Fango

"*Our slogan is: you can run, but you can't hide!*"
— — Team Miles & Jules Robotics on prematch interview of This is Fighting Robots

**Fango** (Chinese: **红背蜘蛛**, romanized as **Hóng bèi zhīzhū**, meaning **Redback Spider**) was a robot from Ipswich, Queensland in Australia, which competed in the 2018 series *This is Fighting Robots*. Built and entered by M&J Robotics, it was notable for becoming the first walking robot of any kind to appear in televised Chinese competitions, and was selected by Blue team manager Zhang Yishan as a result of its unique design.

Under Yishan's captaincy, Fango fought Eater, Green Agate and Shrederator Tiger Claw in the very first Freestyle Combat round. Its shuffling movements charmed audience and crew members alike, while the robot impressed Yishan with its durability, surviving for the whole three minutes. In spite of this, Fango would lose the subsequent Judges' decision, and become one of the robots eliminated from Yishan's team at the end of the first stage.

## Design

Fango is a multicolored robot modelled on an arachnid. Its method of locomotion was unique among *This is Fighting Robots* competitors, consisting of a shuffling mechanism with large black, orange, red and green banks of feet. These feet were positioned alongside the robot’s boxy chassis, and featured upper parts resembling ‘legs’, further adding to Fango’s arachnid theme. Fango’s main weapons were a set of front-mounted, toothed vertical spinning discs, and two large lifting claws at the front, each located on either side of the discs. The robot also featured a pair of red front plates which acted as a steep wedge to draw opponents into its discs, as well as to protect the first two sets of legs from head-on attacks. Even with its shuffling mechanism, Fango still followed the standard regulation weight of 110kg / 242lbs.

## Robot History

### This is Fighting Robots (Season 1.5)

In its initial appearance in Episode 1, Fango's unusual design immediately gathered interest from the celebrity team managers during the 'blind selection' process. Amongst those was Yellow manager Sa Beining, who attempted to trick Zheng Shuang of the Green team into selecting it, suspecting the machine's high center of gravity as a potential disadvantage. This plan backfired, however, when Zhang Yishan visited and immediately selected Fango to join the Blue team, before Beining could have a chance to persuade Shuang to take his offer.

Fango's selection was followed up by comments from UK roboteers in attendance, particularly Gabriel Stroud, John Reid and Ian Watts, surrounding the slow speed and fragile leg mechanisms of previous walking robots. It was suggested at this point that the team managers were unaware of Fango's inherent weaknesses, such was its status as the first walking robot in televised Chinese competitions.

"*Our robot Eater’s gonna pull his legs off!*"
— Ian Watts comments on Fango’s exposed legs

Once the selection process was completed, Fango was the first robot to be drawn for the main tournament, by virtue of Zhang Yishan becoming 'start-up' manager and choosing it to compete in the first Freestyle Combat battle. There, it fought American shell spinner Shrederator Tiger Claw, British multibot Eater and the hammer of Chinese competitor Green Agate, with Yishan purposefully ensuring that he did not allocate another machine which he could deem 'too strong'.

"*My Fango specializes in spinning webs.*"
— Zhang Yishan

In the opening moments, Fango's slow shuffling charmed audience members and co-commentator Xiao Cang. Its movements across the arena were humorously emphasized by edited side-on clips of the robot in motion, depicting it to 'stroll' through a virtual cityscape.

**Xiao Cang**: "*This spider's movement is adorable!*"
**Wang Tao**: "*Fango is totally enjoying its stroll.*"
— Commentary as emphasis is placed on Fango's sluggish start (Mech+ subtitles)

Eventually, Fango attacked an approaching Eater with its cutting discs. The Australian machine sustained a few more attacks from Eater, its multibot and Shrederator Tiger Claw, but continued to scuttle over the battle rings before being pushed by Eater’s bi-wedged multibot. Moments later, one of Fango’s lifting claws - addressed as a 'leg' by Cang - was sliced off by the main part of Eater, before the latter's bi-wedged counterpart briefly pushed Fango around in circles.

Fango continued shuffling across the arena, its slow speed enabling it to avoid its opponents as Shrederator Tiger Claw immobilized both Eater and Green Agate. Lingering over the circular saws, it sustained several hits from Shrederator Tiger Claw which severely damaged its legs. Nevertheless, Fango continued shuffling on its undamaged banks, and withstood a final head-on collision with Shrederator Tiger Claw which resulted in the latter burning out its weapon motors. With the American machine resorting to pushing Fango around for the remainder of the battle, Fango survived to a Judges’ decision. However, the decision went against the shuffler, marking it and Zhang Yishan’s first loss in the competition.

"*I'm entirely satisfied with the first round of fight. My Fango is incredibly robust. To me, it's... just such a great thing. On top of that, I helped it during the competition.*"
— Zhang Yishan

Yishan, nevertheless, was satisfied with Fango's durability, along with his operation of the fire pit and ejection board hazards as 'start-up' manager. Prior to the decision being announced, Sa Beining remarked that Fango should apply for *This is Street Dance*, prompting a humorous cutaway referencing another Youku competition show.

At the end of the first round, Yishan chose to eliminate Fango from the Blue team, along with British entry Griffin Mk II. As a result, its participation in *This is Fighting Robots* came to an abrupt end.

## Results

### Wins/Losses

* Wins: 0
* Losses: 1

## Series Record

* Side view of Fango
* Fango on its pit bench
* Fango's offcial statistics
* TITR Robot Illustrated Book:Fango
* Fango official cartoon photo
1/5

 Season 2 | Did not enter

## Outside King of Bots

Both team members of Fango also competed in the 2016 and 2019 seasons of *BattleBots* with **Death Roll**, alongside Steven Martin. For more information, see Great White.

## Trivia

* Fango's Chinese name (**红背蜘蛛**, **Redback Spider**) refers to a highly venomous spider species of the same name found in Australasia and Southeast Asia.

## References

1. ↑ https://www.reddit.com/r/battlebots/comments/8eqy2r/this\_is\_fighting\_robots\_episode\_3\_discussion/dy2i60g/