Dragon King

* Season 2
* TiFR

"*Dragon King has been considered the most well-designed robot in ‘This Is Fighting Robots’ by most of the competitors. Its beautiful structure and the gold coating make the robot perfectly match the name. With its crawler-mounted structure and a dual-saw weapon system, Dragon King attracted everyone's attention at the scene of the competition and has given the audience a new understanding of the innovation of robot combat.*"
— Official *King of Bots* Facebook page on Dragon King's design

**Dragon King** (**龙王**, romanized as **Lóngwáng**) was a robot from Utah, in the United States of America, which competed in the 2018 series *This is Fighting Robots*, and Season 2 of *King of Bots*. It was built and entered by DT Robotics, formerly Team Duct Tape.

In *This is Fighting Robots*, it participated on the show as a 'challenger', fighting for a potential place in the competition during Episode 7. However, Dragon King lost its battle to ORBY Blade via knockout, and did not join Wu Chun's team as the team intended. Following the original broadcast of *This is Fighting Robots*, Dragon King received the 'Best Design' award for that series, owing to its distinctive appearance, locomotion and armament.

Dragon King was once again included in *King of Bots II* as a 'challenger'. Though not initially chosen by any celebrities outright, it was added to Tao Shen's team, only to lose its first battle against Boxing Champion during the Attrition War. Although Dragon King earned a knockout victory over Warrior in its next fight, Tao Shen's entire team were eliminated from the competition at the end of the round, including Dragon King.

## Design

Dragon King is an improved version of Jerome Miles' design for *BattleBots*, Red Devil. Much like Red Devil, it runs on tracks, attached to the robot by separate detachable pods, which could articulate up and down. For weaponry, the robot is equipped with two yellow circular saws on moving arms, allowing them to be brought down onto the surface of other robots at an angle. Additionally, the front of the robot is armed with a 'dragon head', serving as a wedge to hold other robots in place for attacks, in combination with the actuated crushing jaw atop it, giving the robot a pincer weapon. The robot's modular design also makes the robot easier to take apart, and both of Dragon King's treads can run individually if separated from the machine, although the nature of the detachable modules poses a weakness to spinners.

For Season 2, Dragon King required a total of five drivers, due to the number of individual moving components on the machine.

## Robot History

### This is Fighting Robots (Season 1.5)

Debuting in Episode 7 as a 'challenger', Dragon King was immediately admired for its design by multiple roboteers and team managers. Team Xiake's Zheng Jianfeng considered it to potentially be 'the "Prince Charming" of robots', while Yellow team manager Sa Beining was particularly convinced by the dragon-esque aesthetic of its jaw and saw weapons.

Dragon King's introduction included clips of the machine spinning and demonstrating its articulated drive/weapon modules in the arena. Wu Chun and Zheng Shuang both opted to challenge it; Shuang attempting to convince DT Robotics that the former had a larger robot line-up going into this battle. Jerome Miles, however, chose Chun regardless, revealing an ambition to face *King of Bots* Season 1 champion Spectre which was already fighting for Shuang.

"*So we chose Wu Chun's team, because we wanted to fight Spectre. If we're on Spectre's team, it's less likely that we'll get to fight it.*"
— Jerome Miles

To secure its place on the Red team, Dragon King needed to defeat Chun's South Korean bar spinner ORBY Blade - a match-up DT Robotics feared the most.

Dragon King charged towards ORBY Blade, immediately clashing with and pushing it towards a wall. However, a quick turn by the latter meant that Dragon King didn't have any time to use either of its weapons. Getting back out to the middle of arena, the two machines spent several seconds driving in circles around each other, neither initially getting an advantage. This stalemate lasted until ORBY Blade, now at full speed, managed to get in a massive hit onto the side of Dragon King that dislodged its entire track module.

Capable of driving without its left track, Dragon King made another assault at ORBY Blade, taking another hit that sent both robots flying in opposite directions. By now the lost track was obviously causing Dragon King control issues, as it drove around in circles for a short while before bumping into a wall. Managing to stabilize itself enough for a final attack, it took yet another hit from ORBY Blade head-on, but this seemed to have been too much for the machine as it didn't move afterwards, and was subsequently declared immobile, costing its chance to enter the competition.

"*The robots that we're most afraid of are the full-body spinners, and any horizontal spinner. It's very difficult for us to beat those.*"
— Jerome Miles, on Dragon King's vulnerability against machines like ORBY Blade

Despite its brief run, Dragon King won the 'Best Design' award at the end of *This is Fighting Robots*, with its weaponry, construction and color scheme attracting considerable attention and praise from other competitors.

### King of Bots II (Season 2)

Dragon King was introduced in Episode 7 as a 'challenger' robot for the second season in a row, and Jerome Miles pitched himself to the six celebrity team captains. None were willing to add Dragon King to their rosters outright, with Jerome Miles understanding that its unconventional design would have concerned or confused a lot of the celebrities. Nevertheless, after the other five challengers were successfully chosen for a celebrity team, Dragon King was added to Tao Shen's team by default, as he was the only celebrity who had not chosen a challenger at the end of the phase.

Dragon King's first battle came up during the 'Attrition War' held during Episode 8. Representing Tao Shen alongside temporary allies Emma Dumont and Tu Ziya, Dragon King was the fourth robot to enter the arena on behalf of the losing team, to fight against the opposing team's second representative, Boxing Champion.

Both robots met in the center of the arena and circled around each other until Boxing Champion wedged underneath Dragon King and brought its spinner straight into the right drive pod of the tracked machine. Nevertheless Dragon King continued to work, and after a series of bumps, found a grip on Boxing Champion and pushed it around the arena while biting its opponent, also bringing its saws down on Boxing Champion to throw sparks, while driving it into the Grinder. However, Boxing Champion retaliated by pushing back Dragon King, which was still holding on firmly and cutting into Boxing Champion using its saws, to ram it into the arena wall.

A gust of smoke seemed to emerge from Dragon King, but both robots engaged in an even contest, with Dragon King taking another spinner hit while tilting its drive pods as an escape method, although it continued to use its saws for cutting damage. When the two robots separated, Boxing Champion drove straight under the front of Dragon King and came out on the other side, delivering a hit with its spinner along the way. Dragon King seemed hindered by this, and Boxing Champion edged it backwards, despite being briefly lifted by the floor flipper in the process. Dragon King lowered its saws towards Boxing Champion, and both robots pushed each other back and forth, with Dragon King generally coming out ahead on pushing power until it rode up the front of Boxing Champion.

This ground clearance advantage allowed Aren Hill to drive Dragon King across the arena and into the Grinder. This thrusted Jerome Miles' machine into the air and chipped one of its saws. Boxing Champion continued its assault, landing a light blow with its spinner, although its next attack was more decisive. With a strong punch, Boxing Champion brought its spinner straight into the bottom jaw of Dragon King and completely broke the grabbing weapon apart. Dragon King's head fell limply onto the top of Boxing Champion, and so the punching spinner moved in to rip away the dragon head completely. In the final ten seconds, Boxing Champion used its wedge shape to overturn Dragon King and press it against the floor flipper, until the end of the two-minute battle.

With Dragon King defeated, the Attrition War would later be lost by Tao Shen's team, after The Hounds defeated Yesaji and Warrior. This put Dragon King in danger of being cut from Tao Shen's team, but as the Big Carioca team could not continue in the competition due to a shortage of parts, Big Carioca was cut instead of Dragon King, allowing it to advance.

Dragon King would next represent Tao Shen in a battle against Warrior of Ye Hong Li's team. Dragon King absolutely had to win, with a loss guaranteeing its elimination from the competition.

"*I was pretty excited because their robot would have a very difficult time knocking our robot out with their main weapon. I think we have a really good chance of winning!*"
— Jerome Miles

Both robots drifted around the arena in the opening stages, trying to find an opening, until eventually it was Warrior that drove into one of Dragon King's tread pods with a slam. Dragon King drove away, but only a few moments into the battle, one of its tread pods seized, leaving it with only half of its drive capabilities in the early stages of the bout. Warrior then backed Dragon King into the wall, but was similarly hindered in that its weapon could not fire, and Dragon King brought down one of its saws to grind away at Warrior's front wedge, with the head of Dragon King also initiating a grip on Warrior which it would not release for a long while. Dragon King drove Warrior back, cutting into its front wedgelets gradually, while sustaining no attacks in response, giving Dragon King no reason to release its prey, especially as Jerome Miles had realised that Dragon King's broken drive pod had started working again.

Warrior was finally able to mount a response, and drove Dragon King into the Grinder, causing it to tilt its drive pods in an effort to regain composure, and also briefly disabled half of Dragon King's drive again. Warrior continued to attack, ramming Dragon King into the corner of the arena, overturning it completely. Dragon King's saws also connected with the arena wall during this attack, throwing sparks. Warrior persisted whilst Dragon King was inverted, and pinned it back into the same corner. Dragon King could not escape due to its broken drive pod, but similarly Warrior could not capitalize without its axe, and instead just pressed Dragon King back into the wall lightly, while Dragon King contorted its pods to try and slip away. After turning itself over, Dragon King managed to slot its jaw under Warrior's wedge, and regained the use of its drive pod so that it could grab Warrior and drive it across the arena.

Initially, Dragon King could gain little purchase on Warrior, and was driven back into the arena Grinder by the British machine, but did throw some sparks off Warrior. It seemed that Warrior boasted more pushing power, and it pushed Dragon King across the arena from within its own grip, visibly causing Dragon King's saws to wobble from the force of the slam. Although Dragon King rode its saws along the surface of Warrior, it was Warrior that simply pushed Dragon King back into the Grinder. Dragon King had forcibly released here, but did catch up to directly catch the side of Warrior with its cutting blades, and swung it over the arena saws. Warrior lined up a charge on Dragon King, but completely missed, and slammed into the Grinder. Warrior had collided with such force that it was overturned, and without the use of its axe, it could not self-right. Because of this Dragon King won by knockout.

"*How did I feel when we won the battle? It was so amazing. We got to show the true power of the Dragon King.*"
— Jerome Miles

Despite this victory, Tao Shen's other machines Earth Shovel and Po Feng lost their respective battles with Cat King and Spectre respectively, and as a result, Tao Shen lost the series of battles to Ye Hong Li. No team could remain in the competition with less than three robots, so Tao Shen, Dragon King, Earth Shovel and Po Feng were all eliminated at this stage.

## Results

### Wins/Losses

* Wins: 1
* Losses: 2

## Series Record

 Season 2 | **Tao Shen's team**(1-1 record)

## Outside King of Bots

* Knome
* Knome II
1/2
DT Robotics, under their former name of Team Duct Tape, competed in *BattleBots*. They first did this with **Knome** at the first ever live event in 1999, armed with a side-mounted axe to make the robot a thwackbot, as well as an active axe at the rear. However, it lost to Stinger and W.L.O.W.. The team competed in Series 1.0 with **Knome II**, a comedic design armed with a static scoop, but it lost to the British Killerhurtz.

* Sublime in *BattleBots* Season 2.0
* Sublime in *BattleBots* Season 3.0
* Sublime in *BattleBots* Season 5.0
1/3
Team Duct Tape then competed in three different seasons with **Sublime**. In Season 2.0, Sublime lost its only battle to Hammerhead on a 45-0 Judges' decision. Sublime's experience on television allowed it to skip the preliminary rounds in Season 3.0, and it advanced over Whirl Wep X25 on a 23-22 Judges' decision, but it then lost to Sallad. Sublime was much more successful in Season 5.0, defeating Das Bot, Wedge-O-Matic, Robo Master and SnowFlake in sequence to reach the Round of 32, where it was defeated by Death by Monkeys.

* Unibite in *Robot Wars: Extreme Warriors* Season 1
* Unibite 2.0 in *Robot Wars: Extreme Warriors* Season 2
* Hyperactive in *Robot Wars: Extreme Warriors* Season 2, with its unused disc
* Hyperactive on TV
1/4
Team Duct Tape also competed in both seasons of *Robot Wars: Extreme Warriors*. For Season 1, the team competed with **Unibite**, an invertible robot armed with a horizontal saw blade and a rear lifter, but Unibite did not win its opening melee in the US Championship, and fell in the second round of the Annihilator. Unibite returned for Season 2 as **Unibite 2.0** with more success, winning its opening melee over Texas Tornado, also winning its semi-final against Brute, which drove itself into the pit. In the Heat Final, it was able to disable one wheel of Conquering Clown 2, but Unibite 2.0 mysteriously broke down, and lost the battle. The team also entered the Annihilator and the Tag Team Terror with a vertical spinner named **Hyperactive**, yet in spite of immobilizing Thor's Hammer in the first round of the Annihilator to collect a win, it lost its other two battles.

Jerome Miles has competed at *RoboGames* with lightweight robot **Hot Stuff**, a rebuilt Sublime. Miles also converted his Hyperactive design into a featherweight, completing two separate builds of the machine in 2014 and 2015. At *RoboGames* in 2015, Jerome Miles built a heavyweight named **HyperBite**, which lost to Touro Maximus and Ragin Scotsman.

Team Duct Tape entered the 2016 series of *BattleBots* with **Red Devil**. Red Devil defeated Wrecks in the first round, although this victory required little input from Red Devil, so it was given the third-lowest seed in the Round of 32, drawing it against the highly favored Witch Doctor. In one of the biggest upsets of the series, Red Devil used its saw to cut through the batteries of Witch Doctor and flip its opponent over, allowing it to progress to the Round of 16. At this stage, Red Devil survived a full 3-minute bout with the eventual runner-up Bombshell, but did not win the resulting Judges' decision, and was eliminated at this stage.

Red Devil returned to the 2018 season of *BattleBots*, although Jerome Miles was absent due to filming clashes with *This is Fighting Robots*, and entrusted the robot to Ravi Baboolal, who competed in the previous season with Lycan. In Red Devil's first battle, it fought Brutus, and earned a relatively easy win, after Brutus burned out its weapon motor, allowing Red Devil to saw into its opponent, which lost mobility due to its internal fire. In its second battle, it took significant damage from the vertical spinner of Monsoon, losing its saw blade from the attacks, but Red Devil managed to disable Monsoon's own weapon, and attempted to control the remainder of the match. The battle resulted in a split decision from the judges, although this went in favour of Monsoon. After this narrow loss, Red Devil recovered by winning a Judges' decision against SubZero, cutting into its armour and maintaining a grip during the second half of the match. However, Red Devil lost its fourth battle to Valkyrie on a Judges' decision, after one of its track modules was ripped away from the robot, limiting full control and ultimately leaving the team with a 2-2 record. As a result, Red Devil was entered into the six-way Last Chance Rumble for a place in the top 16, but it was immobilised early on in the fight after Bombshell, who would go on to win the rumble, tore off one of its tracks. Red Devil would also fight Kraken in the USA vs The World special representing Canada, where it lost on a Judges' Decision.

In February 2020, Jerome Miles announced his retirement from robot combat after 22 years, putting Dragon King and the 2016-2018 version of Red Devil up for sale. The Red Devil 'brand' was passed on to Ravi Baboolal, who Miles stated would be working on a new version for future competition. However, this never came to fruition and Red Devil was officially retired. Dragon King was sold to Bot Bash Party Crew, the team behind the *BattleBots* competitor Skorpios.

In October 2022, it was confirmed that Dragon King had been accepted as an alternate for the seventh reboot season, officially dubbed *World Championship VII*. It competed in two exhibition matches against fellow alternates Doomba and Terrortops, scoring a win against the former on a judges' decision, but losing to the latter on another decision.

## References

1. ↑ 1.0 1.1 1.2 https://www.facebook.com/KOBCHINA/photos/a.238468580015775/372039386658693/?type=3&theater
2. ↑ https://www.facebook.com/DTRobotics/posts/2436459799977703
3. ↑ Bot Bash Party Crew announce Dragon King's status as an alternate for *BattleBots*