ORBY Blade

* Season 2
* Season 1.5

**ORBY Blade** was a heavyweight robot from South Korea which competed in Season 1.5, the debut of *This is Fighting Robots*, alongside the second season of *King of Bots*.

In *This is Fighting Robots*, ORBY Blade was the second selection of Wu Chun, but was thrown out of the arena by Tánshè in its first battle. ORBY Blade redeemed this by winning a Tag Team battle against Lieutenant Bam and Switch, when partnered with the *King of Bots* champion Spectre. ORBY Blade demonstrated its true potential in battle with Dragon King, defending its position on Wu Chun's team by ripping an entire section from its American challenger. Finally, ORBY Blade was defeated by the eventual champion Tungsten.

ORBY Blade returned for *King of Bots II* as one of the twelve international robots to debut in Episode 3, and successfully earned a place on Di Yang's team by defeating Red River Bull in a double knockout. However, a loss to Cat King and Spectre led to ORBY Blade being removed from Di Yang's team, causing it to fall at this stage.

## Design

ORBY Blade is similar to one setup of ABC's *BattleBots* runner-up Bombshell, using a horizontal bar spinner suspended below an extended arm. This bar had a high tip speed and good range, weighing 29kg, with a top speed of 2,800rpm. The bar spinner was designed to spin at 3,000rpm, but the weapon motor did not live up to its specifications supplied by the manufacturer, and contact with the floor would destabilise the machine as a result of the bar's low profile. ORBY Blade's rear wedge also proved useful, as the robot was quick enough to push other machines around the arena using its drive power. ORBY Blade also featured a separate self-righting mechanism on top, in the form of a front-hinged lifting arm, which could successfully overturn the robot. The team remarked that they can be defeated due to inexperience.

For its return in Season 2, ORBY Blade used a new weapon motor for its bar spinner, and was accompanied by a small minibot, **ORBY Wedge**. This new weapon motor allowed ORBY Blade to deliver even more powerful blows than before, as demonstrated in its destructive win over Red River Bull, although its self-righting mechanism also failed to work in this battle.

### Etymology

The name ORBY Blade combines the team name "ORBY", and the robot's individual name "Blade", referring to its spinning weapon. Together, the two halves form the robot's full name, ORBY Blade. The team also created a Chinese name for the machine, **我削你** (romanized as **Wǒ xuē nǐ**, meaning **I Cut You**), but much like Blue, the robot used English characters of its name on television, for reasons unknown to the team.

"*My team name is "ORBY". And the robot name is just "Blade". So it is "ORBY Blade". This robot also had a Chinese name. It was 我削你. I don't know what is the reason (Maybe 我削你 was too bad words for airing), the organizer did not use the Chinese name, so ORBY, the team name of the ORBY Blade, was used.*"
— Team ORBY

The updated *King of Bots II* incarnation was officially designated **ORBY Blade v2** on the robot's sides, though the original ORBY Blade identity was kept. In Chinese, it was now referred to as **横扫千军** (romanized as **Héngsǎo qiān jūnin**), which fittingly translated to **Total Annihilation**.

## Robot History

### This is Fighting Robots (Season 1.5)

ORBY Blade was selected by Wu Chun during his initial selection process, as the second robot on his team, allowing ORBY Blade to advance straight to the main competition as part of the red team. Chun then employed ORBY Blade to fight in the second main rumble of the series, in response to the selection of Saber II as the first opponent. Tánshè was also chosen to be the third robot in the battle.

At the start of the battle, ORBY Blade attempted to accelerate its spinning bar, although it was chased down by Saber II and Tánshè. In the process, Tánshè drove under Saber II, and ORBY Blade made weapon contact with Saber II. ORBY Blade charged up its weapon, and struck the side of Tánshè, but caused little damage and deflected into the ground, where ORBY Blade's weapon threw sparks. However, the weapon survived, and reached top speed while Tánshè and Saber II evaded it. ORBY Blade closed in on the wedge of Tánshè, but this contact threw ORBY Blade into the air, causing to lose part of its decorative armor upon landing. This hit left ORBY Blade vulnerable, and Tánshè swept under it to take ORBY Blade to the corner of the arena, and threw it over the wall, instantly defeating it.

In the Tag Team round, ORBY Blade was partnered with the reigning *King of Bots* champion Spectre of the green team, and fought two British entries, Lieutenant Bam and Switch. ORBY Blade had initially intended to target Switch, but it was unexpectedly moved to a different starting square, altering the team's strategy.

"*Before the battle, my team decided to attack "Switch", but starting grid was changed. I was so nervous and made a mistake at the beginning of the battle, but the "switch" team came to our side and attacked several times. I stopped attack after "Switch" stopped moving, and waited for "Lieutenant Bam" in the pit to come up.*"
— Team ORBY

At the start of the battle, ORBY Blade spun up its weapon, while Spectre targeted Switch. At full spinning speed, ORBY Blade collided with Lieutenant Bam, creating a shower of spark from the spinner-to-wedge impact. ORBY Blade was thrust aside, but landed a second blow on Lieutenant Bam shortly afterwards. In response, Lieutenant Bam dropped its hammer in the path of ORBY Blade's weapon, briefly stopping the bar spinner while causing ORBY Blade to recoil away. On its escape from Lieutenant Bam, ORBY Blade almost drove into the pit in the center of the arena, while Spectre continued to hassle Switch. Reversing away from the pit, ORBY Blade backed into Switch with its rear wedge, bringing Switch into the air. Switch drove under ORBY Blade and attempted to use its hammer, but missed its shot. Switch continued to attack ORBY Blade outside of the televised edit, but ORBY Blade remained in the vicinity of Switch and retaliated, until Switch became immobile.

"*After "Lieutenant Bam" came up from the pit, we hit once, and while we were pushed back by that rebound, "Spectre" attacked "Lieutenant Bam". To avoid accidentally hitting while "Specter" attacked, we were backward and when the chance came, we hit the weapon part of "Lieutenant Bam" and drove it to the revolving drum of the stadium wall.*"
— Team ORBY

After this, ORBY Blade took a hiatus from attacking, as the team did not want to accidentally strike their own teammate. As a result, Spectre took the initiative for the next period, attacking Switch, and then attacking Lieutenant Bam. In an attack edited out of the televised broadcast, ORBY Blade struck the turret of Lieutenant Bam, and drove the robot into the Grinder on the side of the arena. After this, Spectre was able to grab hold of Lieutenant Bam and deposit it in the pit, allowing ORBY Blade and Spectre to win the battle by knockout.

"*Youku does not show the contents of the battle clearly in order to make the content of their entertainment program. "Youku" removed all the battle of my team and made our team to laughingstock. I do not want to be in a shameful battle, although I can be defeated due to lack of experience. The second time was a battle that did not do well but did my best. But "Youku" turned it into a shameful battle.*"
— Team ORBY on the televised broadcast of the battle, which omitted some of ORBY Blade's attacks

In the next round, ORBY Blade's position on Wu Chun's team was challenged by the American newcomer Dragon King, forcing ORBY Blade to fight for survival.

ORBY Blade was immediately pushed towards the arena wall, but a quick turn allowed it to evade Dragon King's weapons. ORBY Blade then circled around Dragon King, reaching top speed on its bar spinner. The stalemate ended when ORBY Blade used its bar spinner to smash into Dragon King, removing an entire section from Dragon King which contained its left track. Dragon King could still move, and attacked ORBY Blade's spinner, sending both robots spinning away. ORBY Blade then attacked Dragon King head-on, which immobilized the American machine. ORBY Blade had successfully defended its place on the team, winning the battle by knockout.

In the head-to-head round, ORBY Blade was the only robot to accept the challenge of Tungsten, and both robots fought.

While both robots spun up their rotating weapons, Tungsten immediately tried to take advantage of its quicker spin-up time, and aimed for the back end of ORBY Blade, forcing the South Korean machine to flee. Tungsten then attacked the side of ORBY Blade's spinning bar, and sent the robot reeling away. Tungsten followed this up with another direct blow to ORBY Blade's spinner, which left the robot lifeless upon landing. Nevertheless, Tungsten attempted to ensure its victory, and struck the motionless bar spinner of ORBY Blade to throw the whole robot 1.35m into the air. ORBY Blade was completely immobilized as a result, and the robot was counted out while Zheng Shuang fired the smokescreen in front of the ORBY team. Because of this knockout, ORBY Blade was eliminated from the competition.

### King of Bots II (Season 2)

ORBY Blade joined the competition during Episode 3, where twelve international teams attempted to join one of six celebrity teams, at the expense of the Chinese robots the celebrities had already recruited. ORBY Blade was randomly matched up against Red River Bull of Di Yang's team, with a potential win earning ORBY Blade a spot on the team.

Initially, the weapon of ORBY Blade was blocked after Red River Bull collided with it in the opening seconds to temporarily stop the blade. ORBY Blade quickly responded, and swung its bar spinner into the side of Red River Bull, causing notable damage despite also bending its own side armor in the process. Whilst ORBY Wedge circled around the arena, ORBY Blade brought its spinning bar into the drum of Red River Bull, throwing more sparks. ORBY Blade was reaching dangerous speeds on its weapon, and Red River Bull attempted to ram it from behind, but missed. Although Red River Bull slammed into the side of ORBY Blade, it did not make contact with its weapon, unlike the next attack from ORBY Blade.

Swinging its bar spinner into Red River Bull, ORBY Blade delivered a huge slam, which tore open the side armor of Red River Bull, and ripped a wheel and motor out of it entirely, but in the process, ORBY Blade was flung across the arena, hitting the Grinder which threw ORBY Blade into the air. ORBY Blade landed inverted, and could not self-right, nor were its wheels turning, leaving ORBY Wedge only to nudge its teammate. However, Red River Bull had also been immobilized by the same attack; although some of its wheels were still turning, including the axle which housed the wheel that had been ripped from Red River Bull, the robot could not gain significant purchase on the arena floor, and both robots were counted out by the referees.

With the battle officially considered to be a double-knockout, the Judges were required to declare a winner based on the events of the battle leading up to the double KO, and ORBY Blade was unanimously declared the winner, having caused more damage during the battle, allowing it to take Red River Bull's place on Di Yang's team.

Moving into the next round, Di Yang's team squared off with Emma Dumont's team, with an overall loss potentially leading to either ORBY Blade or Mist Lion being removed from Di Yang's lineup. To try and prevent this, ORBY Blade teamed up with Rhino and fought Spectre and Cat King of Emma Dumont's team in a 2v2 battle.

This battle was very unsuccessful for ORBY Blade, as before it could even spin its blade up to full speed, ORBY Blade was targeted by Cat King which threw ORBY Blade onto its back with a powerful hit, all while Spectre targeted the minibot ORBY Wedge. It soon became clear that ORBY Blade's self-righting mechanism was not working, and it was counted out by the referee, leaving only Rhino to fight on its behalf. Despite a good effort, Rhino was immobilized by the double team of Spectre and Cat King, and both robots lost the battle as a result.

In a bid to avoid eliminating one of his robots, Di Yang opted to have team captain Saber fight a lone battle against Drift and Storm Slasher, but after a destructive defeat for Saber, he ultimately chose to remove ORBY Blade, eliminating it from the competition.

## Results

*NOTE: ORBY Blade is known to have lost a "warm-up fight" before the start of Season 2's main filming, although its opponent is unknown*

### Wins/Losses

* Wins: 3
* Losses: 3

## Series Record

 Season 2 | **Di Yang's first cut**(1-1 record)

## Outside King of Bots

Team ORBY had ten years of experience in robotic combat prior to competing on *This is Fighting Robots*, although ORBY Blade was their first heavyweight robot. One of Team ORBY's machines in the lower weight classes is **ORBY Blade Mini**, a 1lb machine which served as a prototype for the heavyweight machine. In August 2019, ‎Cheog-Gyu Hwang completed a 1lb antweight armed with a vertical spinning bar, **ORBY Buzz**.

In March 2020, Team ORBY confirmed that they would be taking part in the 2020 season of *BattleBots* with a new version of ORBY Blade. The robot, also simply referred to as **Blade V3**, features a substantially revised design while inheriting the wheels from its second incarnation.  However, Team ORBY subsequently withdrew due to travel restrictions bought along by the Covid-19 pandemic.

Blade V3, referred to on the show simply as **Blade**, would subsequently compete in the sixth modern season of *BattleBots*. It did not start the competition strongly, suffering a judges' decision loss to the experienced Skorpios after being controlled around the arena the entire battle and losing drive in one of its wheels. It started stronger in its next fight against Lucky, but an early attack caused Blade V3 to hit the arena wall, snapping its weapon in half on impact. Blade V3 was subsequently flipped onto the arena barrier by the Canadian machine and, unable to escape, lost the battle. Blade's last battle was against Dragon Slayer, which it won decisively, but with a Fight Night record of 1-2, Blade ultimately did not qualify for the main competition.

Outside the main competition, Blade V3 also competed in the spin-off series *BattleBots: Champions*, where it fought for the right to fight Skorpios in a rematch. Blade V3 performed strongly in its first fight against Kraken, damaging its opponent's wheels and front wedge and ultimately winning the judges' decision. Its next fight against Bloodsport was less successful, as an attempt to use its rear wedge as a shield resulted in Blade V3 being immobilised after just two hits, eliminating it from the competition.

## Trivia

* Under the name ORBY, this robot was one of a limited number to use English characters in its statistics boards, alongside Blue, in a decision that was not made by the team.

## References

1. ↑ https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mYL\_IHRM2NM
2. ↑ https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pun5wELA5f4
3. ↑ https://www.facebook.com/TeamORBY/photos/a.152819295385892/487946491873169/