Game · Robotics · AI
Ultimate Fighting Bots
Two humanoid robots, one physical arena, and two players who could be on opposite sides of the planet. Nothing about Ultimate Fighting Bots is simulated. When you press a button a real machine moves, and if you are slow, it gets hit.
Results
- 01Real humanoid robots driven from anywhere in the world
- 02Sub-second latency between controller input and robot movement
- 03Room-based game frontend with live matchmaking
- 04Joystick, gamepad and Nintendo Switch controller support
- 05AI opponent that takes over when matchmaking is slow
01
Latency is the game
A hundred milliseconds separates a block from a knockout. We built the link that carries input out to the robots and video back, close enough together that the match feels fair.
02
A room, an arena, a robot
Players join, pick an arena and a robot, and drive it live. When matchmaking stalls an AI takes the rival robot, because an idle arena loses money and a waiting player leaves.
03
Pick up any controller
Joystick, gamepad and Switch controller resolve to a single model. Tuning how the robot feels is one change rather than three, and a fourth device is an adapter.
04
Physical stakes
A dropped frame in an ordinary game is a stutter. Here it is a punch that did not land. We treat the connection as hostile and the hardware as fallible.