Are you the type of person who watched the Hugh Jackman comedy Real Steel and thought, “This is pretty great, this robot fighting… someone should do this for real”? If you answered yes and have a few hundred thousand dollars to spare, then today might be your lucky day. A team of “more than 20 engineers, scientists, designers, artists, fabricators, and producers” from Boston that calls itself MegaBots, Inc. recently launched a Kickstarter project to make the collective dream of a robot fighting league a reality. Its goal? $1.8 million. With 29 days to go, 94 backers have already pledged $16,904 toward watching artificial intelligence get artificial concussions, but there’s still plenty of work to be done.
The good news is that for $999,999.99, you can just straight up have your own MegaBot. But times are obviously a little tough, so people are more likely to stick with the basic pledge system, which offers rewards for everything from the ground floor $10 pledge to the top level $10,000 investment. First and foremost, though, why should we give MegaBots our megabucks?
The mad scientists at MegaBots, Inc. have been zealously working on the prototypes and final design of 15-foot-tall, 15,000-pound, walking humanoid combat robots with giant, modular pneumatic cannons for arms. A driver-and-gunner team pilot each MegaBot in a battle against other MegaBots, vehicles, and a variety of other defenses and obstacles in live-action combat – the likes of which the world has only dreamed of through video games and movies.
MegaBots are covered in customizable, breakaway armor plating and fire large, paint-filled projectiles at each other at speeds topping 120 miles per hour. As projectiles hit their targets, armor plates shatter and explode, and computers tally critical hits to the robot’s limbs and torso. As more and more hits are taken, robots start to limp, joints start to seize, weapons start to jam, and after enough damage, limbs are completely blown off. The last MegaBot standing wins!
We’ve spent the past four months making the prototype upper body and arm of a MegaBot, a prototype gun emplacement, two weapon systems and more to prove out the technology we’ve spent the past two years designing. We’re ready to bring giant fighting robots into the world – are you ready to join us? (Via Kickstarter)
Am I ready to join them… did God give me two arms to master the air guitar? Still, this sounds pretty complicated. Like, modern video game controller complicated. You’re going to have to give me some sort of reassurance that this is something that is going to happen while I’m still alive.
The first tournament is currently scheduled for May of 2016. The tournament will be in the continental United States, but we haven’t made a final decision on location as of yet. All tickets will be transferable in case any backers can’t join us, and we will announce the location and exact date of the event as soon as possible.
Our first tournament is just the beginning, though. We will transform those first robots and that initial set of battles into a whole new sports league. You can look forward to robots of different weight classes, professional pilots, and interchangeable and customizable suites of weapons systems facing off against each other in earth-shattering competitions. ARE YOU NOT ENTERTAINED?
In theory. I’ll check back in May of 2016 to offer a more specific answer.
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