Mechs are a common feature in SciFi movies and games. Non-SciFi fans probably would not understand, but what could be more fascinating than mechs? We, as fans, love engines and hydraulic lines, not muscles. Of course, everyone has their own image of a real life mech, and that makes mechs something fictional, but at the same time very familiar. A mech is a genre, an idea, and a culture.

That is probably why the movie "Real Steel" came out. Everyone has their own idea for a robot and believes that someday it will come to life. Surprisingly, it is not just a nice movie story. Real life fighting robots do exist, just like in the movie. The British TV show "Robot Wars" was probably a prototype of real life, fighting mechs. There were no pilots inside the robots, but the show successfully brought robot battles into real life. The show opened up a possibility for a new form of entertainment and taught us one important thing: robots are not only for kids. People loved to watch robots attacking and smashing each other in the movie and the TV show.

Now that technology has evolved, there are actually people trying to develop a life-sized battle mech with a pilot in it: the Megabots. Megabots went viral as they came out and challenged Japanese mechs to battle, and now the developers are dreaming about making mech battles a major sport. An American Sport. 

Luckily, MegaBots' workshop was not that far away from InvenGlobal's office and our staffs decided to visit. Let us meet the developers of Megabots and take a look at the real life mech.

The MegaBot Project begins.

The MegaBot Project started in 2014 and received a large amount of attention and contribution in 2015 via crowdfunding. The project went especially viral when it openly challenged Kuratas, a Japanese real life mech developed by Suidobashi Heavy Industry.

Suidobashi Heavy Industry had already introduced real life mech Kuratas in 2012. This gave the founding members of MegaBots the motivation to develop their own mech, and thus Megabot Project had begun. The beginning of MegaBots was rather humble. They developed one seat for the driver and single weapon system, and carried the very first model in their cars to Comic Cons and PAX to promote their mech and seek investments. 

They held conferences, demonstrations and trial performances, and launced T-shirts at the audience with a missile launcher, receiving much attention from mechs fandom all over the US. But that was not enough for them. 

That was when Team USA was formed, and challenged Kuratas of Suidobashi in mech battles. Suidobashi accepted the challenge, and the battle went up to a whole new level. MegaBots was successful in receiving more than $550,000 via crowdfunding, and also received about $4mil from investors.

▲Team USA challenges Team Japan and...

▲Challenge accepted!

Engineers of MegaBots are currently working on MK.III, their latest model. MK.III will be bigger and heavier than MK.II, their previous model, and will have both arms able to freely grab and release, which allows for stronger and more effective melee attacks.

The basic data of MK.III is as follows. It looks like a concept book from games like MechWarrior Online, but it is actually happening in real life.

Number of Pilots: 2 (the driver and the shooter)
Weight: 12 tons
Engine: 400 horsepower gasoline engine
Driving system: Caterpillar track and Hydraulic piston
Arms: Fists, Kitchen knife, Drill, Chainsaw, and others that are still in development.
Specialty: Removable parts
Goal: Smash the Japanese mech

A visit to the MegaBots' Workshop

The workshop was full of the smell of metal and oil and looked like a place from the future. Engineers were welding metal plates together, tightening up some bolts, and driving a tractor to carry the parts for the mech. Gui Cavalcanti, one of the founding members of MegaBots, used to be a gamer who loved MechWarrior Online and BattleTech. Under the influence of those games, he majored in robotic engineering in college.

▲destroy a car

▲launching T-shirts!

Although the visit was short, it felt like an exciting field trip. Watching a real life mech was an exciting experience. 6 employees out of 13 works on promotional videos and they are trying their best to promote their project and let the world know what they are doing. The following video is one of the many test videos for MK.III. Let us check out the destructive power of the mech.

Project Megabot is scheduled to be completed in 3 months and we will find out the result of the world’s first mech vs. mech fight within this year. Fans are anxious to find out the result of world's first real life mechs battle.

The visit went smoothly with Gui Cavalcanti serving as a most capable tour guide conveying fascinating Megabots details and stories. He also added: “I am dreaming of a day when mech fights become a popular sport. In order to achieve that, we need to produce mechs quickly and continuously. I’m looking forward to a future day when new mech models come out every year, and we have mech fights in huge stadiums.” Will his dreams come true? Hopefully someday they will, and we will see real life mechs and mech pilots around the world!