“California was worried that our robots were too dangerous — so we decided to PUT FUCKING SWORDS ON ‘EM!” the announcer screamed from the cage as a stagehand removed the sheaths from the blades on the pair of 6-foot tall humanoid robots.
As the fight started and the robots exchanged quick jabs, Terminator-style robot T-REK threw the dreadlock-haired Rektile against the cage in front of me, wind rushing out through the cage from the motion. Rektile briefly stumbled as it got back into action. But it was quickly over — after getting knocked down repeatedly and springing up shockingly fast, in a violent blink-and-you’ll-miss-it collision, Rektile ended up immobilized on the arena floor.
T-REK was victorious, and did a little dance to celebrate.
This was the final fight of the night on Friday, October 9th, with each fight pairing up robots with increasing in size and agility. Each robot was controlled by a human with a wireless gamepad — not AI.
From what I gathered chatting with attendees, many in the crowd had invested in Rek Robots and were here to see this early public fight. The company, which has a showroom on the second floor, had recently found itself in legal trouble after having its robots fight a human. I guess “come on, live a little” isn’t technically a legal defense when you have robots built for factory work beating someone up.
Obviously, the fight with the human was not a deathmatch. Then again, when two robots are fighting, what does “death” even mean? Is that different than getting knocked out? These questions are either very deep or very stupid, or possibly both.
According to one investor I spoke with, the goal of these fights is to inspire kids’ interest in STEM education the same way the space race did back in the 1960s. While the audience was a blend of local software engineers and night owls, there were a few kids — and even a baby.
You might be wondering what this costs: the tickets to this event were $69/person. I wasn’t exactly prepared to spend that much, but it was also something I immediately knew I had to go see.
My recommendation: While this certainly isn’t a series I can see myself attending regularly due to the steep ticket price, it’s one of those things you can’t find anywhere else. I think this will appeal to a very self-selecting group. If you’re in that group and can afford the ticket, go for it — before Rek gets sued out of existence.
