Steel Dragon

Steel Dragon

**钢铁巨龙** (**Gāngtiě jù lóng**, directly translated to **Steel Dragon** or **Iron Dragon**) was a competitor robot from Luoyang, China, which fought in the first season of *King of Bots*. Built by a team of farmers, it lost in the first round to the eventual runner-up Chiyung Jinlun after sustaining damage to its shell which eventually prevented it from moving across the arena. It fought well in the nine-robot rumble held at the end of the series, but was ultimately immobilized by the arena hazards.

## Design

Steel Dragon was a four-wheeled robot with a circular-based bodyshell surrounding the circumference of its chassis. Its weapon consisted of an assortment of two metal bars and two metal balls suspended from chains, each bolted on top of a horizontal spinning disc. Initially painted gold with red-orange and yellow flames, Steel Dragon appeared in combat with a light gray bodyshell – still with flame decals – and its weapons finished in light gray and gold. A miniature red and gold dragon was mounted on top of the robot during VT segments and while being transported into the arena, although it was removed before battles and testing.

## Robot History

### King of Bots (Season 1)

Steel Dragon appeared in Episode 3, where it fought Chiyung Jinlun in the first round. It started tentatively, only driving out of the red square once it got its weapon up to speed. Steel Dragon drove into an approaching Chiyung Jinlun; the impact resulted in it lifting off the arena floor and having its shell buckled. As it landed on its wheels, Steel Dragon’s flails made contact with the top of Chiyung Jinlun, although this did not appear to damage its opponent as it shook and drove over the flame jets. The two competitors drove into each other again, with Steel Dragon sustaining another hit from Chiyung Jinlun’s drum and being pushed towards the grinders and the flame jets by the latter.

The damage to Steel Dragon’s shell resulted in it being unable to drive in a straight line; nevertheless, Steel Dragon spun its weapon up as Chiyung Jinlun drove into it. It was deflected towards one of the hammers as a result, which struck the top of Steel Dragon’s disc as it struggled to move away. Chiyung Jinlun pushed Steel Dragon into the wall spikes as the hammer fired again; by this point, the damage to Steel Dragon’s shell was enough to prevent it from driving away or getting its weapon spinning. With this, it was counted out, and eliminated from the competition via knockout.

Equipped with the chain flails only, Steel Dragon also fought in a nine-robot Rumble held at the end of Season 1. There, it fought Blue, Crossfire, Dark Knight, Griffin, Ink Thorns, Nuclear Bomb, The Grubs and Violent Dragon. Steel Dragon initially waited in the opening moments to get its flails up to speed, before driving towards Griffin and attacking its wing while the British machine pushed Crossfire across the arena. It and Dark Knight proceeded to destroy the head which fell off the overturned Violent Dragon, sending debris flying everywhere; Steel Dragon retreated to the center, before knocking Blue off the top of Nuclear Bomb with a side-on attack. With the lip of its shell already buckled, Steel Dragon momentarily stopped close to the circular saws in order to get its flails spinning again; moments later, it drove into Ink Thorns and the overturned Griffin, then into Blue, sparks flying as its weapon struck the American robot’s front wedge. More sparks flew as Blue drove into Steel Dragon again, with Steel Dragon retreating before being scooped up and dragged backwards towards the saws by Dark Knight. Steel Dragon sustained more damage to its shell and underside as the saws carried it over, but recovered to strike Blue’s side as the latter got wedged on a piece of Violent Dragon’s debris.

As its flails slowed down once again, Steel Dragon was pushed across the arena by Dark Knight, but broke free, pushing aside Violent Dragon’s head in the process. It fled from Nuclear Bomb before hitting Blue’s axe; again, the flails stopped, and Steel Dragon was scooped up and pushed forwards by Dark Knight. The two robots soon separated; Steel Dragon dodged another charge from Blue and waited opposite the circular saws, before again hitting Blue’s axe and sending the Bots FC machine with the flails. Eventually, it and Nuclear Bomb jointly pushed Blue onto the floor rods; however, the rods also suspended Steel Dragon off the floor, and did not retract in order to let either robot to escape. As a result, Steel Dragon was jointly eliminated along with Blue, and both lost the Rumble to Nuclear Bomb.

## Results

### Wins/Losses

* Wins: 0
* Losses: 2

## External Links

* Steel Dragon on the *King of Bots* website (Chinese, archived)