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California Doesn’t Want Humans Fighting Robots
Courtesy of REK
Tech startup REK (Robot Entertainment Kombot) hosted a cage match between content creator Frankie LaPenna and humanoid robots… and caught the attention of angry state regulators.
Why It (Literally) Hits: Humanoid robots are advancing quickly — they now entertain at theme parks and compete against one another in Olympics-style games. The possibility of man-versus-machine battles is no longer science fiction, but a present-day reality… and the law isn’t ready to govern the potentially dangerous ramifications.
Between The Rounds: “Human vs. Robot” went down on September 18… and the fallout has been spreading ever since.
Frankie LaPenna, known for filming himself performing physical-comedy stunts, faced off against three humanoid robots, one by one, in an MMA octagon. The robots were controlled remotely by someone outside the ring.
While LaPenna managed to land a few hits, he unsurprisingly got walloped by the bots in front of a crowd of about 100 humans.
When the California State Athletic Commission heard about the event, it sent a cease-and-desist letter, saying the event was unsanctioned and that any combat-fighting contest needed its approval.
But it turns out the law doesn’t yet account for fights between humans and robots, so CEO Cix Live invited regulators to take the company to court.
In response, the commission said it would immediately start looking into adding guidance on robot combat… which feels like a real societal paradigm shift.
Last Bout: Human vs. Robot was the first event in what REK calls “the humanoid robot fighting league,” which aims to “democratize MMA, so we can essentially experience the blood sport without anyone getting hurt,” per Liv. To that end, he said human-versus-robot combat isn’t the company’s ultimate ambition. Case in point: this Friday, the company is hosting its first humanoid robot-versus-robot battle featuring blades.
It looks like Real Steel, Shawn Levy’s undersung 2011 blockbuster, is now a docudrama.
Prediction: San Francisco is definitely going to get the first robot-combat Colosseum — the perfect destination to air our collective robot anxiety.
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Today’s email was written by David Vendrell.
Edited, polled, and copy-edited by Kait Cunniff.
Published by Darline Salazar.