Challenge Accepted: Japanese and American Robots Will Have a Fight To The Death Next Year

Robot fights are something we see in the movies and that is where they live, fight and die but that’s about to change now that there are two fighting robots in the world. The American creators of MegaBot have challenged Japan’s Suidobashi Heavy Industry to bring its Kuratas robot to the battlefield.

Americans challenged Japanese for a duel few weeks ago and now the challenge is accepted, so get ready for real-life giant robot fighting. Real Steel and Pacific Rim is about to get real — very real.

In the American corner is the MegaBot, which was originally the subject of a failed Kickstarter campaign a few years ago. It was eventually brought to life with the help of Autodesk, though. This piloted robot has room for two occupants (one driver and one gunner) and is 15 feet tall. It tips the scales at 12,000 pounds. For armaments, this mech has a paintball cannon that fires giant three-pound projectiles at more than 100 miles per hour.

Fighting for Japan is the more mature Kuratas robot, which has actually been sold as a product for the super-rich in Japan in recent years. It’s a little smaller at 12 feet and only 9,000 pounds. It also has a single driver and no paintball gun. Neither robot will get to use any kind of projectile weapon, though. One of the stipulations of the now-accepted duel is that it’s melee only.

Suidobashi CEO Kogoro Kurata dropped some smack talk in his video response to the challenge saying he couldn’t let another country win because “Giant robots are Japanese culture.” The fight will take place in about a year after both robots have been modified for combat, and since they’re technically piloted robots, there will probably need to be some stringent safety protocols.

On which robot you put your money on — say in the comments.