Mighty Crossbow and Steel Shield

Mighty Crossbow and Steel Shield

"*They are the battlefield of the Goddess*"
— King of Bots website

**弹弩钢盾** (**Dàn nŭ gāng dùn**, directly translating to **Catapult Steel Shield**; also referred to as **Mighty Crossbow and Steel Shield**, **Bullet Steel Shield** or **Strong Crossbow and Steel Shield**) is a clusterbot from Shanghai which competed in Season 1 of *King of Bots*.

Entered by the all-female team Twin Flowers, it reached the second round of the main competition upon defeating Violent Dragon, before suffering a very destructive loss at the hands of Two BBQ. The Twin Flowers later entered the 2018 series *This is Fighting Robots* with Sledgehammer.

## Design

Mighty Crossbow and Steel Shield were a multibot (or 'clusterbot'), although one robot was much heavier than the other. The primary half of the robot was a steep wedge-shaped robot armed with a rear-hinged flipper, seemingly inspired by British robotics champion Eruption. The flipper could overturn heavyweight robots, and also allow the robot to self-right. It ran on a two-wheel drive system, and used a pneumatic system to power the flipper.

The other half of the machine was a mobile wedge, driven by two exposed wheels. It serves to hold robots in place so that the flipper can land attacks, while also being invertible.

The flipper robot is decorated with the number **08**, while the wedge-shaped robot was decorated with the number **09**.

## Robot History

### King of Bots (Season 1)

"*I'm in charge of catapulting. Qi Miao operates the lifter. I wish that we could become the world's first girl's team champion in a robot combat competition*"
— Zhao Anrui (Mech+ subtitles)

In the first round, Bullet Steel Shield fought the tall and comedic design, Violent Dragon. The robots were initially evasive, with only the smaller half of the clusterbot attempting to attack, but reared up on the charge and could not drive under Violent Dragon. It later backed into Violent Dragon and tried to push the huge robot towards the arena drum, but could not push the heavier machine. It pressed into the side of Violent Dragon and eventually caused one of its wheels to fall off.

The larger multibot fired its flipper at thin air, while the smaller half pushed Violent Dragon into the wall. The flipper was then brought into action for the first time, lifting up Violent Dragon and causing its comedy head to fall away from the robot. Finally, after backing Violent Dragon into the wall, the smaller multibot drove under it so that the flipper could win the match by knockout, toppling its huge foe. The Twin Flowers celebrated, as their robot progressed to the second round.

In the second round, Mighty Crossbow and Steel Shield fought a much more threatening opponent in the vertical spinner of Two BBQ. The smaller multibot started quicker, but Two BBQ targeted the flipper robot, and pushed it across the arena before ripping away the panel of its wedge, leaving it without a way to get under its opponent. After Two BBQ backed away, it came in with another slam to batter the flipper half of Mighty Crossbow and Steel Shield into the air with a somersault, ripping open its back end. The robot was now emitting copious amounts of smoke, but amidst the camouflage, Two BBQ landed another shattering blow to toss it into the wall. Lacking a wheel and the ability to self-right, the majority of Mighty Crossbow and Steel Shield was counted out while the wedge multibot avoided the weapon of Two BBQ before the battle was ended, leaving the battered opponent to burn in an emotional finish for the Twin Flowers.

## Results

### Wins/Losses

* Wins: 1
* Losses: 1

## Outside King of Bots

"*As a science and engineering girl, I don't think I'll lose to any boy professionally.*"
— Qi Miao (Mech+ subtitles)

While Mighty Crossbow and Steel Shield was listed as coming from Shanghai, team members Zhao Anrui and Qi Miao actually originated from Wuhan and Inner Mongolia respectively. Miao was a doctorate student at Tsinghua University, studying a Nuclear Science and Technology Major at the time of Season 1's production. Anrui, meanwhile, was an eSports commentator and presenter; both were seen in their VT segment riding horses and working on their clusterbot. The team did not actually build their robot, instead borrowing it from original builder Thomas Lau.

## Trivia

* Mighty Crossbow and Steel Shield was among a number of competitor robots to originally be built by Thomas Lau, which also includes EarthShaker and WU66.

## References

1. ↑ https://www.reddit.com/r/battlebots/comments/7oxdqy/king\_of\_bots\_episode\_1\_discussion\_thread/dsda4d6/

## External Links

* Mighty Crossbow and Steel Shield on the *King of Bots* website (Chinese, archived)