Xiake

* Season 2
* TiFR

"*From now on, our combat strategy is speed, precision and showing no mercy. I will not give the opponent a chance to attack. I will come straight to your face. Using Chinese-made speed to defeat the opponent!*"
— Zheng Jianfeng, *This is Fighting Robots*, Episode 2 (Mech+ translation)

**侠客** (romanized and commonly referred to as **Xiake**, translated as **Knight**) was a competitor robot from Suzhou, China which competed in the 2018 series *This is Fighting Robots*, along with Season 2 of *King of Bots*. Built by 34-year old Zheng Jianfeng, it was the successor to *King of Bots* Season 1 runner-up, Chiyung Jinlun, continuing its predecessor's legacy by finishing third in *This is Fighting Robots*, and fighting as part of the winning team in *King of Bots II*.

In *This is Fighting Robots*, Xiake qualified through its preliminary group battle after being selected by Wu Chun. During the main competition, Zheng Jianfeng acted as a secondary tactician and leader for the Red team, motivating Chun to continue fighting amidst several defeats and robot eliminations for them in earlier stages. Xiake itself would proceed to win its three-way Freestyle Combat melee against Slash Boy and Snow Leopard, earning Wu Chun's first victory in the process. However, despite immobilizing 008 in its Tag Team battle, where it was partnered with Vulcan, Xiake was pitted by Greedy Snake and was initially eliminated from the competition at this stage.

Xiake would later be reinstated after Wu Chun chose it to return to the Red team, following his victory in a later head-to-head battle, although it lost to Greedy Snake once again under Wu Chun's controls. In order to qualify for the Top 8, Xiake dominated Cat King, despite officially losing the battle due to a 20-second period of immobility. In the Top 8, it first won a decisive battle against Sandstorm, before being eliminated by Tánshè on a Judges' decision in the semi-final after losing drive on one side towards the end of the battle, despite dominating for most of the match. Xiake ultimately finished *This is Fighting Robots* third overall, upon winning the subsequent playoff against Shrederator Tiger Claw.

Xiake opened up its *King of Bots II* campaign with a win over Two BBQ to join Huang Jian Xiang's team, but despite this impressive win, Xiake lost its place on the team after suffering a loss to the British flipper Vulcan. Nevertheless, Xiake rejoined the same team when it won a four-way rumble in the Redemption Round, over UFO. Xiake then joined forces with Vulcan to win a two-on-two fight against Doraemon and Agate, and despite losing its next head-to-head against Rhino, Xiake advanced to the final tournament and collected its third lifetime victory over Megabyte (including Chiyung Jinlun's battles), before being set on fire by Spectre in a rematch of the Season 1 title fight. Nevertheless, Huang Jian Xiang's team won the Attrition War with assistance from Xiake's earlier win, making Xiake one of the winning robots in Season 2.

## Design

* Official shot of Xiake for *This is Fighting Robots*
* Xiake's statistics in *This is Fighting Robots*
* Xiake in the testing arena for Season 1.5
* Front view of Xiake for Season 1.5
* Side view of Xiake for Season 1.5
* Top view of Xiake for Season 1.5
* Xiake on display during Season 1.5, complete with conical hat
* A damaged Xiake during its campaign
* Xiake with its full team
* CAD of Xiake for Season 1.5
1/10
Xiake was a red and black, box-shaped robot, driven by four externally-mounted wheels enabling it to drive either way up, although the wheels were protected by a layer of polycarbonate. Its main weapon was a large vertical spinning drum, which used two teeth to cause significant damage to opponents. The robot also featured a large front wedge which enabled it to get underneath and push opponents around, as well as lead them into its drum, although this held robots away from the drum when Xiake was inverted. New wedgelets were also made as an optional attachment for Xiake, used in the Cat King fight, attached to hinges which allow the spiked wedges to breach the sides of other robot's wedges.

"*Its biggest advantage is that it's very stable, the structure is a round barrel, speed can reach 7000rpm, power of 15kw, all-wheel drive walking, walking power of 2000w, 7075 aviation aluminum fuselage materials.*"
— Zheng Jianfeng on the statistics of Xiake

Although Xiake is similar in design to the team's Season 1 entry Chiyung Jinlun, there are some differences. It is painted a light red, and the wheels are not exposed. The drum is also significantly more powerful, spinning at 7,000rpm and notably throwing other robots into the air during battles and performing a 'gyro-dance' during testing. Xiake was relatively unchanged in *King of Bots II*, but sported new graphics on its side armor.

"*I regret that I didn't add a flamethrower to my robot. Because the drum spins so fast, it makes it a bit difficult to add a flamethrower on. So our team will keep working on the flamethrower and hopefully you will see it next time.*"
— Zheng Jianfeng on an unrealized flamethrower weapon for Xiake

## The Team

The Xiake team was captained by Zheng Jianfeng, the builder of the robot, who was aged 34 at the time of *King of Bots II*. He first built a robot in 2014, as a cleaning instrument that his newborn son could play with, before completing his first robot Chiyung Jinlun in 2016, which finished second in Season 1. He was accompanied by Wang Zhangwei, the team's machinist responsible for the testing of the robot, and Gào Hǎilún is responsible for the circuitry of Xiake. Chiyung Jinlun's fourth team member Ding Niu may have also been present on occasion, but was not seen on-screen.

## Robot History

### This is Fighting Robots (Season 1.5)

"*If you hesitate, you're wasting your time here.*"
— Zheng Jianfeng, criticizing Wu Chun's tentative approach to the robot selection processes

In Episode 1, Xiake's team captain Zheng Jianfeng was initially critical of Wu Chun's tentativeness in the initial selection rounds, whereupon the robot itself was not chosen by any of the celebrity team managers. Dressed in robes and conical hats along with his teammates, Jianfeng briefly told Chun of Chiyung Jinlun's successful *King of Bots* run as he considered adding it to the Red team, while offering to advise him on how to increase his chances of overall victory.

However, Chun declined to select Xiake, and later interrupted an attempt by Zhang Yishan to negotiate its potential addition to the Blue team. The latter resulted in Xiake not being selected by either manager, to Zheng Jianfeng's annoyance, and neither Zheng Shuang or Sa Beining were known to have made similar offers to add it to their rosters.

"*They came to me and hesitated and didn't choose me after all. I was really disappointed. I hope to show them later in the competition how good my robot is. They'll know what a mistake they made by not choosing me.*"
— Zheng Jianfeng

Xiake was thus required to prove its capabilities to the managers by competing in a preliminary group battle against three UK machines - 008, Ninja and Saturn. Brief highlights of this four-way melee were shown in Episode 2.

Xiake was initially shown to sustain a head-on collision with 008, which caused both robots to recoil spectacularly across the arena, before Ninja pushed it forwards as all four competitors converged. Xiake proceeded to launch Saturn into the air with its drum, impressing Wu Chun sufficiently for him to select it after all. Despite having its side panel completely destroyed by Saturn later on in the battle, this performance enabled Xiake to enter the main competition as part of the Red team, a position it would attempt to retain for the entirety of its career in *This is Fighting Robots*, largely with success.

During the subsequent 'learning' process - where Wu Chun had an hour to familiarize himself with his chosen robots - Zheng Jianfeng brought himself to the forefront upon appearing alongside the Earth Mover team. Jianfeng's experience was accentuated by highlights of Chiyung Jinlun's *King of Bots* run, along with comments from the captains of Red River Hong and White Tiger Guardian, which reinforced Team Xiake as a pioneering Chinese entry capable of 'defeating foreigners'. He proceeded to tout Xiake's stability and versatility against different robot designs to Chun, while also explaining that it was redesigned in response to Chiyung Jinlun's crushing defeat against Spectre.

Jianfeng's optimism about succeeding, coupled with his approach to plan battle strategies in advance, helped to significantly improve Chun's overall confidence alongside his perception of Xiake as a competitor. Chiyung Jinlun's victory over Megabyte was also highlighted by Jianfeng to Green team captain Zheng Shuang, with Tánshè's Gabriel Stroud also supporting Xiake on the basis of its proven, 'very strong' design.

Before his machine could compete again, Zheng Jianfeng made more notable appearances in Episode 3. After touting the powerful bar spinner of ORBY Blade ahead of its Freestyle Combat melee, he proceeded to bring an ensemble of Red team roboteers into the arena before the end of the first stage. This was done to boost Chun's morale after the whole team had gone winless by this point, which succeeded in convincing him to take part in the sixth Freestyle match.

"*As a member of Wu Zun's team, I gather all the team leaders here. We'd like to cheer up our team a bit. Even though our team is falling behind, however, the competition is not over yet. We still have confidence! So, I... We are gonna say to our big brother, Wu Zun, Warrior, go, go go!*"
— Zheng Jianfeng delivers a rousing speech in support of Wu Chun (Mech+ subtitles)

In the following episode, Xiake finally began its main competition run, being selected by Chun to battle Snow Leopard (Zhang Yishan) and Slash Boy (Sa Beining) in a three-way Freestyle Combat clash.

Xiake and Snow Leopard immediately targeted one another, and sparks flew when Xiake's drum collided with the front forks of Snow Leopard. As Snow Leopard fled, Xiake bulldozed its way past Slash Boy to strike the exposed wheels of Snow Leopard, ripping one of them away, and Xiake immobilized Snow Leopard.

Xiake and Slash Boy fought on, but even though Snow Leopard had already been eliminated, its celebrity captain Zhang Yishan was still able to activate the floor flipper. When Xiake drove over the floor flipper, Zhang Yishan capitalized, and overturned it. This proved to be critical, as Xiake's drum no longer made contact with Slash Boy, for its solid wedge protruded further outwards, and Xiake's drum also sub-optimally spun downwards. Nevertheless, after a brief period of inactivity, Xiake drove across the arena and slammed into Slash Boy's bar spinner, ramming it into a wall. Either as a result of this attack, or beforehand, a chain slipped from Slash Boy's weapon, leaving the bar spinner useless. The inverted Xiake rammed Slash Boy into a Grinder, although both robots were struck by the hazard. Slash Boy fled from the pursuant Xiake, and drove over the circular saws in the floor, causing sparks to fly. In the final ten seconds of the battle, Xiake caught Slash Boy side-on, and drove it across the arena, into the very corner of the BattleBox. The battle was sent to a Judges' decision, which was unanimously awarded in favour of Xiake, awarding points to Wu Chun's team for the first time.

In the Tag Team round, Xiake was partnered with British entry Vulcan of the Green team. Together, they fought Greedy Snake of the Blue team and 008 of the Yellow team – the second time in the show in which Xiake faced 008.

In the opening seconds of the battle, it waited in its starting position while Vulcan pursued 008 and Greedy Snake – eventually, Xiake joined its teammate, briefly bumping into Greedy Snake. Xiake then sustained an attack from 008’s disc, which lifted the Scottish robot upwards – it proceeded to knock 008 back, causing the latter’s disc to hit the floor and send it violently recoiling. As soon as 008 stabilized, Xiake drove into its side, before proceeding to ram into 008s disc and sending its opponent cartwheeling into – and out of – the pit. This attack resulted in 008 sustaining a damaged axle and catching fire, eliminating it early on.

With one of its opponents already defeated, Xiake focused on helping Vulcan attack Greedy Snake, but was briefly pushed back by the latter. It spun away, retreated and waited close to the corner as Greedy Snake accidentally pitted itself; both Xiake and Vulcan waited on opposite sides of the arena as Greedy Snake was raised back up to rejoin the battle. With Greedy Snake proceeding to clamp and carry Vulcan into the wall spikes, Xiake pursued its black and green rival, only to drive underneath and briefly get lodged underneath Vulcan as the latter shook itself free from Greedy Snake’s forks. Both robots separated, with Xiake proceeding to ram and pursue Greedy Snake again; however, it inadvertently attacked Vulcan while doing so, damaging the latter’s rear strut in the process. Following another side-on attack on Vulcan, Xiake pursued Greedy Snake once more, this time succeeding in catching up to Greedy Snake and throwing it over with its drum.

Xiake attempted to press Greedy Snake against the wall spikes as the latter self-righted, without success, and was momentarily grabbed and pushed from the side by Greedy Snake. Breaking free, Xiake bumped into Vulcan, before making a lunge at an evading Greedy Snake. The two robots collided head-on, the impact throwing Xiake up onto Greedy Snake’s weapon and causing it to land in the pit nearby. Instantly, Xiake was eliminated via knockout, and played no further part in the battle while Vulcan survived to a Judges’ decision - the Xiake team subsequently apologized to Alan Young of Team Robots Live! for their defeat. The decision went against Xiake and Vulcan, eliminating both robots from the competition.

Following his victory in a later head-to-head round, Wu Chun selected Xiake to re-join the Red team, effectively allowing it to be reinstated for later rounds. Wu Chun then drove Xiake in a three-way rumble against Greedy Snake and Shrederator Tiger Claw.

Xiake initially held back, due to its new driver's nerves. While Greedy Snake and Shrederator Tiger Claw became distracted with one another, Xiake charged into the side of Greedy Snake, grinding at its underside while also ripping decorative spikes from the arena wall. Xiake later capitalized on Greedy Snake pushing Shrederator Tiger Claw around, and threw Shrederator Tiger Claw from the floor and into the wall. However, Xiake drove onto Greedy Snake's wedge, and was pushed into the corner of the arena itself. Xiake had become stuck on debris which it had previously ripped from the wall, but it drove into the back of Greedy Snake and pushed it into the spinner of Shrederator Tiger Claw, also carrying it into the arena wall to slam Greedy Snake high into the air.

Xiake took another hiatus while Shrederator Tiger Claw and Greedy Snake fought on, when suddenly, Xiake charged in and clashed with the spinner of Shrederator Tiger Claw, throwing it into a Grinder, where it recoiled straight back into the side of Greedy Snake, and Xiake also drove under Greedy Snake to hit its base. Greedy Snake shepherded Shrederator Tiger Claw back, damaging the arena wall again, but a hit from Xiake's drum threw the American machine into the air, and directly into Greedy Snake's grappling weapon, bending it. Xiake had become stuck on debris again, so Shrederator Tiger Claw hit the arena wall and bounced into Xiake, damaging the side of the machine.

Xiake made no further plays in the final fifteen seconds of the match, and time expired on the battle. The judges were required to decide who had won the battle out of the three active machines, and they ultimately voted in favour of Greedy Snake, resulting in Xiake's second consecutive loss to Greedy Snake.

"*Xiake, your robot is slow and lumbering! We will get around you, and destroy every piece of you!*"
— Cat King's team captain

In its next battle, Xiake faced Cat King, which had been equipped with its vertical spinner. For this battle, Xiake was outfitted with two wedgelets.

Both robots met in the center of the arena, and Xiake was immediately able to breach Cat King's wedge, repeatedly hitting it from below, throwing sparks and Cat King together. A big hit from Xiake launched Cat King over one meter into the air. Xiake maintained its assault, pursuing the fleeing Cat King from behind, and also struck its wedge in order to grind at the underside of Cat King.

Pieces of Cat King were visibly strewn across the arena, after Xiake's grinding attack had created shrapnel. Cat King had lost full control of its wheels, and was largely turning in circles, although Xiake backed away to the center of the arena and briefly stopped moving, with its drum also disabled. Xiake revived, and drove straight under Cat King's wedge to toss the robot high into the air, again throwing more loose pieces from Cat King.

However, Xiake's strong lead was suddenly threatened when Xiake attempted to drive Cat King into the wall, and instead lost mobility under the spikes lining the arena wall, seemingly pinned. A total of twenty seconds passed, while Cat King's team encouraged the referee to count out Xiake while it was stuck. However, the referee did not count Xiake out of the battle, and the robot was turned off and on, as signaled by the LED's behind the robot's drum, which had started spinning again, and Xiake escaped, to the visible joy of the referee. Once Xiake re-entered the battle, it reasserted itself by driving under the side of Cat King to ram it into the wall housing the Grinder. Cat King's team were visibly upset, while Xiake rammed Cat King into the Grinder, completing seven rams before time expired on the battle.

"*I kept it going because in that match, because they were stuck. Twenty seconds! We have it on video, we can count it on the video!*"
— Martin Mason on Xiake's immobility

The battle was sent to a Judges' decision, after Xiake had appeared to have dominated the fight. However, Martin Mason of Cat King's team asserted that Xiake had been immobile for twenty seconds during the battle without being counted out, and reminded the celebrities and Judges that a robot may only be immobile for ten seconds. Both the Judges and the celebrities reviewed the footage of the battle, and based on Xiake's twenty seconds of inactivity, the victory was awarded to Cat King. Despite Xiake's loss, it still advanced to the Top 8 as one of the two active members in the Red team.

In its quarter-final, Xiake faced Sandstorm of the Green team.

The fight started with both robots charging at each other, and Sandstorm smashed into Xiake's drum head-on with an impact that not only threw it into the air, but also caused a wheel to become dislodged. Xiake took an early lead, and initially succeeding in dodging all of Sandstorm's charges, but eventually Sandstorm succeeded in getting under its opponent.

As Sandstorm found itself unable to utilize this this attack, Xiake escaped. Due to Xiake's wedgelets being so close to the floor, this made it challenging for Sandstorm to get underneath Xiake. After a few more attempts to get underneath the Chinese machine, Sandstorm finally succeeded in getting underneath it properly, and slammed Xiake into the wall spikes. As Xiake managed to escape again though, a mistimed attack by Sandstorm meant it drove into Xiake's drum. This impact caused a belt to fall from Sandstorm, which precariously landed on its own wedge in such a way that its wheels did not make contact with the floor. Unable to self-right from this position, Xiake could be seen dancing in the background as Sandstorm was counted out and declared KO'ed, awarding Xiake the victory.

In the semi-final of the competition, Xiake fought the British flipper of Tánshè, as the only Chinese representative left in the competition.

Immediately, Xiake demonstrated that it had a lower frontal ground clearance, and breached the wedge of Tánshè to lift the robot up. On a second contact, Xiake drove under Tánshè completely, holding the British flipper on its top momentarily. Xiake edged Tánshè backwards, although it briefly drove onto the flipper of Tánshè, which did not activate despite the cries of Zheng Shuang. Xiake then drove under the fleeing Tánshè, and threw sparks off its underside, before a more solid blow threw Tánshè over completely. Tánshè self-righted quickly, but Xiake followed up with an attack to its side. Tánshè still wasn't making offensive moves, and skirted over Xiake's wedge to hit the drum again. This damaged Tánshè's front lip, which prevented it from getting under the side of Xiake for a flip. Xiake again continued circling its opponent, landing several glancing blows on Tánshè's wedge through repeated attacks.

"*It's very difficult to get underneath Xiake, he's got some very very sharp wedges, and he hits very hard.*"
— Gabriel Stroud

When Tánshè made an offensive drive forwards, Xiake's drum threw it over, and Tánshè took two attempts in order to self-right, before driving straight back into Xiake's drum while rearing up. Xiake's dominance continued over its next few slams, and managed to land a critical blow, ripping an entire wheel out of Tánshè through impact alone. Although Tánshè could still drive freely without this wheel, Xiake continued to grind at the rear of it, and sent it spiralling over with a frontal drum-on-wedge impact. Tánshè self-righted, only to have armour torn off by Xiake.

"*You can't go into the front of him!*"
— Gabriel Stroud to driver John Reid

Finally, Tánshè launched its first attack of the match after reaching the side of Xiake to overturn it, propelling it into the wall behind the Grinder after Xiake's drum collided with the firing flipper. Xiake's drum started to grind at the surface of the floor, and was forced to take evasive action. Tánshè drove Xiake backwards, lifting it lightly, and Xiake also collided with the Grinder twice by its own accord. With only a few seconds remaining, Tánshè pinned Xiake against the arena wall, and edged it to the corner of the arena. Driver John Reid told his weapon operator Gabriel Stroud to wait for a good flip, attempting to line up the perfect flip to throw Xiake out of the arena, but when Reid gave Stroud the signal, it was too late, and Tánshè missed with its flip. Tánshè drove Xiake into another wall, where Xiake lost drive on one side, late into the battle.

"*He's broken! Ten seconds!*"
— Gabriel Stroud

Gabriel Stroud quickly alerted the referee that Xiake was unable to move freely, and the referee rushed over to count Xiake out, while Tánshè held off. The referee began his count, and reached 'two', but time elapsed on the battle before the referee could count any further. Xiake was saved by the timer, and proceeded to a Judges' decision, but on the grounds of Xiake's late immobility, it was eliminated from the competition at this stage by the Judges. Wu Chun and Xiake's team were confused and upset by this decision, but Xiake was relegated to the third place playoff.

In the third place playoff, Xiake fought Shrederator Tiger Claw for the second time, in a battle not aired as part of the main episode.

Xiake spun its weapon up to speed more quickly than Shrederator Tiger Claw, and the latter retreated to gain more speed, throwing sparks when both weapons briefly collided. Xiake landed a bigger hit to the shell spinner of Shrederator Tiger Claw, and then pushed it back into a Grinder. Shrederator Tiger Claw then tried to launch its own attack, but ran into the drum of Xiake and was thrown up, remaining off-balance for a while after failing to land flat. Xiake waited for the gyroscopic motions to cease, and Shrederator Tiger Claw returned to solid ground to make its escape.

Xiake charged into the spinner of Shrederator Tiger Claw, but was punted away, but responded by closing in to throw Shrederator Tiger Claw high into the air with a powerful attack. Shrederator Tiger Claw scraped the side of Xiake, and then both collided for an even clash which ripped away a piece of armour from Xiake, but Xiake landed a follow-up attack on Shrederator Tiger Claw. Xiake was now hesitant to attack, and Shrederator Tiger Claw clipped the front corner of Xiake to toss it aside. Both robots held off until Xiake backed Shrederator Tiger Claw into the wall, which narrowly avoided the arena hammer to hit the side of Xiake again.

With less than a minute remaining, both robots were very tentative, with Xiake's wedge now seemingly unable to breach the ground clearance of Shrederator Tiger Claw. Eventually, Shrederator Tiger Claw managed to rip the front wedge away from Xiake entirely, but this also meant that Xiake could now bring its weapon back into play, and it charged Shrederator Tiger Claw twice in succession. Xiake's drum was no longer spinning, and was loosely attached in general, with Shrederator Tiger Claw once again striking the front of the machine, also briefly wedging under it to attack the underside of Xiake.

Time expired on a very close battle, and the Judges declared that Xiake had won, based on its earlier dominance in the match. As such, Xiake achieved third place in *This is Fighting Robots*.

### King of Bots II (Season 2)

"*Began with an exhibition fight between Shredderator and Xiake, to show the celebrities what fighting robots is. Shredderator won easily.*"
— Huntsman KOB2 Diary

Before the main season of *King of Bots II* started filming, Xiake fought in a whiteboard battle, to introduce the six celebrity captains to the idea of watching heavyweight robot combat in person. Xiake was one of two volunteers, alongside Shrederator Tiger Claw, creating a rematch of the close and controversial third place play-off from *This is Fighting Robots*. On this occasion, Xiake was easily defeated by Shrederator Tiger Claw.

After being repaired, Xiake also teamed up with Vulcan to fight Mr Hippo and Earth Shovel in a two-on-two match. Most robots did not use their weaponry in this battle, until Earth Shovel flipped Vulcan, and in response, Vulcan threw it out of the arena. Vulcan and Xiake won the match as a direct result.

When the main competition commented, Xiake became the first selection of a celebrity captain, being nominated by Huang Jian Xiang who had recognized the robot from its earlier battle. As a result, Xiake fought in the first televised battle of the series, taking on the experienced Two BBQ.

Xiake circled around the arena while avoiding its opponent, with both spinners accelerating to full speeds, until the first minor contact saw Two BBQ bump into Xiake. It was then Xiake which landed the first real exchange of the battle, churning away at Two BBQ's wedgelets and driving it back across the arena, which also caused a belt to slip from Two BBQ.

Xiake was holding onto a comfortable lead until Two BBQ suddenly swung its vertical spinner into the wedgelets of Xiake, completely ripping one out of place. Although this threatened Xiake's effectiveness, Two BBQ immediately halted after driving over its own loose belt. With Two BBQ suspended above the arena floor, it could no longer move, and Xiake kept its distance until Two BBQ was counted out. The win by knockout was awarded to Xiake, and it successfully joined Huang Jian Xiang's team.

However, Xiake's position on Huang Jian Xiang's team was put in peril once twelve international entries joined the competition during Episode 3. John Mladenik of Megabyte stated his desires to avenge his previous losses to Chiyung Jinlun, but ultimately it was Vulcan that fought Xiake for a place on the celebrity team. Xiake entered the battle with its two spiked wedgelets

Both robots instantly got off the mark, but Xiake's choice of wedgelets quickly proved to be a poor decision, with the spiked wedgelets offering no assistance as Xiake drove straight onto the flipper of Vulcan. Although Xiake managed to reverse away in time, both robots crashed into the arena wall, and this allowed Vulcan to slip under the side of Xiake and overturn it with a powerful flip. With Xiake now inverted, it could no longer make use of its wedgelets, and its drum was spinning the wrong way to cause major damage, although it still chipped away at the HARDOX armor of Vulcan when the two next made contact, with Vulcan also missing its opportunity to flip Xiake.

Immediately after this, Vulcan found an opportunity to slide under Xiake and throw it towards the corner of the arena, where Xiake delicately balanced on top of the arena wall. Xiake was able to drive down from the arena wall, but could not escape the corner before Vulcan drove back under the drum of Xiake, and flipped it forwards so that Xiake slotted perfectly behind the arena wall. As a result, Vulcan won the match by knockout in just over two minutes, and Xiake forfeited its place on Huang Jian Xiang's team to the British machine.

Xiake fell into the redemption round, and its status as the most successful robot in the lineup meant that other teams were resistant to the idea of fighting it. As Xiake was not chosen to participate in any head-to-head redemption battles, it was forced to compete in a four-way rumble against Green Elf, Reaper and UFO, with only one robot earning the victory and the right to join a celebrity team.

All four robots spent the opening period of the match spinning up their weapons, although Green Elf's disc soon gave out and stalled. Reaper delivered the first attack of the match, driving its way around to Xiake's back tire while Xiake was spinning in place, and Reaper ripped the tire away entirely. However, on the next collision between the two, Reaper's undercutting blade deflected off Xiake's thick wedge, and threw Reaper over, causing it to drive into the arena wall. Reaper started exuding smoke after this violent drive, and only turned in place while Xiake focused on Green Elf, which had hardly been involved. Soon after, Reaper stopped moving altogether, and was the first to be counted out in the rumble.

Xiake then barged into Green Elf, knocking its disc out of place and tearing small chunks out of its tires and armor, also flipping Green Elf over. Having completely avoided the action up until now to focus on reaching top spinning speeds and waiting for other robots to fall, UFO cruised in and delivered a significant blow to the side of Green Elf, tearing one of its tires away, while Xiake closed in and hit the same area of Green Elf. While Xiake was pushing Green Elf back, UFO hit Xiake from behind, causing minor damage. At an unclear point in the battle, UFO also landed a more significant blow on Xiake, sending it spinning away. Towards the end of the fight, UFO ripped another wheel away from Green Elf, but Xiake caught up and launched UFO into the air for a rough landing. Time expired on the battle, and the Judges declared Xiake victorious in the final rumble of the redemption round, allowing it to rejoin Huang Jian Xiang's team.

As part of Huang Jian Xiang's team, Xiake teamed up with previous opponent Vulcan to fight against Doraemon and Agate in a two-on-two battle as part of the next round.

Both Vulcan and Xiake drove straight towards their opponents, and while accelerating its spinner, Doraemon panicked and drove into the arena wall, stopping the momentum of its blade. Xiake immediately capitalized, and knocked Doraemon up into the air. Doraemon landed right-side up, but was unable to assert itself, even glazing against the side of Agate which was being closely followed by Vulcan. This allowed Xiake to close in and pelt Doraemon across the arena. Although it again landed on its wheels, Doraemon was relatively motionless for a while. Vulcan then used this opportunity to slide under Agate and throw it over, causing its front armor to buckle in the process, and Agate became stuck on its own front wedge. Agate flailed its hammer and spun its wheels, with a retract of its hammer eventually helping it down.

Agate then tried to attack Xiake but missed with its swing, shaving sparks off the floor, and Xiake hit it side-on. Doraemon was slowly creeping across the arena while trying to spin up to speed, but Vulcan soon caught up to it and threw Doraemon out of the arena. Xiake and Vulcan then double-teamed Agate, with Xiake shaving sparks from Agate. Xiake then managed to pin it under the arena flipper until Vulcan caught up and tossed it backwards. Agate laid inverted by the arena corner, where it was counted out, and the win was given to Xiake and Vulcan, ensuring an overall victory for Huang Jian Xiang.

In the next round, Xiake faced Rhino of Di Yang's team, with a potential victory ensuring another overall win for Huang Jian Xiang following an earlier triumph with Vulcan.

Here, it started well, quickly meeting Rhino in the center of the arena before striking its UK opponent's front wedge. However, this attack launched Xiake into the air, and it was unable to line up another attack before Rhino hit its side, damaged its left panel and rammed it into the furthest wall spikes. The force of the charge flipped Xiake over against the spikes, where it remained stranded for several seconds while it tried to drive off them. Eventually, Xiake broke free, only to drive itself under the same spikes as Rhino approached. This left it vulnerable to another damaging attack from Rhino, which proceeded to throw Xiake against the wall while tearing its right panel open and removing its right-rear tire.

Still inverted, Xiake attempted to drive away following another bump from Rhino. However, it ended up spinning into Rhino again, sustaining more damage as Rhino buffeted and rammed it into the corner and the wall spikes. Xiake inched itself away from the spikes, but was soon lifted upwards by the nearby floor flipper, allowing Rhino to hit its top panel and ram it drum-first into the blue corner. Despite being re-righted by this ram, Xiake was now left with noticeable mobility issues. It resorted to shuffling across the arena perimeter, before pointing its drum at Rhino as the UK machine rammed it once again. In the process, Xiake lost its left-front wedgelet, the hinge of which caught the space for one of the circular saws as it tried to charge forwards. Xiake's left wheels were lifted off the floor as a result, removing its only remaining source of drive.

With this, Xiake was left helpless as Rhino pushed and rammed it into the corner spikes. This ram reset the damaged wedgelet to its correct position, but Xiake was left immobile on one side at this stage of the battle. Xiake was quickly counted out by the referee, suffering a knockout loss and enabling Di Yang's team to equalize Huang Jian Xiang’s team on points. Both Yang and Xiang would ultimately finish their round with one victory apiece after no winner was declared for their subsequent 2v2 round.

After this battle, Xiake took an extended absence from the competition, and would not fight again until the Attrition War that determined the winner of the series in Episode 12. As the second robot to represent Huang Jian Xiang in the Attrition War, Xiake was tasked with collecting its third lifetime victory over Megabyte to keep its team in the lead. Xiake entered the battle with its wedgelets, rather than its anti-spinner plough.

Good fortune struck for Xiake, as Megabyte's shell spinner had broken as a result of its previous fight, which the team discovered only minutes before the battle begun. Knowing that its opponent had no working weapon, Xiake was able to leisurely spin its drum up to speed, and then quickly delivered a blow to Megabyte, throwing it into the air, although it landed upright. Xiake then chased down a fleeing Megabyte to land a second hit, throwing it straight at the arena wall where the teams controlled their robots, forcing it to land harshly on the ground again. Soon afterwards, Xiake landed its final blow and with one final hit of the drum spinner, smashed Megabyte onto its back for a quick knockout, securing Xiake's third lifetime victory over Megabyte.

Xiake's good fortune soon ran out, as it was immediately placed into a rematch with the robot that prevented it from winning Season 1, Spectre.

Both competitors began tentatively, but it quickly became apparent that Xiake was struggling to move properly from the blue corner. After some time, Xiake seemingly attempted to line its drum up for an attack on Spectre. In doing so, it drove directly up Spectre’s front wedge, allowing the UK machine to grip and push Xiake into the wall spikes and grinders. The grinder smashed Xiake’s right side panel to pieces and initially appeared to immobilize the Chinese machine; however, Xiake was eventually able to escape.

Moments later, Spectre drove behind and sunk its teeth through Xiake’s top panel, while simultaneously pushing it past the red corner. Smoke began pouring from Xiake as its battery was punctured, and Spectre lifted it into the air. Spectre maneuvered Xiake away from the hammer as its opponent burst into flames, before lowering and slamming it into another set of wall spikes. A smouldering Xiake was left immobile on one side before being duly counted out and extinguished, having suffered a similar fate to Chiyung Jinlun.

After earning one win and one loss for Huang Jian Xiang in the Final Attrition War, Xiake's contributions were enough to set up an eventual victory from the team, when Vulcan prevailed over Spectre and Drift. Xiake therefore joined its teammates as the co-champion of the series.

## Results

### Wins/Losses

* Wins: 7
* Losses: 7

* *NOTE 1: Xiake's preliminary group battle in This is Fighting Robots is not considered to be a win or a loss.*
* *NOTE 2: Xiake's Warm-Up Battles from Season 2 are excluded from the tally.*

## Series Record

* An official Xiake toy
* An official Xiake plush
* An official cardboard model page
1/3

 Season 2 | **Huang Jian Xiang's team, joint champions**(4-3 record)

## Outside King of Bots

Before appearing on *King of Bots*, the Xiake team competed in the Chinese FMB (*Fighting My Bots*) competitions with the featherweight **Little Beezlebub from Impasse**, also known as **Small Devil Jedi**. A four-wheeled robot featuring a similar shape and drum weapon to their Season 1 entry Chiyung Jinlun, Little Beezlebub from Impasse debuted at the inaugural FMB Featherweight Championship in 2016, where it finished runner-up to Gagu Snake.

In addition to this, their other Heavyweight, Chiyung Jinlun was on the waiting list for *RoboGames* in 2018, but ultimately did not compete.

For the 2018 UK International Championships, Team Xiake entered a second featherweight, **Little Devil**, with a design and weapon similar to those of its heavyweight counterpart. For more information on its UK appearance, see Little Devil.

## Trivia

* As the only Chinese robot in the Top 4 of the competition, Xiake was the most successful Chinese robot in *This is Fighting Robots*, a title shared by Chiyung Jinlun in *King of Bots*. It was also one of three Chinese robots included in Huang Jian Xiang's winning team during Season 2.

## References

1. ↑ https://www.facebook.com/KOBCHINA/photos/pcb.354328661763099/354328551763110/?type=3&theater
2. ↑ https://www.facebook.com/KOBCHINA/photos/pcb.354328661763099/354328551763110/?type=3&theater
3. ↑ https://www.hellfirelabs.com.au/index.php/2019/07/16/kob2-diary-part-1/
4. ↑ https://www.hellfirelabs.com.au/index.php/2019/07/16/kob2-diary-part-1/
5. ↑ https://www.facebook.com/phineas.xuanyuan/posts/501648513917178?comment\_id=501692920579404&reply\_comment\_id=502778763804153&notif\_id=1565760684340214&notif\_t=feed\_comment\_reply
6. ↑ https://www.reddit.com/r/battlebots/comments/7xwimz/a\_bit\_of\_throwback/
7. ↑ https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ncL8i2RidVs#t=23m36s