The Japanese company Suidobashi Heavy Industry accepted the challenge of the American robotics company MegaBots Inc. for a one-on-one battle that would pit their respective companies' flagship machines against each other, HNGN earlier reported. The battle has been set for the historic robot duels between the U.S. and Japan, in 2016.
To prepare for the event, Team U.S.A. announced that it will use Kickstarter to crowdsource the funds necessary to ensure that their robot, Megabot MK. II, is not obliterated in the match.
On the Kickstarter page, the team behind MegaBots, Inc. noted that the Japanese team set hand-to-hand combat as a condition, requiring an upgrade to MK. II's melee capability.
MK. II was originally built for long-range paintball combat, so the robot had to be overhauled in order to survive multi-ton punches. MegaBots Inc. is therefore, soliciting the public to raise at least $500,000 in order to add heavy duty armor plating and firepower, upgrade hydraulics to handle the heavier armor and firepower, increase top speed and upgrade the power unit to keep up with new hydraulic system.
In order to drum up support for its Kickstarter campaign, Team U.S.A. is positioning it's machine as the "People's Robot." The idea is to involve committed stakeholders in order achieve its crowdsourcing goal.
"We want to build the most patriotic robot ever and we're going to be silly with it in ways that make investors a little uncomfortable," Gui Cavalcanti, MegaBots Inc. co-founder told The Verge.
The team is also looking at additional campaigns after the initial target is achieved to cover extra weaponry, balancing algorithms and "Hollywood-grade artistic look and feel."
The Kickstarter campaign will run until Sept. 18.
