California Cracks Down On Man Vs. Robot Fight Nights
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Freedom Is Back In Style
A California athletic commission sent a cease-and-desist letter to a San Francisco tech startup after it staged a cage fight between a man and three humanoid robots.
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On September 18, social media influencer Frankie LaPenna fought three remote-controlled robots in front of 100 cheering spectators. Two of the robots stood about 6 feet tall, with steel frames. Five days later, the California State Athletic Commission (CSAC) sent the letter to the organizer, Robot Entertainment Kombat (REK).
“We made it boys,” Cix Liv, CEO of REK, posted to X with a photo of the letter attached. “California sent us a Cease and Desist for ‘UNSANCTIONED HUMAN VERSUS HUMANOID ROBOT CAGE FIGHT.’”
In the letter, the commission said it must approve boxing or mixed martial arts events involving a human and that holding an unsanctioned event was a misdemeanor.
“Unsanctioned activity puts the physical and financial well-being of all those involved at risk and such activity will not be tolerated,” the commission said in a statement.
Liv argued that REK — which describes itself as “the humanoid robot fighting league” — did not need the commission’s approval.
“The law clearly states that a ‘match’ is between two persons,” he said in an interview, according to The New York Times. He also said state regulators were welcome to try to prove that a humanoid robot was human.
Before the fight, LaPenna, who injured his hand at the event, signed a waiver stating that the company would not be held liable if he were killed. According to the Times, LaPenna had repeatedly asked REK to let him fight its robots.
“Our hope was to basically get some good shots without actually hurting Frankie,” Liv said.
The company, which has also organized robot fights in Canada and Japan, is hosting what it calls the “world’s first humanoid weapon fight” in San Francisco on Friday. That event will pit robots against one another, with no human combatants.
Humanoid robots are a growing sector of the technology industry. This summer, the second annual World Humanoid Robot Games in Beijing featured more than 2,000 robots and 666 teams competing in sports including soccer, running, and table tennis.
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I am just an average American. My teen years were in the late 70s and I participated in all that that decade offered. Started working young, too young. Then I joined the Army before I graduated High School. I spent 25 years in, mostly in Infantry units. Since then I've worked in information technology positions all at small family owned companies. At this rate I'll never be a tech millionaire. When I was young I rode horses as much as I could. I do believe I should have been a cowboy. I'm getting in the saddle again by taking riding lessons and see where it goes.
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