Forget soccer. Can US beat Japan in a giant robot battle?
Who would prevail in battle between giant robots, the United States or Japan? We may soon find out.
The founders of 聽Inc, a Boston-based company that is seeking to build a giant, piloted robot for arena combat, has issued a challenge to their Japanese counterpart聽, the manufacturer of the four-legged, piloted聽听谤辞产辞迟.听
They readily accepted.聽"," said聽Suidobashi artist聽Kogoro Kurata, who developed his namesake robot along with roboticist Wataru Yoshizaki, in a video response. "Giant聽robots are Japanese culture."
Gui Cavalcanti, who last year co-founded Megabots with fellow engineer聽Matt Oehrlein,聽says in a phone interview that he was inspired by his love of video games, movies, and the concept of putting people into massive mechanical battle suits, nicknamed 鈥溙醭芫背俨�.鈥�
鈥淢att Oehrlein and I kinda grew up playing聽听补苍诲听聽video games and watching all the really, really cheesy science fiction movies like 'Robot Jox,' " says聽Mr. Cavalcanti. "聽have been a part of science fiction culture for the last 30 to 40 years,鈥�
鈥淭hat鈥檚 what we grew up on. That鈥檚 what we love. At some point we said, 鈥榃ell, we know how to build these really cool robots now. This is the science fiction future we were promised, so why not do this?'鈥�
鈥淚t鈥檚 really a sport that requires high-end technology. Right now, we鈥檝e roboticized [hydraulic] construction equipment as an affordable means of promoting the bigger idea of a giant robot sports league that would eventually be all high-end technology,鈥� he says. 鈥淭his battle is really a giant commercial for what this could be.鈥�
Initially, they created just a torso and a right arm. They called their creation the Mark1.
鈥淭he campaign fell far short of its goal,鈥� according to Cavalcanti. 鈥淏asically the message we received was 鈥榃e鈥檙e not excited by this half a robot. We don鈥檛 think this could be a thing.' There was a lot of incredulity on the internet.鈥�
So the team worked with Autodesk to use their software to make a simpler version of the robot for MakerFaire in San Mateo, California in May. To that end聽Autodesk聽 in February 2015 to design the armor paneling and arm cannon which were incorporated into the final design giving the聽MegaBot Mark II, as it became known, .
But how would the Mark II fare in combat? There was only one way to find out.聽
鈥淲e had known about the Kurata robot for a while. [聽Heavy Industry had already created a mech warrior back in 2012.]聽聽If we want to start a battle we need a second robot and we could build one ourselves and then we just thought, well, there is another robot out there,鈥� he says. 鈥淢aybe we could just challenge them. So we got this hair-brained idea and we just started. We recorded the movie.鈥�
He adds that what he finds interesting is the way the robots have become a sort of East-meets-West philosophical and stylistic approach to combat.
鈥淭he funny thing is that both sides unintentionally, without thinking about it developed these Eastern vs. Western styles.聽聽All of the Mech Warrior series and Battlefront series are all just robots with guns on them with no hand-to-hand combat whatsoever. So that鈥檚 the style we emulated. Meanwhile, the Japanese style is , very Eastern, very sculpted pretty looking with lots of like shields and swords and swords and fists. The guns are just sort of interesting-looking add-ons.鈥�
Kurata also noted a stylistic difference, "Come on guys, make it cooler," he says in his video response. "Just building something huge and sticking guns on it. It's ... Super American."
Kurata and Suidobashi say they want a metal-on-metal melee, not paintballs.
鈥淚鈥檓 not very nervous,鈥� Cavalcanti says laughing. 鈥淚 think it鈥檚 gonna be awesome! I mean there鈥檚 a significant likelihood that both robots will be significantly destroyed. That鈥檚 how it鈥檚 shaping up, but I think that鈥檚 OK. I think it鈥檚 worth it.
So will this be pay-per-view? Will it take place in America or Japan?
鈥淲e don鈥檛 know where or when yet,鈥� he says. 鈥淲e have to circle around with the Japanese and maybe find neutral ground to fight the robots in the most epic fashion possible. But it will be in about a year. It鈥檚 definitely on.鈥�
To that end, Cavalcanti has a message for American robot experts and Battle Bot makers.
鈥泪蹿听聽[famous for being a BattleBot pioneer],聽听辞谤听聽the Myth Busters or anyone into science and technology on TV that we want your help to make this epic," Cavalcanti says. "Let鈥檚 do this.鈥� 聽
