These boxing droids, courtesy of US outfit Hammacher Schlemmer, are exactly what you need under two circumstances — you’ve come into money and a large, unoccupied estate by the beach and want something to go with the arcade machines and pool table, or, you’ve been tasked with defeating alien aggressors in an off-world battle to the death where only mechanised duellists are allowed to compete.
Both scenarios are fairly outrageous, though it’s hard to imagine what else would possess the average cash-earning person to buy these metal combatants. True, they’re fully motorised, can clock a dazzling 4.8km/h on the speedo and come with pneumatically-powered fists controlled by independent joysticks, but these features do little to offset their 136kg weight and whopping $US17,000 price tag.
At least they’re fairly self-contained — rechargeable 12V batteries, good for five hours of punching antics and in-built hit-tracking displays mean you can just jump in and start thwacking.
So, yeah, $US17,000. I’m not sure that includes delivery, which would noticeably up the price. Still, if you’re willing to fork over close to $US20k, you’re unlikely to break a sweat about how much it’ll cost to get these battling bots to your doorstep.