Residual Wind

Residual Wind

"*The residual cloud Shu volume, crushing, air, ground, opponents nowhere to hide, they are crazy warrior - broken wind!*"
— King of Bots website

**残风 破云** (**Cán fēng pò yún**, translated as **Remnant Wind Breaking Clouds** or **Residual Wind Breaking Clouds**, alternately referred to as **Whirlwind Cloud Breaker**, **Winds Break Clouds**, **Wind Shredder Cloud Breaker** (Mech+) or simply **Residual Wind** (**残风**)) is a heavyweight bar-spinner robot from Fuzhou, Fujian, entered into *King of Bots* Season 1 by **Team Crazy Crazy** (Mech+: **Breaking Mad**). Their robot was able to defeat Sea Wolf in the first round, but was ultimately defeated in the second round by Wild Beast after sustaining damage to one of its wheels.

## Design

Residual Wind was a multibot comprising of two parts. The main heavyweight, referred to as **Wind Shredder** in the Mech+ translation, was a black and brown, two-wheel drive robot equipped with a horizontal bar spinner, featuring a claimed top speed of 13 meters per second (46.8km/h or 29mph). The weapon was stated by captain Wang Jiaqing to take inspiration from ancient axes, weigh as much as 40kg, and deliver the equivalent of '15 to 20 times the force of bullets'.

Wind Shredder's blue tires were exposed at the top, enabling it to run inverted, and it also featured a defensive block to protect its weapon system. Featuring design similarities with other heavyweight bar spinners of the time - such as the American Tombstone and the British Carbide - Wind Shredder proved effective in combat, causing great damage to its opponents.

Wind Shredder was partnered in the arena with a drone which sported a flamethrower, named **Cloud Breaker**. In terms of structure, the drone was held together in a red, barrel-shaped frame.

## Robot History

### King of Bots (Season 1)

In the first round, Residual Wind faced off against Mecanum-wheeled Sea Wolf.

The opening seconds of the battle saw Residual Wind spinning its bar up to speed, while Sea Wolf aimlessly spun around next to its starting square. Residual Wind's first contact did little to trouble Sea Wolf, barely scratching its lifting arm. However, Whirlwind Cloud Breaker slashed into Sea Wolf shortly after, when the hard-to-control style of Sea Wolf saw it expose itself.

Residual Wind's drone then got involved with a use of its flamethrower. Residual Wind itself then came in, and once again ripped into Sea Wolf's armor. After a minor attack to the side of Sea Wolf, Residual Wind came in with a big hit that shattered the back-left corner of Sea Wolf. This attack left Sea Wolf struggling for movement, which allowed Residual Wind to close in with another attack, and one which left Sea Wolf immobilised. Sea Wolf was counted out, and Residual Wind progressed to the next round, despite an emotional close to the battle for both teams.

In the second round, Residual Wind faced drum spinner Wild Beast, minus its drone.

It hesitated in the opening seconds, sustaining a front-on slam from Wild Beast which knocked it back towards the wall spikes. Shuffling back and forth, Residual Wind got its bar spinner up to speed, but was again knocked back after sustaining two more collisions with Wild Beast’s drum. Attempting to dodge Wild Beast, it inadvertently drove up the latter’s front wedges, and withstood another hit before being pushed across the arena and under a hammer. Sustained hits from the hammer caused damage to Residual Wind’s top-front panel, while smoke poured from the machine itself as Wild Beast pinned it against the neighboring wall spikes. The two competitors separated – as Residual Wind tried to drive away, Wild Beast clipped its right-hand side, shredding parts of its armor and tire in the process.

With its entire right-hand side panel bent as a result of its opponent's attack, Residual Wind made contact with Wild Beast’s drum, the impact recoiling it into the wall spikes. As it turned away, Wild Beast threw it over with a powerful side-on slam; Residual Wind sustained even more damage as its opponent pinned it under the hammer once again. Escaping, Residual Wind’s bar spinner clipped Wild Beast’s drum again, causing Residual Wind to be lifted and Wild Beast to momentarily pin it against the nearby wall spikes. Wild Beast pushed Residual Wind further across the arena, where the damage sustained to Residual Wind’s wheel left it immobile on one side. Residual Wind was pushed around again before being left near the grinders and counted out; it was eliminated from the competition via knockout as a result.

Residual Wind also fought in an unaired Tag Team battle, where it was partnered with Nuclear Bomb in order to battle the US-UK team of Blue and The Grubs.

During the battle, Blue was able to land repeated blows on Residual Wind, breaking its bar spinner and heavily denting its top armor. However, Blue also immobilized one of The Grubs, and pushed another into the Grinder to immobilize a second part of The Grubs. Although Blue was still mobile, and both Chinese robots were struggling for life, Blue and The Grubs were counted out based on the immobility of the multibot. This awarded the win to Nuclear Bomb and Residual Wind, although the producers apologized to Team Bots FC after the battle, realizing that Blue's mobility should have allowed the battle to continue.

"*We teamed up with the grubs and fought the carbide clone and the weird in effective horizontal crusher. We exploded the bar on the spinner and caved in their top. The crusher broke off the other bot pretty quickly. In the process we also accidentally squished a grub and pushed one into the screws. The grubs all died and they started counting us out for some reason? Said we lost in a KO despite the other two bots barely moving and Blue still working fine. Producers apologized after for counting us out.*"
— Team Bots FC on Reddit

## Results

### Wins/Losses

* Wins: 1
* Losses: 1

*NOTE: Residual Wind's unaired Tag Team battle is excluded*

## Series Record

*NOTE: Wang Jiaqing also entered the 2019 Opening Battle with Calabash Bros*

## Trivia

* One translation of the robot's name, **Whirlwind Cloud Breaker**, is remarkably similar to fellow competitor Whirlwind cut.

## References

1. ↑ KOB Hall of Fame - interview with Team Pofeng
2. ↑ https://www.reddit.com/r/battlebots/comments/81q85i/king\_of\_bots\_final\_episode\_discussion\_thread/dv7pslb/

## External Links

* Residual Wind on the *King of Bots* website (Chinese, archived)