Challenge accepted.
In video posted to YouTube, Japanese robot-maker Suidobashi Heavy Industry accepted U.S. rival MegaBots' duel, paving the way for a future "Rock 'Em Sock 'Em Robots"-style matchup.
MegaBots co-founders Matt Oehrlein and Gui Cavalcant threw down the robotic gauntlet in their own all-caps American video on June 30. The two men were draped in the red, white and blue flags of their homeland and dark "Top Gun"-style aviator sunglasses as they issued the challenge.
"We have a giant robot, you have a giant robot -- you know what needs to happen. We challenge you to a duel," Oehrlein says in the clip.
In a response posted on Sunday, Suidobashi's CEO Kogoro Kurata didn't back down from the challenge. With his own national flag wrapped around his shoulders, Kurata says he can't let the Americans win because "giant robots are Japanese culture."
Megabot's "Mark II" is a 12,000-pound behemoth of "gasoline-powered fury" piloted by a team of two people, which can fire three-pound paint cannon balls at speeds of more than 160 kilometres per hour.
While Suidobashi's "Kuratas" which is operated by one person, weighs in at 9,000 pounds and has twin Gatling guns.
In the Japanese robot-maker's video, Kurata mocks his U.S. rivals for their overt rah-rah patriotism and obsession with big guns.
"My reaction? C'mon guys make it cooler," said Kurata
"Just building something huge and sticking guns on it -- it's super American."
So, Kurata decided to raise the stakes, challenging the Americans to a bare-bolt boxing match, with strictly melee combat.
"If we're going to win this, I want to punch them, to scrap and knock them down to do it," said Kurata in the video.
The battleground and the date have yet to be determined, but Oehrlein says in his original challenge that it could take place in a year.
