Thunder and Lightning

Thunder and Lightning
Thunder and Lightning
Participation Information
Series	1
Team Information
Team	Positive and Negative
Team Members	Liu Kunfeng Liu
Robot Statistics
Weapons	Multibots with vertical spinners

电闪 雷鸣 (translated as Thunder and Lightning) is a multibot from Shenzhen, China, which competed in the first season of King of Bots. Entered by a father-and-son team, it progressed to the second round after defeating fellow multibot Steel God of War on a split decision.

Design

Thunder and Lightning with its team

Thunder and Lightning, upright

Thunder and Lightning were identical multibots (or clusterbots), and as such they were equally weighted, with the same advantages and disadvantages, the only discernible difference between the two robots being their color-schemes, with one half being painted red, and the other blue. The removable link covers on each machine used the color of the other half of the robot. The two halves were invertible, with two slightly exposed wheels at the back end of both robots. The robots were both armed with vertical spinning discs, with a great deal of power behind their attacks - the low weight of the weapons also allowed them to boast a spinning speed of 15,000rpm. Feeder wedges were also present at the front of the robots, to lead opponents into the spinning discs.

For cohesion, this article presumes that the red half of the robot (driven by the son) was named Thunder, and the blue half (driven by the father) was named Lightning, but this has not been confirmed officially.

Robot History

Season 1

Thunder buckles the wedge of Steel God of War

Thunder is lifted by the Floor Rods

The two-part multibot Thunder and Lightning faced the three-part multibot Steel God of War in the first round. Initially, neither Thunder nor Lightning moved from their starting positions, and one of Steel God of War's wedges ran straight into the disc of Lightning, and was thrown over. Steel God of War's drum spinner approached Thunder, but Thunder had the lower wedge, and buckled the wedge of its opponent, then slammed it upwards, while Lightning focused on a wedge robot. However, Thunder failed to escape, and a wedge drove under its back end to drive it towards a Grinder, where Thunder was held briefly. When freed, Thunder was also suspended by the Floor Rods briefly.

Lightning pushes two robots at once

Lightning gyro-dances into the Grinder

Lightning was also damaged by the arena saws, but 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. Lightning was then able to push both static wedges at once, driving them both towards the Grinder, but Lightning instead drove straight into it, and was knocked away in recoil. Lightning attempted to gyro-dance using the power of its spinner in order to self-right, but was stopped by its wedges, as it wobbled onto a floor flipper, and would not be righted until it danced into the Grinder, sustaining damage in the process. Lightning struggled to drive away, and turned itself back over again, before Steel God of War pushed it straight back into the Grinder.

Thunder gyro-dances

Thunder is pinned against the spikes

It had become evident that Lightning had lost the use of one wheel, but Thunder recovered by throwing a wedge of Steel God of War over, also chasing the main body of the machine across the arena. Thunder was pushed from behind by Steel God of War, and used gyroscopic procession to turn itself over, and it was pinned against the wall while Lightning was also pushed back into the Grinder before time expired on a very close match. Although the Judges were not unanimous in their decision, a 2-1 split decision put Thunder and Lightning through to the next round, with the backing of Ian Lewis.

Ian Lewis: "Damage for 'blue' was very good. It was very strong."

Fellow Judge: "So for the control, I think for the whole fight, 'blue' 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' is better."

— The Judges praise the teamwork of Thunder and Lightning

Lightning immobilises the red section of Ninja General, while Thunder attacks the golden robot

The side of Ninja General is shredded and bent

In the second round, Ninja General fought another multibot, Ninja General, resulting in five robots battling at once again. Ninja General was tenative at first, and held back in the red square without purpose. After reaching its top speed, Lightning drove straight into the red robot of Ninja General, and rammed it into the wall. It was then flipped over by Lightning's disc, while Thunder ripped into the golden part of Ninja General. With the red robot immobile, Lightning smashed the yellow Ninja General into the disc of Thunder, bending its frame while leaving a gash in the side. The robot could now only move backwards, so while the blue component of Ninja General attempted to attack Thunder, it was Lightning which pushed the yellow machine into the arena wall, where it did not escape. With 66% of Ninja General immobile, the robot was counted out, and eliminated from the competition.

Lightning throws Saber into the air

In the third round, Thunder and Lightning fought Saber, their first opponent to not be a multibot. Thunder and Lightning used their usual tactic of remaining stationary to power up their spinners, but Saber slammed into Thunder and turned it over with a charge. Lightning retaliated by hitting Saber's back plate with its disc, before proceeding to hug the side of Saber, limiting its movement. A big hit from Lightning threw Saber up into the air, and caused part of its top armor to break loose, only staying on via a rear hinge. Saber backed into the wall, while Thunder attempted to use gyro-dancing to right itself, albeit without success, as Thunder became stuck on its left-hand side. While Thunder continued to attack the side of Saber, the larger machine was careful to avoid putting Thunder back on its wheels. Lightning drove into Thunder, but did not succeed in righting its partner, while Saber intentionally remained close to the stranded multibot to keep it immobile. Through its own gyro-dance, Lightning flipped itself over to collide with Thunder, but again did not knock it down until it finally drove into its partner and revived it.

Lightning removes a front wedge panel from Saber

Saber missed a flip, and Lightning struck its wedge, causing damage. Lightning then drove into the Grinder, while Thunder again attempted to gyro-dance back onto its wheels. Lightning then delivered a direct blow to the side of Saber, creating a visible tear. With an aggressive charge, Saber turned Thunder back onto its neutral position. Saber missed its next flip, and neither robot attacked each other for a period, with Saber driving over the floor rods, and Thunder eventually landing a small hit. After Lightning also drove over the rods, it struck the front wedge panel of Saber and damaged it, pushing the heavyweight robot across the arena. Saber also drove into the Grinder while trying to lead Lightning into it. Thunder briefly stopped moving, but Lightning was able to rip off Saber's loose wedge panel entirely.

Thunder removes the other wedge of Saber

Saber focused its efforts on the more active Lightning, while Thunder remained passive, and Saber rammed Lightning into the wall. Thunder managed a small attack, driving under the wedge of Saber, but without causing damage. Saber fought Lightning atop the flame jets, but Thunder asserted itself at the right moment to rip away Saber's other front wedge panel, leaving it with only the flipper at the front. Thunder started to dominate, hitting Saber's back end before driving under its front, while Saber's balance was too upset for it to drive under Thunder properly. Towards the end of the battle, Thunder hit the back of Saber, and Lightning attacked the side one more time, finishing with a big hit to Saber's front. The battle went to a Judges' decision, while Thunder and Lightning celebrated with a coordinated gyro-dance. The decision was unanimously awarded to Thunder and Lightning.

Results

Wins/Losses

• Wins: 3
• Losses: 0

Outside King of Bots

Before entering King of Bots, the team found success in the 60kg weight category of FMB competitions.

Trivia

• Thunder and Lightning was not the only robot in the competition to be named after thunder - Thunderstorm also debuted in the same episode as Thunder and Lightning.

External Links

• Thunder and Lightning on the official King of Bots website (Chinese)