California Orders REK to Halt Human-Robot Cage Fights After 3 Unsanctioned Bouts
Updated
Updated · The New York Times · Oct 8
California Orders REK to Halt Human-Robot Cage Fights After 3 Unsanctioned Bouts
3 articles · Updated · The New York Times · Oct 8
Summary
A Sept. 18 San Francisco event featuring three human-versus-robot bouts drew a cease-and-desist letter from the California State Athletic Commission because REK had not secured state sanctioning.
REK staged the fights as "Human vs. Robot," sending a 6-foot steel-framed humanoid—remotely piloted through a virtual-reality system—against social media influencer Frankie LaPenna inside an octagonal cage.
LaPenna was repeatedly knocked down and into the enclosure walls, and injured his hand punching one robot's metal frame; the roughly 100-person crowd still cheered the spectacle.
REK, short for Robot Entertainment Kombat and branding itself a humanoid robot fighting league, publicly celebrated the commission's action, underscoring the regulatory clash over whether such events fall under combat-sports oversight.