is a elder newsman covering technology, gaming, and more. He joined The Verge in 2019 following nearly two years at Techmeme.
The California State Athletic Commission sent a cease-and-desist letter to a startup that hosted a equivalent between a individual and a robot final month, as reported by The New York Times.
The fight, which took location on September 18th, pitted a human, Frankie LaPenna, against a humanoid robot owned by a tech startup, Rek, that was being piloted by a individual using what the NYT described as a “remote virtual-reality system.” Rek says it is the “the humanoid robot fighting league” on its website, and the robot appears to be one from EngineAI but alongside a Terminator-like caput exchanged on top.
You can observe a replay of the combat on YouTube:
The CEO of Rek, Cix Liv, posted the letter to X on September 30th, which called the combat “unsanctioned” and demanded that Liv and REK halt “holding, promoting or promotion any boxing or blended martial arts competition match, or exhibition, involving any human” in California without the endorsement of the California State Athletic Commission. “We made it boys,” Liv said.
Rek’s next planned match, which takes location on Friday, volition characteristic two robots alongside weapons fighting all other.
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