MegaBots

This is the epic launch of a YouTube series that follows the design, fabrication, and testing of America’s first battle mech in preparation for the world’s first Giant Robot Duel between us and Suidobashi Heavy Industry. We start by putting the Mk.II through some... “scientific” tests to see if our pilots could even survive this brawl. If we’re going to be inside this robot during the Duel, we’re going to make damn sure we don’t get hurt (or worse) during combat. To test this, we outfit a test dummy pilot with high-tech sensors and measure the impacts as we try to break our $200,000, 6-ton, 15-foot tall combat robot.

In our previous episode, we tested our Mk. II robot and found that a pilot would die or get seriously injured in actual giant robot combat. Since we don’t want to die, we decided to make an entirely new robot from scratch, built for combat from the ground up! In this episode, we walk through how we’re designing the Mk. III - what will be a $2.5M, 10-ton, 16-foot tall combat robot - from scratch.

Who do you call when you need high-power, custom tank treads designed and built in no time flat? In this episode we pay a visit to Howe & Howe Technologies in Waterboro, Maine. They’ve been very busy creating the foundation of the Mk. III and are ready to show us what they’ve cooked up. Watch us break in our brand new tank treads and start the process of integrating them into our brand new Mk. III robot!

You can’t have a Giant Robot Duel without giant robot weapons! In this episode, we test five different weapon systems against a statue of our opponent (called KURATOS) to see what works and what doesn’t in a giant robot fight. Once we figure out our favorites and make a few tweaks, it’ll be time to build them into the Mk.III robot!

The arms and torso of the Mk. III are complete! In this episode, we put our new modular Heavy Lift Arms (HLAs) through their paces by picking up an entire car 12 feet in the air! Witness the raw power of a 350 horsepower, 16 foot tall robot whose arms can lift 2,500 pounds… each.

IT'S GIANT ROBOT LEG DAY! We just installed the legs of the Mk.III onto the track base, tested them, and assembled the upper body onto the lower body. The core of the 430HP, 16 foot tall, 12-ton Mk.III combat robot is assembled and undergoing final testing before the big fight!

The 12-ton, 430-horsepower, 16-foot tall Mk. III combat mech debuted at Maker Faire Bay Area 2017! After more than a year of design, engineering, and fabrication the MegaBots team brought the Mk. III to its first live performance. The team still had some bugs to work out, short circuits to trace, and wrenches to turn, but by the end of the show they were punching cars hanging from cranes and giving Kickstarter backers once-in-a-lifetime giant robot rides!