Robot Fight
Several years ago, I remember a British TV show called Robot Wars or something similar. It sparked my interest, and I looked forward to it debuting on TV. When it finally came on, I was somewhat disappointed. In my head, I had pictured humanoid robots battling, but instead they were all basically, modified remote control cars, with weapons stuck onto them. The basic strategy was to ram into the opponent, preferably with the attached weapon, or spin around so it would hit them. A couple highlights though – One “Robot” had a small circular saw attached to it, and it actually cut into its rival. The other thing which made it more exciting was the battleground itself, as it had ditches and even flames would vent up now and then. A few years later I saw an ad for more robot wars, thinking it must be more advanced robots, since a few years had past, but I swear they were exactly the same, possibly re-runs?
Japan is usually at the forefront of technology, and robotics is no exception. In recent years I have watched footage of some Japanese robotics, which have been amazing. Seeing these new robots in action can actually be scary when you think about it, considering some are life size and can run as fast as the average human being! The thing you need to remember right now though, is that they are usually controlled remotely by a human, and do not possess advanced AI to “think” about harming anyone. A video I found today of modern Japanese robot fights is what inspired this post, which I will embed below. They are small robots, but have very intricate, and fluid movements. They can get back up easily if they fall. The red robot is clearly superior, or perhaps the skills of its operator contribute. It constantly runs around, and on the spot like a boxer, and reminds me of Bruce Lee’s stance. The most amazing move it performed was grabbing the other robot, and then slamming it down to the ground like a wrestler! I’ve spent some time with one of the latest children’s toy – RoboSapien, which is impressive for a toy, but these robots truly show how far robotics have come, and how close we are getting to robots capable of closely mimicking human behaviour.
I’m not able to embed movies from GameTrailers, so here is the link:
http://www.gametrailers.com/player/usermovies/107129.html
I took a quick look at what other movies that user has, and I found 2 more robot related videos. The first is a life size robot in the streets, however the quality is not very good:
http://www.gametrailers.com/player/usermovies/105688.html
The second is a real life mech, complete with pilot:
http://www.gametrailers.com/player/usermovies/105560.html
If you found them interesting or entertaining, just do a Google or YouTube search, and you will find many more!
