the final round of the inaugural FMB World Cup All-Stars championship later that year. In the latter, Iron Scrap 2S emerged victorious, emulating the original robot’s 2017 title victory.

Team Knock Together also competed in *Clash Bots* with **Soul Reaper**, a four-wheel drive robot armed with interchangeable horizontal or vertical bar spinners. The robot made a number of appearances, advancing to the Top 6 of the competition, although it suffered three separate losses to AU Thumper along the way.

On October 12, 2023, the heavyweight Iron Scrap was revealed as a competitor in *Bitva Robotov*, a Russian event. It partook in a qualifier event on October 21, one of 24 bots fighting for a place in the main championship later in the year. In its first battle, it took on Russian horizontal spinner Lawnmower, which it mangled in just two hits.

## References

1. ↑ https://www.facebook.com/KOBCHINA/posts/750373105491984
2. ↑ https://www.reddit.com/r/battlebots/comments/87yw7m/soul\_reaper\_an\_interchangeable\_weapon\_between\_a/dwgmk0p/
3. ↑ https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IhyYQYyok1w
4. ↑ https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sLhy4B\_HsDE

## Trivia

* Iron Scrap has been the long-running name of the team's featherweight robots, although this was the first to use the Iron Scrap name on televised *King of Bots*, while the featherweight adopted the name Patchwork.