Japan v. USA giant mech battle

http://arstechnica.com/the-multiverse/2015/07/american-and-japanese-mechs-set-to-duel-for-supremacy/
the future is truly here

This is such a facepalm for the US. We challenged them to a paintball match in what's basically a glorified tractor with some CO2 cannons. There's not even a fucking remote interface, keep that in mind for the next bit.

The Kuratas has fully articulable five-digit manipulators available, as well as "hand" operated weapons. The drive system has four independent wheels on articulated legs, and includes the ability to raise or lower the center of gravity for the robot as well. Japan, being a bunch certifiable badasses, not only said "yes", but asked to have a melee competition instead of a super lame paintball fight.

This is a genius move, because as mentioned above, the US robot sucks giant metallic nuts. Having zero ability to redistribute its weight, no manipulator attachments, using continuous track propulsion, the Mk II is unequivocally ill-suited for melee combat. It requires two humans to be in the cockpit to operate at the moment, so there's no way it could safely fight in its current state to begin with. I doubt they could even make the needed adapatations, let alone develop the new systems they'd need to get to where Kuratas is now, within 12 months.

I just hope these losers accept help from the thousands (millions?) of knowledgable, patriotic, US roboticists and mechanical engineers who actually know what the fuck they're doing so we don't get too badly embarrassed next summer.

Yeah I saw all this, the Mk II is shitty but you have to admit it's a genius PR move by the people behind it, bet they get tons of donations from people thinking the same thing as you not wanting USA to totally embarrass itself :p

The hype is awesome but the reality will probably suck. If they actually work their ass off to make it not suck then it will definitely be the start of something great, maybe more companies/countries will join in and we'll have like an annual mech battle lol.

quote: All i know is i'm completely disinterested in racing, football, hockey, tennis -- but i'd watch giant melee robot competitions if they were more regular.

Robot fighting must be the next premiere sport then

kaen: Your average backhoe loader isn't big on fully articulable manipulators, independent wheels, or moving its center of gravity either, but getting into a wrestling match with one still doesn't sound like a good idea.

Kuratas already has a "master/slave" remote interface. Mk II could be outfitted with one, assuming the propulsion isn't tethered to the physical controls in some ridiculous way. (Side note: the vast majority of modern robots have only remote interfaces, so MegaBots' failure to include one in the first pass is a smell that they are more gear heads than roboticists).

It sounds like Kuratas' creators (SHI) want real-deal melee combat, complete with probable damage to the robots. That's another layer of the genius: Kuratas was designed for production. They plan to sell these things to rich people (1.4 million USD), so this isn't the only giant fighting robot they planned to make. MegaBots, on the other hand, appears to have just this one, and is building them as a POC for their own grand scheme -- which has always been a large-scale robotic combat league. But they didn't really design this with mass production in mind, so their one robot is probably more dear to them than SHI's. I think MegaBots is likely to back out if SHI won't budge on the physical melee combat idea -- they can't really afford to lose the Mk II, and the paintball fight is their actual goal. They're trying to jump start their league with this stunt.

For contrast: Here's Kuratas in its raised and lowered stances:




Good luck pushing that thing over. And, yes, Kuratas is fucking street legal.

The japanese things has 4 small wheels, how will it have enough power & traction to push anything?

quote: I can only imagine it will be some kind of shitty paintball fight and the swords will be made of styrofoam or something lol

Both paintball and pillow fights can be fun!

But beside that:
Interessted in the competetion/sport part: There are not even rules yet.
Interessted in big machines: This is less fascinating than 'reality.'

In melee both these things would lose to a random construction machine. Those move faster, can go offroad, lift their own weight, self-right when fallen over, climb, robust enough to handle daily abuse, ...

I would rather buy something that can actually drive through walls instead of just looking cool?
Even outside motorsports, the machines in use every day are more awesome than those "futuristic mechs."
Stupid billionairs always buying crap.

Bit related, "Battle Bots" from 2000 is currently getting reboot. Smaller scale but funny.