MegaBots Raises $2.4M To Create League Of Human-Piloted, Giant Fighting Robots (techcrunch.com)

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MegaBots Raises $2.4M To Create League Of Human-Piloted, Giant Fighting Robots (techcrunch.com)

Posted by msmash on Tuesday May 10, 2016 @08:12AM from the like-in-the-movies dept.

Remember MegaBots? The Kickstarter success story that was raising money last year to pilot fighting robot named Mk II. Labeling it as a contest for world supremacy, the co-founders challenged a Japanese team Suidobashi Industries to a duel with its Kuratas bot. (Which it accepted very gracefully). The idea was to utilize this octane-packed event to sell merchandise products. Here's an update: it worked. TechCrunch reports: Oakland, Calif. startup MegaBots Inc. has raised $2.4 million in seed funding to bring the robot-fighting stuff of manga and anime to a venue near you. According to MegaBots cofounders, Gui Cavalcanti, Matt Oehrlein, and Brinkley Warren, the startup aspires to follow in the footsteps of major sports associations like Formula 1 or UFC. With the seed funding, Warren said, MegaBots will be partnering with a law firm called Latham Watkins to help set up and roll out its league internationally, taking an approach similar to the Olympics. Specifically, MegaBots will be working with Latham Watkins Partner Christopher D. Brearton, who represents the International Olympic Committee, and has helped organized leagues and governing bodies in sports including the NBA, MLB, NFL and others.

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Wait... by the_skywise · 2016-05-10 08:16 · Score: 0

I saw this movie already...
It was called Rock 'em Sock 'em Robots the movie...
Oh wait, sorry... It was Real Steel...
1. Re:Wait... by HumanWiki · 2016-05-10 08:17 · Score: 2
  
  I saw this movie already...
  It was called Rock 'em Sock 'em Robots the movie...
  Oh wait, sorry... It was Real Steel...
  Long before that movie was RobotJox. Achilles!!!!! https://www.youtube.com/watch?...
2. Re:Wait... by OzPeter · 2016-05-10 08:30 · Score: 2
  
  But don't forget the SyFi channel's Robot Combat League
  
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3. Re:Wait... by Anonymous Coward · 2016-05-10 08:40 · Score: 0
  
  ..but will they be sued by FASA, TWOTC, or whoever owns Mechwarrior IP at the moment?
4. Re:Wait... by He+Who+Has+No+Name · 2016-05-10 10:24 · Score: 2
  
  Microsoft owns the video game license to BattleTech, and Topps owns the tabletop side of the franchise.
  Neither is anywhere near as likely to sue as Harmony Fucking Gold (may they be tentacle-fucked in Hell).
5. Re:Wait... by brantondaveperson · 2016-05-10 10:43 · Score: 1
  
  Nah mate, they were remote control. You're thinking of Robot Jox.
6. Re:Wait... by Anonymous Coward · 2016-05-11 04:36 · Score: 0
  
  I've never gotten the whole "robots fighting" thing, at least not the anthropomorphic robots.
  Robots built on the lines of a human being, will suffer catastrophic failures very rapidly. The fight ends when that happens. That's why the whole Transformers franchise was a fantasy. It's fun but not to be taken seriously as predictive sci-fi. How do the robots battle and yet rarely suffer damage? How do they repair themselves? Where is the equivalent of a robot hospital?
  Battlebots and Robot Wars is different because those are special purpose fighting robots. There is no intention they look anything like a human being, and you'll notice that they never do. Having arms, legs and a head hanging off a body isn't an ideal body plan for a fighting device. You want a compact design that minimizes exposure to damage. You also want a fault tolerant design so that damage incurred doesn't endanger the entire device.
This ends.... by Anonymous Coward · 2016-05-10 08:19 · Score: 1

This ends with one robot fist smashed completely through the cockpit of a rival and raspberry jam leaking everywhere.
End of league.
1. Re:This ends.... by alexhs · 2016-05-10 09:13 · Score: 4, Funny
  
  This ends with one robot fist smashed completely through the cockpit of a rival and raspberry jam leaking everywhere.
  There's only one man who would dare give me the raspberry.
  Lone Starr!
  
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Host Country by Verdatum · 2016-05-10 08:20 · Score: 1

"MegaBots is evaluating potential host countries and working with governments that may be interested in and willing to host such an event, and future tournaments."
We all know it's gonna be in Dubai. There is no way this won't be in Dubai.
1. Re:Host Country by Joe_Dragon · 2016-05-10 08:30 · Score: 2
  
  it can be in the usa we just need more H1B's so we can get the people that we need!
2. Re:Host Country by Anonymous Coward · 2016-05-10 08:35 · Score: 0
  
  "MegaBots is evaluating potential host countries and working with governments that may be interested in and willing to host such an event, and future tournaments."
  We all know it's gonna be in Dubai. There is no way this won't be in Dubai.
  Your dictionary word for today is ASS-U-ME. Perhaps you learn the definition since life has obviously failed to teach you.
3. Re:Host Country by Anonymous Coward · 2016-05-10 08:45 · Score: 0
  
  I hope that some day you will be able to read beyond just the words on the page. A whole new world will become available to you, and you will be amazed.
4. Re:Host Country by Anonymous Coward · 2016-05-10 09:49 · Score: 0
  
  Your autism is causing you embarrassment again.
5. Re:Host Country by myowntrueself · 2016-05-10 12:42 · Score: 1
  
  "MegaBots is evaluating potential host countries and working with governments that may be interested in and willing to host such an event, and future tournaments."
  We all know it's gonna be in Dubai. There is no way this won't be in Dubai.
  It would be so wrong to build up a good sweat piloting a battling robot and not be able to have a good cold beer afterwards.
  
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6. Re:Host Country by Anonymous Coward · 2016-05-10 14:49 · Score: 0
  
  No. It is NOT causing them embarrassment - that's the fucking problem.
  I... I ran out of posts? Heh, I've not done that in a little while. They never did fix it like they said. Ah well, 'tis KGIII.
7. Re:Host Country by JazzLad · 2016-05-11 05:40 · Score: 1
  
  Looks like you're spending too much time on Slashdot, Kettle.
  
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but... by Lead+Butthead · 2016-05-10 08:20 · Score: 1

they don't look anything like Gundam...

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1. Re:but... by H3lldr0p · 2016-05-10 08:23 · Score: 1
  
  of course not. Gundams were for war, this is for entertainment!
  Besides, once shown that it can be done, the military can't be all that far behind. Especially if it can be shown that one person piloting the robot can take on several others at the same time. Think of the cost savings!
2. Re:but... by Tablizer · 2016-05-10 08:24 · Score: 1
  
  they don't look anything like Gundam...
  Indeed, wrong font, for one.
  
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3. Re:but... by Anonymous Coward · 2016-05-10 08:34 · Score: 0
  
  They look a little like the Guntank, though, a prototype mobile suit that predated the Gundam. So maybe they're figure out legs eventually.
4. Re:but... by Anonymous Coward · 2016-05-10 08:43 · Score: 0
  
  This seems like a good a place as any to be That Guy and remind everyone that bipedal mecha can be entertaining in your action anime, but their design is inferior as a weapon.
  
  Weapons are generally delivery mechanisms for an explodey thing; the rest is mods. Consider that artillery is just a big gun with armor stapled on. What is a tank? Wheels stapled on.
  
  Search your inner engineer, you know it to be true: Articulated limbs are a liability. Granted, if you want a single, all-purpose artillery (particularly in lowgrav orbit/space) it carves a little more niche. If you're invading a very unknown alien species in one of their cities full of strange tech, you may very well want mecha versatility, a more adaptive profile (hitbox).
  
  But for most use cases you take a shot to the knee and your billion-dollar robot used to be an adventurer.
5. Re:but... by He+Who+Has+No+Name · 2016-05-10 10:30 · Score: 2
  
  The core goal of 'Mechs is to pack a lot of firepower into an easily transportable package that requires a single pilot and can traverse ground like infantry.
  Tanks are good - on Earth. When you suddenly have to force project across multiple planets, sometimes with hostile LZs from deorbital burns, and occasionally into completely unknown environments, 'Mechs suddenly have a lot of useful qualities as an overall warfighting system.
  Once the technology matures to tie them into a pilot's nervous system for balance and direct neural control - and we are NOT that far off, really - they'll be highly effective as shock weapons and expeditionary warfighting platforms.
6. Re:but... by Anonymous Coward · 2016-05-10 11:31 · Score: 0
  
  the military can't be all that far behind
  I see your mega bot and raise you a guided bomb.
7. Re:but... by Anonymous Coward · 2016-05-10 12:25 · Score: 0
  
  To operate more than five minutes (i does wut the reference) you have to make big assumptions about future J/Kg ("can't be in an energy storage/delivery that releases catastrophically on incident" ~military) which is going to have theoretical caps sooner or later because physics. And about future alloys, handling long lever-fulcrum loads. Pulse loads, spikes - like if you bounce a wrecking ball harmonically to snap the crane.
  
  Assuming infinite energy and orichalcum, I do actually reckon future servos and hydraulics will be able to deliver the burst power/force for leveraging at the scale we're talking. But consider that when a mech does that, when it "stands up" very quickly (ie to run/leap) while atop one of fiction's ubiquitous concrete parking garages they will (assuming the ankles don't shatter) simply stomp through the roof comically.
8. Re:but... by BlueStrat · 2016-05-10 19:42 · Score: 1
  
  I see your mega bot and raise you a guided bomb.
  There's little difference between a 'megabot' sort of ideal tactical/battlefield situation and that of most any modern armored/mechanized forces. Gaining air superiority is imperative prior to deploying armored forces in numbers on the modern battlefield, or else risk losing them to missiles/bombs and other air-to-surface/anti-armor enemy weapon systems
  The main thing I see these type of mechanized individual armored battle vehicles adding are agility compared to tracked/wheeled battle vehicles, and infantry force multiplication, particularly if it can also carry 100kg-200kg of supplies or more and be made cheap enough to deploy in large numbers so that infantry units have the option to have 3 or 4 soldiers out of a 12-man combat unit deploy with these ambulatory mechanized infantry combat units for enhanced combat support and supply logistics (carrying more ammo/supplies into battle and carrying wounded out to be picked up) as well as their usefulness as a weapons/sensors/comms platform.
  Strat
  
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9. Re:but... by Coren22 · 2016-05-12 08:01 · Score: 1
  
  To be fair, I totally expected the loaders from Aliens. I figured at that price, that would be about all that could be built.
  
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Third's a charm by mwvdlee · 2016-05-10 08:21 · Score: 3, Informative

Link three, the last link in the article, is the one that contains actual information.

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kind of cool by phantomfive · 2016-05-10 08:24 · Score: 3, Informative

Here's a video of the thing in action. Kind of a cool hack, but I can't imagine full-scale combat with these things being anything but dull.

The Japanese version seems more agile, but......

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Just like my Chinese cartoons by Anonymous Coward · 2016-05-10 08:24 · Score: 0

So the pilots will be teenagers right? The source material always favour them
1. Re:Just like my Chinese cartoons by Coren22 · 2016-05-12 08:07 · Score: 1
  
  Do the Chinese also product Gundam style shows? I thought it was only the Japanese that did that.
  
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potential host countries by OzPeter · 2016-05-10 08:28 · Score: 1

From TFA

MegaBots is evaluating potential host countries and working with governments that may be interested in and willing to host such an event, and future tournaments.
Translation: Looking for the place with the least restrictive laws and minimal requirements for liability insurance.

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1. Re:potential host countries by zlives · 2016-05-10 08:50 · Score: 1
  
  well its a california based company so... yeah not the US
2. Re:potential host countries by myowntrueself · 2016-05-10 12:44 · Score: 1
  
  well its a california based company so... yeah not the US
  Not Canada. Not anywhere in Europe. Probably not South America nor middle east. Most likely East Asia. Though Mongolia could be good, battling it out in the open air on the wide open steppe.
  
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3. Re:potential host countries by stealth_finger · 2016-05-10 22:49 · Score: 1
  
  From TFA
  
  MegaBots is evaluating potential host countries and working with governments that may be interested in and willing to host such an event, and future tournaments.
  Translation: Looking for the place with the least restrictive laws and minimal requirements for liability insurance.
  Somalia?
  
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One Must Fall 2097 by Sowelu · 2016-05-10 08:29 · Score: 3, Insightful

The game that taught me how the sound of banging two spoons together, slowed way down, sounds like one robot punching another in the face.
1. Re:One Must Fall 2097 by U2xhc2hkb3QgU3Vja3M · 2016-05-10 08:34 · Score: 1
  
  There was also a robot fight in Space Quest III, Nuke'm Duke'm.
Great. Repurposed Forklift components as 'robots' by Anonymous Coward · 2016-05-10 08:35 · Score: 0

I'll pay attention when these are dynamically balanced and can actually roundhouse-kick an opponent, instead of just shuffling along like some windup robot toy.
Actually there was a full out Construction vehicle brawl between rival firms in China? in the past month. That was cooler. Any bulldozer or backhoe over 5 tons would eat these 'megapiles' for breakfast.
Sweet by Anonymous Coward · 2016-05-10 08:44 · Score: 0

I checked out the features of the Kuratas and even though the design is cool looking, I don't think it stands a chance against the raw power of the MK2 unless they make some serious changes to their weaponry... And perhaps even their wheels since it can't possibly operate on uneven terrain unlike the MK2.
the arms... no didn't RTFA by zlives · 2016-05-10 08:49 · Score: 1

so... whats mounted on the arms and is it legal in california?
also who has the insurance contract and when was the first fight... the blurb makes it sound like it has been successfully accomplished "Here's an update: it worked."
No overlord comment? by deadwill69 · 2016-05-10 08:59 · Score: 1

What? No "I welcome our new fighting robot overlords!" In spite of all the goodness new management is bring, man the crowd is slow sometimes. Maybe they'll put lasers on them too!
Now get back to work! by Thud457 · 2016-05-10 09:03 · Score: 2

No, this seems like a good place to remind people that "The agriculture ministry is not in charge of Gundam."

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Square Cube Law by Anonymous Coward · 2016-05-10 09:14 · Score: 0

who funds this nonsense? giant robots are impossible.
The reason they are partnering with a law firm by SuperKendall · 2016-05-10 09:17 · Score: 1

To handle the suits from all of the families of the deceased spectators from misaimed turbo-lasers and the like.
Not that it's stop me from watching mind you. Just saying it's probably the first venue you may want to consider tickets with an obstructed view as a plus.

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1. Re:The reason they are partnering with a law firm by myowntrueself · 2016-05-10 12:44 · Score: 1
  
  To handle the suits from all of the families of the deceased spectators from misaimed turbo-lasers and the like.
  Not that it's stop me from watching mind you. Just saying it's probably the first venue you may want to consider tickets with an obstructed view as a plus.
  LRM's will be banned, they can only use SRM's so problem solved!
  
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Like tanks, but worse by coldsalmon · 2016-05-10 10:14 · Score: 1

I wonder if the rules will specify that the robots have to be anthropomorphic. If not, it seems a lot more sensible to just build one of the "human-piloted fighting robots" that we've been using for 100 years: a tank. Human-shaped fighting robots have the big disadvantage of being top-heavy and dependent on relatively small, delicate legs with complicated joints. Of course, that problem could also be solved by making a super-cool scorpion robot...
1. Re:Like tanks, but worse by Anonymous Coward · 2016-05-10 12:31 · Score: 0
  
  If the idea is trying to be more like tribute, trying to do it on principle, then yeah, we should try for at least somewhat anthropomorphic, try at least one (totally ineffective) honorary rocket fist.
Re:Great. Repurposed Forklift components as 'robot by Iamthecheese · 2016-05-10 11:25 · Score: 1

Pics or it didn't happen. Edit: found it It's pretty much what it says on the tin.

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FTFY by Anonymous Coward · 2016-05-10 13:27 · Score: 0

MegaBots Raises $2.4M for lawyers and Create League Of Human-Piloted, Giant Fighting Robots
1. Re:FTFY by Anonymous Coward · 2016-05-10 15:14 · Score: 0
  
  They're fucking giant robots. Of course you're gonna need lawyers.
2. Re:FTFY by stealth_finger · 2016-05-10 23:19 · Score: 1
  
  They're fucking giant robots. Of course you're gonna need lawyers.
  I thought they would use cardboard cutouts for target practice but that's a much better idea!
  
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2020 Olympics by Ferocitus · 2016-05-10 15:09 · Score: 1

That's chicken feed compared to what will be spent on bots and holograms for the 2020 Olympic opening ceremony.

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