Well, they’ve impressed me yet again; Lynxmotion owner Jim and his son James, being robot enthusiasts and likewise fans of the Mechwarrior franchise, were intrigued with the Mech Warfare competition. Specifically they loved the biped aspect of it and so they set out to create a low cost competitive platform for Mech Warfare, and succeeded. Nicknamed ‘Hunchback’ and based around their BRAT biped platform, this is turning out to be one of the lowest cost and straight forward platforms for the competition. Currently there is a work-in-progress tutorial showing the build and code, and it looks like we have a very high chance of being treated to a complete kit allowing you to build your very own. If you’re interested in seeing how it progressed from prototype to near final revision, check out the project thread over on the Lynxmotion forums. Check out the following video of the Hunchback in action!

The thread linked above has the full details, but this video stood out to me as awesome; it’s a custom built humanoid using AX-12 servos. Check out how quick and agile it is!

In America, we’ve got Mech Warfare which implements archaic Airsoft guns and rockets. Japan however, has decided to step it up a notch and have equipped their robots with lasers. Building exploding, blindness causing, movie theater annoying lasers of destruction. To add insult to injury, they’ve even adding awesome PEW PEW PEW noises to their lasers! Why must you taunt us Japan, why?!? Not only do you make cooler robots, but now you’re giving them lasers. Totally not fair. The Robot BLASER Battles are definitely awesome though, check out their 2nd annual competition video below:

Via Botjunkie, Thanks Evan!