If you watched “Pacific Rim” and thought the robots would be great to race, the technology company Furrion may have the sport for you. At the Consumer Electronics Show (CES), the company revealed a short video of one of their mechs in motion and announced the formation of a new sport with the X1 Mech Racing League.
Furrion first showed a prototype of the mech “Prosthesis” at CES last year. This year, they showed what the machine could do.
“While at first glance Prosthesis looks like an intimidating robot, it is actually an entirely new breed of large-scale, human-piloted, high-performance, exo-bionic technology,” read Furrion’s announcement.
Prosthesis is not quite as large at the robots controlled by Idris Elba in the 2013 science fiction blockbuster, but it’s no slouch. The mech stands 15 feet tall and 18 feet wide. It weighs more than 8,000 pounds and will eventually be able to run up to 20 miles per hour, according to Furrion.
“The idea grew into developing a brand-new human skill (mech racing) that would explore the relationship between man and machine,” said Matt Fidler, Furrion’s co-founder and chief marketing officer, in a statement. “We think athletes will be excited about the challenge of the new mech racing category, and we are proud to be the innovators of a new sport.”
Furrion is committed to renewable energy. As such, the mechs would be run with Furrion’s Net Zero Power Systems. This means that mech racing would be a closed-loop, zero-emissions sport.
As Furrion enters the athletic market, they will be partnering with new sponsors, partners and athletes in the sports world.
“Because no one has ever attempted this before, I don’t think any of us realized the learning curve of getting an 8,000-pound machine to move as one with the pilot’s body movements,” Johnathan Tippett, the creator and pilot of Prosthesis and the Chief Technology Officer with Furrion, said in a statement. “But now that we have done it, I can honestly say it has been a wild ride, literally, and a dream come true.”