Robot Duel Team USA manages to raise $500K for MK II Upgrades! [Article via Geek Snack]

Robot Duel Team USA manages to raise $500K for MK II Upgrades!  [Article via Geek Snack]

Article via Geek Snack

You probably know by now that sometime next year Japan and the US will engage in a robot duel that will likely go down in history as the first ever real-life giant mech battle. The last time we talked about this, team USA – represented by the folks over at MegaBots – was announcing a Kickstarter campaign with the goal of raising the funds necessary to upgrade the MK II robot so that it can go head-to-head with the Japanese mech Kuratas when the time comes. Well, it seems like the upcoming robot duel managed to get quite a few people excited because MegaBots already raised more than $500.000 thanks to said campaign, thus reaching their initial proposed goal in less than a month.

So what kind of upgrades should we be looking forward to now that the goal has been reached? As it happens, MegaBots has been closely working with a number of companies on this and put together a plan to make the mech faster and more resilient in time for the robot duel. Some of the companies in question include Howe & Howe Technologies, IHMC Robotics, FonCo Creative Services, AutoDesk, BattleBots, and even NASA, so one can only imagine that the upgrades will be pretty sweet.

Although $500.000 is a pretty large sum, MegaBots actually needs another million or so to push the MK II to its final form, complete with IMHC dynamic balancing algorithm, NASA-designed life safety system, and Hollywood-grade custom paint job. Still, $500K is enough money to begin working and improving on other important aspects, such as melee combat. The Japanese team currently has an edge in this department because the Kuratas was developed with melee in mind and hand-to-hand combat is actually a requirement in the upcoming robot duel. According to the official concept art, the MK II will come equipped with a massive chainsaw that will undoubtedly make short work of its opponent. There are other melee options on the table as well, however, MegaBots says that this is the weapon they are most excited about right now so let’s just hope they can bring it to life because it looks incredibly badass.