Geeks, nerds and techies all across the world have been waiting on the wings to see a real, giant-robot duel between two formidable opponents. Get ready to soil your pants, because it’s actually happening in June 2016.
American team Megabots has issued a formal challenge to Japan’s Suidobashi Heavy Industries, the team responsible for Kuratas — a weaponized robot. It will be the world’s first intercontinental giant robot fight, and it’s going down in 2016. Megabot MK II will face-off against Kuratas, in a high-stakes battle to their mechanical deaths.
Wait, What? Giant Robot Fight You Say?
It all started when America’s Megabots spit out the challenge: “You have a giant robot, we have a giant robot – we have a duty to the science fiction lovers of this world to fight them to the death.”
You can see what they had to say to Suidobashi and Kuratas below:
Of course, Japan and Suidobashi didn’t take the threat lying down. They puffed out their metal chests and issued a challenge of their own, claiming the fight will also include close-quarters melee combat. This is getting spicy!
Who are the Challengers?
America’s Megabot stands 15 feet tall and weighs approximately 12,000 pounds. Japan’s Kuratas, on the other hand, stands close to 13 feet tall and weighs about 9,000 pounds. America might have a leg up when it comes to size, but you know how it goes — the bigger they are the harder they fall.
Megabot is able to move around thanks to a pair of tank-style tracks, which are actually pretty versatile. Kuratas is much faster though — and lighter — thanks to a collection of 4 wheels which are attached to its legs.
It’s also worth noting that Megabot needs two pilots working in tandem to operate it, one of them serves as the driver and the other as a gunner. Without the additional pilot, the arm-mounted paintball guns will not work, which is a shame since they shoot off large paintballs at well over 120 miles per hour.
The Kuratas only requires a single pilot, who — according to specifications — is in a much more high-tech environment thanks to the augmented reality heads-up display in the robot’s cockpit. The system supports automated target acquisition and a unique tracking protocol that will allow it to focus fire on an opponent no matter what it’s doing. For weapons, it’s rocking two Gatling-style BB cannons which can fire up to 6,000 BBs per minute. That’s ridiculous!
As an aside it’s also equipped with some kind of water cannon that can shoot missiles; luckily they don’t look dangerous at all. According to Suidobashi, “from time to time, [a missile] will hit its target.”
The two mechanized beasts will go toe-to-toe in June 2016. Both teams have a year to prepare and make their robots more combat-ready.
