California has issued a warning of illegality to a robot fighting league after it staged a human-robot cage fight.
Robot Entertainment Kombat is a robot fighting league, founded by VR entrepreneur Cix Liv. Based in San Francisco, the league stages live fights between humanoid robots.
In September, the league hosted the “world’s first human-robot fight.” However, California state officials have called time on the fights, and have contacted the league to warn them against staging such events in future.
They were sent a cease-and-desist letter
A video of the fight was posted to YouTube. In it, influencer Frankie LaPenna could be seen dressed in headgear, gloves, kneepads, and competing against a six-foot-tall robot.
REK soon received a cease-and-desist letter from the California State Athletic Commission. It warned the company to stop the fights or face a misdemeanor charge.
Cix Liv took to X to acknowledge receipt of the letter. “We made it boys,” he wrote. “California sent us a Cease and Desist for “UNSANCTIONED HUMAN VERSUS HUMANOID ROBOT CAGE FIGHT”.”
However, according to the New York Post, the letter was issued because the company did not have prior approval from the commission for the fight to go ahead, not because of it featured human-robot combat.
YouTube users, however, were skeptical of the human-robot element. “Welp, this is how it all begins,” wrote one user. Another said: “Some people will come back to this video after 20 or 30 years and will say “we could have stopped all this if we wanted to”.”
I’m Abhishek Sharma, an author at TigerJek.com. I enjoy exploring games, testing different strategies, and turning what I learn into clear, useful guides. My goal is to help players understand the game better and improve without the usual confusion.
