Clash Bots

**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.

After the robot competition, the star can send an invitation to join the team by pushing the mechanical lever. If four stars invite to join the team at the same time, the star can choose to join the team directly afterwards. If the four stars do not invite the robot to join the team at the same time, will be chosen and fought by the star in the next turn.

(Relegated to next round)

### Second Phase

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

At the beginning, the four star captains control the robots of their teams to participate in an unlimited knockout match to determine the order of choosing the robots.

The order of decision: Sheng Yilun → Li Chen → Angelababy → Lin Gengxin

### 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.

Afterwards, the star team leader revived 6 1V1 against the failed teams through the Demolition Task, and then the robot team chose the team they wanted to join(distinct in bold)

## Competitors

All competing robots in *Clash Bots* are listed below.

## Star Robots

Star Robots are robots for star captains. Most of them are made by Clash Bots, but robots made by other teams or participating in the competition will also be used as it (like **Battle Ax** ,**Black Whirlwind** and **Smilodon**).

## Boss Robots

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

## Controversy

Controversy later arose as many of the competing robots were lost to a warehouse incident, including several not necessarily commissioned by the show's producers.

*Main article: Clash Bots/Controversy*

## 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://baike.baidu.com/item/%E6%9C%BA%E5%99%A8%E4%BA%BA%E4%BA%89%E9%9C%B8/22192403
2. ↑ https://www.reddit.com/r/battlebots/comments/7zla02/clashbots\_cbs\_2018\_info\_thread/
3. ↑ http://www.chinadaily.com.cn/a/201802/14/WS5a83807aa3106e7dcc13ca20\_4.html
4. ↑ https://baike.baidu.hk/item/%E6%A9%9F%E5%99%A8%E4%BA%BA%E7%88%AD%E9%9C%B8/22192403