Planet CNET: Robot wars! Video

Planet CNET: Robot wars! Video Transcript

[ Music ] ^M00:00:06 [ Foreign language ] ^M00:00:12

>> Okay, so I'm not actually is Japan. I'm a bit further south in Sydney. But CNET does have editors in Japan, as well as here in Australia and other offices all around the world. And each week, we bring you the hottest tech news, products, and gossip in Planet CNET. This time, we kick things off in the good old US of A, where Kara Tsuboi is getting up close and personal with some killer robots -- and their creators. ^M00:00:36 [ Music ] ^M00:00:37

>> I'm Kara Tsuboi, CNET News.com. We've all heard of the NFL and the NBA, but what about the RFL -- The Robot Fighting League. Here in San Francisco, this is the Guinness Book of World Records' the biggest robotic fighting league competition in the entire world and the name of the game is to destroy, fight and kill your opponent.

>> [Inaudible] it's still trying to attack.

>> How much damage is done? How much repairing did you do?

>> I've actually got quite a bit.

>> What do you think went wrong with your design here?

>> It's just one of those matches where you gotta just hope you get a good shot on 'em.

>> It's [inaudible].

>> What's your strategy to win this year?

>> Keep running, don't get torn apart, go right into it with my steel blade and then it bangs into me and it usually digs in that far and then it stops moving and I drive away and I'm the winner. ^M00:01:29 [ Bang ] ^M00:01:30

>> You traveled all the way here from Australia to compete?

>> Yup, for [inaudible] travel.

>> Why?

>> 'Cause it's fun and this is the biggest event there is.

>> So you guys traveled all the way from Brazil. Why do you make the effort to come to this event?

>> Because it totally pays-off. It's fun. It's -- you'll learn a lot.

>> How much money would you say you spent on this?

>> If my wife's not around, probably about four-and-a-half thousand dollars.

>> C'mon. More than 10,000?

>> Oh, way more.

>> Oh, way more. More than 20,000?

>> Way more, probably.

>> 50,000?

>> Yeah, I think that kind of money.

>> I've spent enough to buy a house.

>> See you next time. Kara Tsuboi, CNET News.com. ^M00:02:10 [ Music ] ^M00:02:11

>> What is it about robots that people find so fascinating? Perhaps it's that ever present danger that they could break their programming and enslave us all. From killer robots to killer roads, we're heading over to Germany, where speed demons now have a virtual alternative to the famous Autobahn.

>> Hi, I'm Daniel from CNET.de. People around the world envy us for this sign and what it means, the German Autobahn. We're allowed to drive our cars as fast as we want and as fast as they can go. Driving a BMW at 260 kilometers per hour is better than well, you know. By the way, 260 kilometers per hour is equivalent to 161 miles per hour. But to be honest, even the autobahn is far from perfect. You're not always allowed to drive at top speed. There are traffic jams and of course, you have the construction. Besides, driving so fast is an expensive affair. You need a fast car. You need to fly over to Germany and you need lots of gas. And by the way we're pushing 9 bucks a gallon here. For just a fraction of that money, you get the best German high-speed race track right in your living room and you're working a lot safer. Things you need is a high-def projector like the BenQ W5000, an Xbox 360, a steering wheel and the right game, Forza Motorsport2. Just sit down, press the accelerator and enjoy. And if you get bored racing them free, just check out the Mercedes SLR or a Ferrari for free, just by pressing some buttons. Okay, and the disadvantages that you won't feel the G-force, but you'll save lots of money and you won't die if you crash. Sounds like a fair deal, huh? ^M00:04:02 [ Car speeding ] ^M00:04:08

>> So less money, less danger of dying and the ability to switch luxury cars at the push of a button. It's like the most civilized version of Grand Theft Auto. Finally, we head over our friends in France where people are also swapping real-life thrills for the computerized variety, but instead of fast cars, the vice of choice is gambling. ^M00:04:29 [ Music ] ^M00:04:30

>> Do you enjoy gambling on poker, black jack, horse races? French people seem to like it a lot too. Although betting money on the net is still illegal in France, Mikael Benfredj and Guillaume Karcenty found a way, however, to make moneyless predictions entertaining with MyPronostic.com. Indeed the concept is very simple. You are invited to make predictions on mostly anything, music, sports, politics, TV audience shares, stock exchange, but forget about making predictions on a celebrity's life expectancy or anything of that nature. My Pronostic.com is supposed to be entertaining. Not tacky like other web sites. Anyway, betting money might still be forbidden, but it sure doesn't stop predictors from becoming real professionals. As a matter of fact, the best predictors are rated getting a certain amount of credibility. The ones who get the highest scores become genuine experts and therefore, can sell their predictions, approximately 2 euros for each prediction. That's quite cheap when you're planning on using that information on profitable gambling, right? Okay, let's try to make a prediction. We heard a guy dressed up in Scooby Doo is wanted by the police in Queensland in Australia for invading a horse racing cup. And even weirder, you're having trouble finding him. So we thought let's make bets on what is going to happen to Scooby Doo.

>> I think Inspector Gadget and the Joker in Batman will catch him.

>> I think Scooby Doo is hidden in someone's house and it would be very difficult to find him.

>> I think Scooby Doo is gonna escape to Romania.

>> Romania?

>> Yeah.

>> Why?

>> Well, because, you know, he can't stay here, with the police, it's too bad. So maybe Romania is a good place to hide.

>> I think Nicolas Sarkozy and Carla Bruni will adopt Scooby Doo and maybe Scrappy too and increase the buying power for the French people.

>> So Ella, can you tell us what happened to Scooby Doo? I'm Louise Ghegan for Planet CNET. Thanks for watching.

>> Yes, the Scooby Doo thing. I didn't think of that news went international. That's embarrassing. But as far as we know, the dude in the dog suit is still on the run, but if you see him in your neighborhood, please don't call the pound. Log on to MyPronostic and let the suit [inaudible]. That's all from Planet CNET this week. I'm Ella Morton coming to you from Sydney. ^M00:07:07 [ Music ]