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In 2015, a team of American engineers created the MegaBots Mk. II, a 15-foot-tall, 5,400kg, paintball cannon-armed mech of nightmarish proportions. Which is impressive and all, but the question was: why? The answer came in the form of a fight-to-the-death challenge issued to Japanese company Suidobashi Heavy Industries, which had built its own 13-foot-tall mech called Kuratas, complete with touchscreen UI, Kinect-based interface, and twin BB Gatling guns (customers could even order one for a cool $1.35 million).
One successful $500,000 Kickstarter campaign later—launched to get the Mk. II combat-ready—the battle to end all robot battles is finally happening, albeit a year later than originally planned. This August, the revamped MegaBots Mk. III will battle Kuratas at an as yet undisclosed location. The delay to the original duel was due to problems with the venue, according to MegaBots, so the location is being kept a secret for now.
The competition is essential if we're to be prepared for the arrival of the kaiju.
(Score: 5, Interesting) by bob_super on Friday April 07 2017, @06:39PM (8 children)
It doesn't matter how cool the guns look on the arms of the robots. You can't have a real fight if you use ranged weapons, at short range in an arena, with slow-moving bots.
That's why tanks don't look like bipedal tall targets.
They're going to line up, empty their canisters, and someone will be called a winner. BORING!
Put the stupid bb/paintball guns down, and have a giant-robot punch/slash/saw/bludgeon fight (not pierce, that also would be over too fast).
That, I'd watch
(Score: 2) by RamiK on Friday April 07 2017, @07:09PM (1 child)
It's called destruction derby.
compiling...
(Score: 2) by bob_super on Friday April 07 2017, @07:26PM
Cars are bad, mmmkay?
Between the exhaust/spills/fires, and the space required to get up to speed , destruction derbys qualify for less arenas than 12-foot robots.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Friday April 07 2017, @07:42PM
maybe this walking robot fight will look like sumo -- whoever pushes the other out of the ring (or knocks them over?) is the winner. I wonder if they can get up after they fall over?
(Score: 2) by mhajicek on Friday April 07 2017, @09:43PM (4 children)
You mean like-a dis?
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZK2AxL-2UTU [youtube.com]
The spacelike surfaces of time foliations can have a cusp at the surface of discontinuity. - P. Hajicek
(Score: 2) by bob_super on Friday April 07 2017, @09:50PM (3 children)
Exactly, but less ridiculous looking, without the crutch and at least 50% taller.
Better mobility would help too, and the ability to pick up weapons off the corners of the arena would make it highly entertaining.
This video looks like the plastic boxing game...
(Score: 2) by mhajicek on Friday April 07 2017, @10:16PM (2 children)
I think they should have gone with pneumatics or electrics rather than hydraulics; the latter are too rigid for fluid motion.
The spacelike surfaces of time foliations can have a cusp at the surface of discontinuity. - P. Hajicek
(Score: 1, Interesting) by Anonymous Coward on Friday April 07 2017, @11:33PM (1 child)
I take it you haven't ridden in a proper flight simulator on electro-hydraulic (Moog valve) actuators? One of the final sign-offs before acceptance is that the turn-around of any actuator has to be not felt by a person in the cockpit. This means the actuator smoothly comes to rest and starts moving in the other direction with essentially no high-frequency accelerations or "jerk" (derivative of acceleration).
(Score: 2) by mhajicek on Saturday April 08 2017, @05:22AM
Interesting, and such could do the job well I'm sure, but would be out of budget.
The spacelike surfaces of time foliations can have a cusp at the surface of discontinuity. - P. Hajicek