Steel God of War

Steel God of War

"*They come together to attack, quickly annihilate their opponents, I do not know what kind of mercy!*"
— King of Bots website (translated from Chinese)

**钢铁战神** (translated as **Steel God of War** or **Steel War God** (Mech+)) is a three-part multibot from Taiwan which competed in the first season of *King of Bots*. The only Taiwanese representative throughout the show's entire history, it fought a close opening round against fellow multibot, Thunder and Lightning, but lost out on a split Judges' decision in its solitary appearance.

## Design

Steel God of War was a three-part multibot, or 'clusterbot'. The primary "boss" segment was an invertible box-shaped robot, armed with a drum-like vertical spinner. The weapon featured several disc-shaped blades and was capable of spinning at up to 3,000rpm. It was four-wheel driven, with its weapon and locomotion being chain-driven, and the robot bore the number 36. It also featured a yellow wedge, designed to lead opponents into its spinner, although this proved to not be low enough in practice.

Accompanying the "boss" robot was a pair of lighter, two-wheeled wedge-shape robots which were also invertible. These identically-designed machines were used for ramming and disruption, with the intention to surround and feed opponents into the "boss" robot's drum or arena hazards. Along with fast movements, the supporting segments also proved to have more effective wedge shapes than the main machine.

## The Team

The Hyper Kids team consisted of high school sophomore students, captained by then 17-year-old Zhao Changjie, who were each stated onscreen to be a 'veritable robotics expert'. Having been involved in robotics and robotic sports since he was three years old, Changjie had amassed a total of 28 trophies across a variety of different events prior to Steel God of War's entry.

## Robot History

### King of Bots (Season 1)

**Zhao Changjie**: "*We are young, but our goal is to become high school students who can make the best robots in the world.*"
**Hyper Kids (whole team)**: "*Go, Steel War God!*"
— The Hyper Kids state their ambition for *King of Bots* (Mech+ subtitles)

The three-part multibot Steel God of War faced the two-part multibot Thunder and Lightning in the first round. Steel God of War started much more quickly, and one of its wedges ran straight into the disc of Lightning (blue), but was thrown over. Steel God of War's "boss" robot approached and collided head-on with Thunder (red). The impact threw the whole robot upwards while buckling its front wedge, incapacitating its drum early on. Meanwhile, Lightning attacked one of Steel God of War's wedges. However, after Thunder failed to escape, a Steel God of War wedge drove under its back end to drive it towards a Grinder, where Thunder was held briefly.

Lightning managed to launch a brutal attack on a Steel God of War wedge, throwing it high into the air and over, before grinding at its wedge. Two of Steel God of War's wedges were then pushed at once by Lightning, which drove them both towards the Grinder, but Lightning instead drove straight into it, and was knocked away in recoil. The Lightning half of the opposition had lost drive on one side, so a Steel God of War wedge pushed it straight back into the Grinder.

Steel God of War was still under threat from the mobile Thunder, and one wedge was thrown over, while the main body of the machine was chased across the arena. Steel God of War pushed Thunder from behind and pinned it against the wall while Lightning was also pushed back into the Grinder by a wedge unit before time expired on a very close match.

Steel God of War's wedge segments were considered to be its most effective aspect in the Judges' subsequent deliberation. Meanwhile, the whole multibot's usage of arena hazards prompted Thunder and Lightning's Liu Yuan to predict that it would take the win. Zhao Changjie, however, was more pessimistic, stating that his team's entry had 'zero' offense once the "boss" robot's weapon had been fouled by its damaged wedge.

**Ian Lewis**: "*Damage for 'blue' [Thunder] was very good. It was very strong.*"
**Zhao Ziyang**: "*So for the control, I think for the whole fight, 'blue' [Thunder] controlled the two bots, kept fighting, working with each other, but I don't think the 'three-one' [Steel God of War] worked very... teammates. So control, I think 'blue' [Thunder] is better.*"
— The Judges criticize the teamwork of Steel God of War

Ultimately, despite its late dominance, Steel God of War lost the battle on a 2-1 split decision. Zhao Changjie, having anticipated victory, went on to praise the then 12-year-old Liu Yuan in post-match interviews.

"*I originally expected that I would win. To defeat me at the age of 12 is extremely difficult. It really makes me admire him greatly.*"
— Zhao Changjie (Mech+ subtitles)

## Results

### Wins/Losses

* Wins: 0
* Losses: 1

## Trivia

* By taking Thunder and Lightning to a split Judges' decision, Steel God of War posed the largest threat to the eventual semi-finalist until the fifth round.
* Steel God of War was the only robot from Taiwan to compete on any televised robotic competition.

## External Links

* Steel God of War on the official *King of Bots* website (Chinese)