Wanna Get Punched By a Robot?

The future is here! Now you can get punched by a robot in a game that combines virtual reality with a real life robot who can punch you in the face pretty hard. The game was developed at Portsmouth University in the UK. The game puts you right in the center of a gladiator arena.

In your VR headset you are fighting a scary robot. You have a weapon (a bat) and a shield. In real life, you are wearing your VR headset and are in an immersive environment to support the fantasy. In the immersive environment is a real life robot that mimics the movements of the fake robot in the game. Thankfully, the robot’s punches are softened by the boxing gloves that it wears, and it is designed not to harm you too badly.

Now this robot only works with the simple virtual reality game that was designed for it, but in the future, there may be automated robots that we interact with in virtual reality on an everyday basis. This is just a hint at what may come. So if you think getting punched by a robot is a crazy thing, get used to it because it just may become the everyday norm.

Well, hopefully not the getting punched part, but simply the synergy between robots and the virtual reality programs that they are a part of. When we create fully immersive environments, they are more believable. When we add as many believable elements as possible, it makes it even more real.

The future clearly holds a lot of exciting things in the VR realm, and perhaps it is time to add getting punched in the face by a VR robot to your bucket list!