Real Steel-style humanoid robots battle in secret San Francisco club

The article highlights a recent underground humanoid robot fighting event called the ‘Silicon Colosseum’ held in a SoMa warehouse in San Francisco. Inspired by the 2011 movie ‘Real Steel,’ the event featured smaller-scale humanoid robots battling inside an octagonal steel cage. Despite lacking the size and dexterity of their fictional counterparts, these robots generated significant excitement, drawing several hundred attendees to the invite-only event. Notably, a headless bipedal robot called K-Bot, controlled remotely by its CEO Benjamin Bolte, faced off against a glove-wearing house robot named Booster T1, which won the match and impressed the crowd with its resilience. The event also included a robot dog fight, and its organizer, Verda Korzeniewski, confirmed it was the second such event, with plans for another tournament in November. The article places this event within the broader context of increasing humanoid robot participation in sports and competitive activities worldwide. For instance, China recently hosted the