Humanoid Robot T800 Knocks Influencer Flying in 'First Human-Robot Cage Fight' Before Event Is Halted
On October 8, San Francisco-based REK hosted what it called the "world's first human-robot cage fight," drawing widespread attention. Influencer Frankie Lapena competed against three different robots in sequence, wearing a helmet, gloves, and knee pads.
The first small robot was quickly knocked down by Lapena. In the second round, Zhongqing T800, a humanoid robot about 1.8 meters tall and weighing nearly 90 kilograms, took the stage. The robot's kick force can reach up to 385 kilograms. During the fight, T800 delivered a powerful kick that sent Lapena flying into the cage wall, startling the audience. Lapena recovered and managed to push the robot down to win that round.
In the final round, the "Predator" robot moved faster and could repeatedly get up after falling, without human fatigue. After prolonged combat, Lapena's stamina ran out, and the human fighter lost.
After the event, REK received a stop order from California regulators, who determined the activity was an unlicensed cage fighting performance. However, the legal situation is nuanced: current local laws do not explicitly ban human-robot fighting, and existing boxing regulations apply only to human versus human contests. REK's head argued that without specific legislation, the event should not be deemed illegal.
Despite the stop order, REK still lists future events on its website, including upcoming shows in San Francisco, other U.S. cities, Tokyo, and Vancouver. It remains unclear whether future events will continue human-robot matches or shift to robot-only battles.
