Japanese robotics company Suidobashi Heavy Industry has accepted a challenge from U.S. robotics company MegaBot to a giant robot duel. This is actually happening. In real life.
In the acceptance video, robot designer Kogoro Kurata says that he’s determined to win. “We can’t let another country win this. Giant robots are Japanese culture,” he says.
Suidobashi Heavy Industry will be fighting with its Kuratas robot in the duel. It’s a 13-foot tall, five ton robot equipped with two gatling guns. Kurata based its design on the Armored Troopers in the 1980s mecha anime Armored Trooper VOTOMS. The show’s robots were designed by Kunio Okawara who has contributed to many sci-fi anime including the Gundam and Brave series. Kurata dreamed of piloting mecha like those in the anime shows he watched and that’s what lead to him becoming a robotics engineer.
MegaBot, on the other hand, is sporting a 15-foot tall, six ton MegaBot Mark II that fires three-pound paint cannonballs at over 100 miles per hour.
The duel is due to go down in June 2016, so watch this space.
