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Ultimate robot showdown: The United States and Japan prepare for battle
Thu, 20th Jul 2017
FYI, this story is more than a year old

Last year US company MegaBots challenged Japan's Suidobashi Heavy Industries to an epic one-on-one mech brawl.

The date for that event has been set in stone now, taking place next month.

Here are the two combatants:

Megabot MKIII

MegaBots is bringing their latest version of their combat robot the MKIII mech to the arena.

The 12 tonne, 430 horsepower, 4.8 meters tall Mk. III combat mech debuted at Maker Faire earlier this year.

At the mech's first appearance the team still had some bugs to work out, short circuits to trace, and wrenches to turn, but by the end of the show, they were punching cars hanging from cranes.

The MKIII comes with a plethora of heavy weapons including, a drill, a giant chainsaw and heavy paintball launchers.

The MKIII rolls around on a set of heavy tank treads, limiting its turning capability just a bit.

Overall this mech is designed for close quarters, with heavy punches, and devastating weapons Suidobashi Heavy Industries will have to make sure their mech stays at a long range.

Check out the MKIII debut here:

Kuratas

The Kuratas is a large mech built by Suidobashi Heavy Industry.

The vehicle weighs approximately 4,500 kgs and is an astounding 4 metres high.

This robot can be crewed by one person, the operator sitting within the body of the mech with the control interface in front of them.

This mech made its debut late-2015 and since then has seen consistent improvements made in preparation for this battle.

Kuratas has a top speed of 10 kmh and can easily traverse difficult terrain, making it far more manoeuvrable than the MKIII.

The mech also features three newly upgraded weapon systems, including twin gatling guns that can fire 6,000 BB bullets a minute, and ‘rocket' launchers making this mech a long range tank.

Check out the Kuratas here:

The logistics of this battle have been a bit of a nightmare, thus resulting in several delays.

It is understandable that a battle between two 12 tonne machines would be hard to plan, especially a battle in which both pilots come out unharmed.

There is also the minor issue of transportation as the two mechs are literally an ocean apart.

Yet, none of this can stop the battle from happening as it has garnered the support of several massive companies, including Intel, as well as over US$500,000 raised from Kickstarter