Mk.II blasted fans in San Diego with t-shirts.
Kristen Ambrose
America's favorite giant robot is halfway to a major upgrade. It
only took about a day for MegaBots' Mk. II (pronounced "Mark Two") robot
to get half way to its goal on Kickstarter, which will enable the giant
fighting robot to take on its Japanese rival, Kuratas, in an epic piloted robot duel.
Earlier this summer, American bot-maker MegaBots
challenged the veritable veteran of the giant robot world, made by
Japan's Suidobashi Heavy Industries, to a battle royale for the ages,
without all the Hollywood special effects a la "Pacific Rim" -- just a
good old fashion metal-on-metal beatdown, perhaps with some
cannonball-sized paint balls to add a little color.
Kuratas
and Suidobashi accepted the challenge and now MegaBots is attempting to
raise half a million dollars on Kickstarter to outfit the American bot
with new armor, hydraulics, weapons systems, a power unit and faster
wheels (actually they're tracks, like on a tank). As of this writing,
and with 29 days still left in the campaign, Megabots has already raised
about half of its goal.
"The upgraded Mk. II will be the
definition of an American robot. She'll be five times faster and
powerful, self-balancing and armored for hand-to-hand combat," says
MegaBots co-founder Gui Cavalcanti in the pitch video below.
Believe it or not, the existing, 6-ton iteration of the Mk. II is
considered to be lightweight and designed for paintball combat at a
distance. The crowdfunded upgrades will allow for it to withstand more
brutal "hand-to-hand" combat with Kuratas.
A sampling of additional weapons MegaBots hopes to add to the Mk. II arsenal.
MegaBots
Should the Kickstarter go above and beyond its half-million dollar
goal -- as it seems primed to -- MegaBots has plans for that extra cash.
Stretch goals start with creating some new weapons that could include
different types of claws, pneumatically driven fists, cannon and
flamethrowers, among other items taken directly from my adolescent
dreams.
If the campaign raises over $1 million, the team hopes
to get even fancier with a new dynamic balancing algorithm. Somewhat
hilariously, only if $1.25 million is raised will the team consider
spending money working with NASA on life safety systems that could be
employed in the cockpit.
"Safety 4th, folks," the campaign pitch drawls.
"I've worked on every robotics system to ever drive on the surface
of Mars," assures NASA's Dave Lavery in a statement. "We're looking at
how we might use NASA technologies to help keep these guys safe when
they take a punch."
Finally, if the campaign meets its ultimate stretch goal and
raises $1.5 million -- an amount at which the team apparently runs out
of amazing ideas for spending it -- MegaBots proposes adding a
"Hollywood-grade paint job."
In exchange for supporting the
MegaBots Kickstarter, there's a variety of schwag being offered in turn
for various pledge levels, from stickers, shirts and posters to the
opportunity to ride in the Mk. II or serve in the pit crew for the
battle with Kuratas.
"If you want to pilot one of these
monstrosities -- and believe me, you do -- Kickstarter is the way to do
it. This is your chance," implores Megabots co-founder Matt Oehrlein.
Well, yes, but I'd feel a lot better about the idea if safety systems weren't so far down the team's list of priorities.
The battle is set to take place in mid-2016; the exact time and location are still to be determined.
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