Gigglebit: MegaBots – a terrifying invention destined to end humanity

14 Nov 2014

Illustration of a MegaBot, with a puny human for scale

Gigglebit is Siliconrepublic’s daily dose of the funny and fantastic in science and tech, to help start your day on a lighter note.

With Gigglebit, we turn the spotlight on humorous and/or amazing content about science and tech, because sometimes the lighter side should be taken seriously, too.

As schools and colleges up and down Ireland engage in countless quirky experiments to entertain and amaze this week, we thought it would be nice to see what’s going on beyond Irish shores.

And it turns out a bunch of thrill-seekers have created MegaBots for a ‘sport’ that pits 15-foot-tall piloted humanoid robots against each other in “epic arena combat!”

Basically, a group of entrepreneurial minds are trying to set up a mind-bending arena of sorts, where people would sit inside massive robots and basically play a game of paintball, but with the added extra of incredibly powerful projectiles making for what would either be an exhilarating thrill, or a terrifying experience.

Megabot prototype

What the MegaBot looks like. Image via MegaBot

“Fifteen-foot tall, piloted humanoid robots firing cannonballs at each other at 120 m/ph. Armour panels exploding, robot limbs flying off and robots collapsing from battle damage until only one is left standing. The giant robots from science fiction are coming, and YOU can watch from the stands … or strap into a cockpit and compete!” says MegaBots Inc.

Cutting-edge robotics technology is installed into 15,000-pound walking humanoid combat robots, with giant, modular pneumatic cannons for arms,” the company added.

The cannon arms are ridiculously strong, as shown in this video, where a prototype MegaBot takes on a parked car. There may be only one…

A campaign on crowdfunding platform Kickstarter has so far seen the team behind MegaBots raise around US$50,000. The target is US$1.8m.

While 14-year-old me dances around the living room in anticipation of the greatest show on Earth, today’s me is absolutely terrified.

Gordon Hunt was a journalist with Silicon Republic

editorial@siliconrepublic.com