In the past I've written about the Robot One league in Japan, wherein small but fully functional combat robots, usually humanoid, square off against each other. Basically the more sophisticated overseas version of Battlebots.
Would it surprise you to learn that a serious project is in the works to launch a fighting league...for actual giant robots? Not remotely controlled, but piloted from within? This is no fantasy, nor an episode of Gundam. MegaBots was founded in Oakland, California by Gui Cavalcanti, Matt Oehrlein, and Brinkley Warren. As of 2015, they have challenged Suidobashi Heavy Industries to a real life mecha duel between their own Mark IIgiant robot, and the Kuratas.
Suidobashi Heavy Industries accepted, but stipulated that there had to be melee combat. The American Mark II at the time only had guns for arms, and it was felt this would make for a dull fight that would be over too quickly, and be too dangerous to the pilots.
MegaBots agreed, and has since then rebuilt their robot around melee combat using Kickstarter money. The new revision looks leaner, meaner and ready to square off against the sleek and nimble Kuratas:
Go ahead, try to tell me that doesn't look like the most magnificently American thing you've ever seen in your life. You can't, because it does. By comparison with the dingy looking prototype, which resembled construction equipment, this new model looks like a hybrid robot, lambourghini and spaceship.
Cavalcanti, Oehrlein and Warren envision giant robot fighting becoming the next major sport, taking place in monster truck/motocross style arenas but with simulated ruins supplied for cover. This will prevent guns from dominating and make melee into a more viable strategy.
Much as electric racing leagues serve to accelerate the development of electric car tech by competition, the MegaBots fighting league will serve to accelerate the development of robotics. The resulting spinoff technologies could be useful for everything from disaster relief after Earthquakes or reactor meltdowns, to construction and security.
However, it isn't only Japan and the US getting in on the giant robot action:
A daring upstart Chinese team has unveiled their "Monkey King" mech and announced their intention to compete in the MegaBots league. They will have to wait their turn, pending the outcome of the Mark II versus Kuratas match. It will presumably then proceed in a tiered, tournament style competition.
But wait! There is yet another potential contender. Though to my knowledge they've not announced their intention to compete in the MegaBots league, Korean company Hankook Mirae Technology recently unveiled their pilotable giant robot exosuit, the Method-2:
That's not CGI. It's real, and it really walks. That already puts it a cut above the Mark-II or Kuratas, though it remains to be seen whether the Chinese "Monkey King" mech will locomote on two legs or a more traditional wheeled/treaded mobility platform like the Mark II and Kuratas:
It's a sign of the times we live in that there will soon be actual giant robot combat. Not on the battlefield, but in sports arenas before hundreds or thousands of spectators. Though it will undoubtedly be dangerous, and lives will at some point be lost, the same applies to more mundane sports like NASCAR.
This is a sport only for the brave and reckless, who would put their own bodies on the line for the sake of accelerated technological progress...and the glory of taking home the MegaBots championship. Who will prevail in this futuristic clash of metal against metal? We, the people will benefit from better robotics. Better batteries. Better motors.
We will enjoy all the fruits which always result whenever humans try to do something truly ambitious. That's to say nothing of the sheer thrill of the spectacle. Who hasn't dreamed of one day spectating a real life giant robot battle? Or even piloting such a machine, fighting for the glory of your team and country?