Japan's black belt robots

Homemade fighter robots can be found in boxing rings around the world, especially in the UK and the US. The most famous robot combat tournament, the weekly TV show Robot Wars, ran on BBC Two from 1998 until 2002. After that it was Japan's turn to take on the robot battle baton. And they took it one step further.

Created in 2002, the Robo-One contest is a less violent and more oriental-style version of Robot Wars. In place of armour plated machines fitted with circular saws, the Japanese prefer their robots to take on a human form. The two-legged, super-sophisticated creatures are placed into the ring where they are directed by remote control to perform a fight that resembles some kind of martial arts scrap. Punches, sweeping kicks and judo tackles are not only allowed, but encouraged.

“Lifting your opponent off the ground and throwing him down is ok, though the referee can yellow card a player”

Lem Fugitt is a business consultant in Japan and editor of the website Robots Dreams.

The Robo-One movement was started by a Japanese man called Terukazu Nishimura. He had participated in one of the Combat Robot competitions in the US, and wanted to start something similar in Japan, but realised that the ‘battle to the death' aspect of Combat Robot competitions wasn't a good fit for the Japanese. Taking some inspiration from Honda's ASIMO humanoid robot, he came up with the vision for a hobby level humanoid robot competition, and convinced others to join him.

The competitor background is quite diverse. While they usually have some engineering training, or work in engineering professionally, some of them include truck drivers, high school students, and even a noodle shop operator.

A few of the competitors use kit based robots, but most of them had design and built their robots from scratch. They aren't cheap. In terms of US dollars, a basic humanoid kit with the necessary accessories will cost around 1,600 dollars [1,180 euros]. Very few people stop there, and it isn't unusual for a champion level robot to cost 7-10,000 dollars [5,200 - 7,400 euros].

Matches last three minutes. The rules are a little complicated but the major point is that if a robot is knocked down and can't get back up by the end of a 10-count, then it loses. The fighting rules are loosely based on K-1 boxing/wrestling. They can punch and push each other. Lifting your opponent off the ground and throwing him down, similar to pro-wrestling, is ok, though there are times when the referee will yellow card a player."

Robo-One competitors in action

Final in Neutrino. Video posted on YouTube by "IKETOMU", 21 March 2010.

Best of the 12th edition of Robo-One. Posted on YouTube by "tempusmaster", 19 October 2007.

Robots and their masters

Posted by Lem Fugitt on Flickr

Posted by Lem Fugitt on Flickr

Posted by Lem Fugitt on Flickr

American Robot Wars

Extract from the US version of Robot Wars. Posted on YouTube by "Wetware" 6 March 2006.