Inspired by the final scene of the movie "Live Steel" (Real Steel), in the universe of which boxing is banned and replaced by human-controlled robot fights, the Qibo Robot Company has developed a remote-controlled robot called QIBBOT, which simulates real human movements.

The robot can not only strike, but also does it at high speed with a delay of 12 milliseconds. The developers claim that their QIBBOT is the fastest remote-controlled robot created to date. Then he was tested for strength against an AI-controlled opponent who learns and adapts during combat.

"Inspired by the film and guided by the entertainment value, we decided to see if we could implement the concept of combat robots in real life," says Yining (James) Geng, CEO of Qibo Robot. "We thought that the experience of players with large and real robots would be very new and different from computer games."

There are many different remote-controlled robots, but they have completely different goals, and most of them are usually small and move only at slow or medium speed. "For combat robots, fast speed comes first," Geng says. "In the case of remote-controlled robots, speed is affected by many different aspects, including communication, interface, actuation, transmission, controller, and computing."

To help QIBBOT achieve high speed, the developers focused on solving problems related to the mechanics and controller of the robot. First, they built an accurate model of kinematics and dynamics, which they used to optimize the mass distribution, mechanical structure, control and communication of QIBBOT. Then, in addition to using a conventional feedback controller, they developed a new feedback controller that proactively responds to motion commands from the VR controller. According to Geng, this approach eliminates some of the delays caused by other components of the system.

To create an AI-controlled opponent, Geng and his colleagues combined several different existing AI algorithms. Together, they help the robot distinguish between attack and defense, generate combat strategies, and access a library of parameter data for specific combat scenarios. An AI-controlled robot can learn techniques during a fight with a human-controlled robot. Despite a certain degree of entertainment of robot combat, there are still some aspects of QIBBOT that require improvement.

"We've optimized the design of the QIBBOT mechanical system for rapid response, and there's a price to pay for that - precision," Geng says. He notes that while accuracy may not matter much in a combat scenario, it will be important if this technology is adapted for other purposes.

He says that QIBBOT is just a prototype for testing the design and controller. It is noted that he has some problems, such as unwanted vibration, unnatural movement style and so on. The developers are working on creating a new robot that will have two arms and more joints in the body and arms, which will solve these problems.