Kondo bot battles rage in Japan, vision of humanity's imminent destruction crystallize

You may be familiar with the modular line of Kondo robots sold in Japan -- but are you aware that a "Kondo Battle" exists where the bots duke it out to the death (or until they fall over)? Well, now you know... which is half the battle. You can pretty much see where this is headed -- life-size (or larger) Gundams going totally crazy on cityscapes across the globe. A picture says a thousand words, and video says billions and billions, so feast your eyes on the IDG News clip after the break, and to sweeten the deal, we've included a few videos of the actual fights as well.

[PuBeLeSs @ May 10th 2009 4:19PM]

FIGHT!!!!!!

[Brickster @ May 10th 2009 7:29PM]

Next step: Chobits

[Platinum_Skeet @ May 11th 2009 10:00AM]

This makes America's robot competitions look like cake shit...

[OneLove @ May 11th 2009 10:31AM]

You know, this is the reason why robots will eventually rebel against humans. We build them and then make them fight each other?

[NumberXII @ May 10th 2009 4:23PM]

Really like how the black one gets up after it falls over.

[Tinu @ May 10th 2009 5:39PM]

The only reason these robots can do all these tricks and can even get back up in creative ways is because there are tiny humans inside them. Yah.

[SpydaKat 17 @ May 10th 2009 9:04PM]

Yea I love me some ramen too.

[CloudAge @ May 10th 2009 4:28PM]

Lol, its amazing how many ways they have to get back up again after falling!

[joseph nickson @ May 10th 2009 4:29PM]

woah they are INSANE xD

do people make them? or do they just buy them?

[yuriythebest @ May 10th 2009 4:30PM]

they make em using kits

[Agent .25i @ May 10th 2009 10:36PM]

Seeing this stuff, just further verifies that I was born in the wrong continent.

[jordan @ May 11th 2009 4:11AM]

Well in the first video the spokes person for kondo said that they sell kits which are used like teaching tool for hobbyists like these to go out and develop their own robots. So from what all the people were saying I'm pretty sure that they are all originally made.

[saka @ May 12th 2009 2:52AM]

you can actually buy premade robots in akihabara, but they only do basic stuff and pretty much suck... custom's the way to go

[yuriythebest @ May 10th 2009 4:30PM]

wow that tall jumping robot with long arms was l33t!!

[paezbak @ May 10th 2009 5:01PM]

why the hell on earth is asimo great then????

[Sfgeek @ May 10th 2009 8:36PM]

The surface area of these robots feet is huge, and their center of gravity is much lower. Asimo is still doing pre-programmed walking, but the lessons learned from building Asimo have been applied to these robots, and now a bi-pedal robot that really adapts to changing environments exists. Walking is controlled falling, and it's very, very difficult to get right.

[William Su @ May 13th 2009 5:12PM]

asimo can do much more than fighting and walking well, i love this too, so much cheaper and possibly easier to mod

[??? @ May 10th 2009 4:34PM]

SHINNNIING FINGAAAAA!

[Verbatim9 @ May 10th 2009 4:37PM]

Unlike the recent videos from the robo-cup, I can totally see these things beating up real human soccer players in 2050.

[Badger_badger_badger @ May 10th 2009 4:40PM]

Wow, that is both awesome and terrifying.

[B3astofthe3ast @ May 10th 2009 4:43PM]

I want one!!!

[Steve @ May 10th 2009 4:57PM]

I wonder if accelerometers can be used so they can balance better when they are about to fall.

[Steve @ May 10th 2009 5:09PM]

oh, they have pretty advanced sensors already.

[Zuke @ May 10th 2009 5:03PM]

AWESOME! I think I just wet myself now, dammit.

[Name: @ May 10th 2009 5:05PM]

OK.....the takedown at the end of the last video was....AWESOME!

[benhc911 @ May 10th 2009 9:04PM]

I had just seen that takedown and scrolled down to the comments to gush... absolutely awesome! Whether or not it was supposed to, it really looked like some hardcore martial arts ^__^

[ven740 @ May 18th 2009 10:48PM]

these new bots are 10% better than the ones I saw last year , but that is still a 1000 times faster than nature .

[twidget @ May 10th 2009 5:26PM]

I, for one, welcome our Kondo bot overlords.

[Tyler @ May 10th 2009 5:34PM]

holy crap that's ridiculously awesome - pure bipedal awesomeness

[Uncontrol @ May 10th 2009 5:35PM]

Gackt's Kondo bot was cooler.

[dmitr77 @ May 10th 2009 5:36PM]

The pin down in the end of the last video is amazing!!!!!!!!

[Bill @ May 10th 2009 6:09PM]

Yeah, that was good. I was impressed! :)

These fighting bot look like loads of fun! :)

[xconan @ May 10th 2009 5:44PM]

they sure have turned up the notch a bit with bipedal robots instead of the american versions of car or tank wars. this is still very nascent in terms of bipedal mechs or eventually mobile suits/gundam wars.

[babydill @ May 10th 2009 6:24PM]

i was waiting for one of those little robots to bust out the Kamehameha wave and dominate all the bystanders. i heard it happened last year but Freeza was able to subdue the blonde girly man.

[kompulsive @ May 10th 2009 6:17PM]

Hell, yes. Bring this shit ON TO AMERICA!

[Amun @ May 10th 2009 7:49PM]

They did 5 minutes ago, no one cared.

[acme @ May 10th 2009 6:19PM]

wake me when they form voltron.

[ONi @ May 10th 2009 6:20PM]

none of them punched frontal-style, they were all leaning to the sides and sweeping.. is that the effective way?

[3rdman @ May 10th 2009 7:23PM]

I think its for balance and efficiency reasons.

[alex @ May 10th 2009 6:42PM]

The Romans used to have slaves, Christians , etc... fight for there amusement. And we all know how well that worked for them in the end. Are we in the process of creating the future Spartacus ?

[ED @ May 10th 2009 6:56PM]

No! I'm Spartacus!

[o29 @ May 10th 2009 7:46PM]

No, I'M Spartacus.

[Amun @ May 10th 2009 7:48PM]

*I* am Spartacus.

[Spartacus @ May 10th 2009 8:01PM]

What the...

[superhobo @ May 11th 2009 6:59AM]

*I*...broke the dam.

[whoami @ May 10th 2009 7:06PM]

Let METAL KOMBAT Begin!!

[Jonathan Burgin @ May 10th 2009 7:13PM]

Ok buys, rtfa! These are remote control, not autonomous, so comparing them to robocup is ridiculous. But the most interesting thing I thought was that when the robots fall, they count in English. Why do they do that?

[MeowR- @ May 10th 2009 7:47PM]

I am amazed that you found one of the most unimportant things the most interesting =)

Besides, they weren't counting in English. The dud was saying, "Waaaang, Chuuuu, Sreee, Foaaa, Faibu..."

It was Engrish. :D

[Justin @ May 10th 2009 8:00PM]

Actually, if you watched the first video, you would have know that one of the robots was autonomous. I think is the same robot fighting in the 3rd video as well.

[blainegeneral @ May 10th 2009 8:00PM]

Yeah I agree that was interesting.