Giant robot dueling.
Yes, you read that correctly. Giant robot dueling could be the sport of the future, with the first ever gladiator-type battle to be happening in less than a year’s time. Oakland-based startup MegaBots, Inc. has finally finished their Mark II model, after a Kickstarter campaign saw them raise over $550,000.
The Mark II is 15-feet and 12,000 pounds of pure fighting machine, taking two people to operate it, and having detachable weapons systems like a paintball cannon. It is not unlike the fighting robot-like machines from the science-fiction film “Avatar,” although it has treads instead of operable legs.
To make the Mark II battle ready, MegaBots enlisted the help of a number of trained veterans in the sphere of robotics and entertainment, such as NASA engineers, software-maker Autodesk and the behind-the-scenes crew from the TV shows “Mythbusters” and “BattleBots.”
MegaBots has issued a challenge to Japanese company Suidobashi Heavy Industries, who spearheaded this giant fighting robot movement with their Kuratas model.
Feeling that they had to protect their honor, as the first nation to produce these varieties of robots, Suidobashi accepted the American challenge on behalf of Japan.
The Kuratas differs from the Mark II in a few ways—it has wheels instead of tank treads, it is smaller and lighter, it only requires one pilot to operate it, and it has an automated firing system that is connected to a BB Gatling gun.
There is no exact date or location, but it seems as if the battle will take place sometime around June. Judging from the YouTube view count on the two challenge videos, around 10 million if you put the two videos together, this will draw a lot of attention.
If the fight lives up to people’s imaginations, who knows, maybe we could have a giant robot dueling league in the future.