Japanese Sumo Robots Can Wrestle By Themselves and It’s Scary AF

June 27, 2017

Japan’s national sport of sumo wrestling could be taken over by robots in the age of technology.

Traditional sumo involves two large men pushing each other out of the ring using different techniques, whereas their robot counterparts use slanted metal blades or wide arms to win a match, according to SoraNews24.

There are two different types of sumo robots: pre-programmed autonomous robots, which are lightning-fast or remote-controlled robots, which rely on a human pilot and wrestle at a slower pace.

Below is a 6-minute YouTube compilation video by user Robert McGregor featuring various tournaments, reminiscent of the BattleBots TV series:

“Such cruelty, locking algorithms in those tiny cages and forcing them to fight for our amusement,” one commenter wrote.

McGregor replied: “I think this is the human condition. We want to create and destroy and we are quite talented at both.”

The new age sumo has also gone global, with contestants from Colombia, Mexico, Turkey, and across Japan battling it out in Tokyo’s Ryogoku Sumo Hall on December 18, 2016.

Turkey’s team, AVCI, took home the gold prize in the autonomous match, while Japan’s team R☆Ace landed in first place in the remote-controlled category.

The 29th international sumo robot tournament is set to be held on December 17, 2017, and there will surely be pieces of metal flying everywhere.

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