Finish him! (unloveablesteve/Creative Commons)

Anyone who has ever played “Rock ‘Em Sock ‘Em Robots” knows that artificially intelligent machines exist to punch the bejesus out of each other for our viewing enjoyment.

Really, what other uses would we have for one of humanity’s greatest scientific accomplishments? Sure, saving lives and cleaning up nuclear disaster zones is great, but how are we supposed to bet on that?

First, let’s look at a few examples from our sci-fi pop culture. Up first? The trailer for the upcoming film “Real Steel,” which apparently features Hugh Jackman, Kate from “Lost” and Liz Lemon’s dentist in supporting roles opposite a bunch of punching machines.

There’s also a cool viral campaign for the film which draws on our nostalgia for “Gigantor” and other brawling robots in Anime.

Earlier this year, comedian Peter Serafinowicz (of “Look Around You” fame) directed and starred in the music video for Alex Metric and Steve Angello’s “Open Your Eyes,” which pits a Rocky-esque character against a murderous boxing bot:

And how can we forget 1990′s “Robot Jox,” which was shockingly written by acclaimed sci-fi author Joe Haldeman, who also gave us the far-more cerebral “The Forever War.”

But enough with the sci-fi. Where’s the “sci,” right? It seems like we’re bombarded every day with new videos of robotic prototypes, each doing something AWESOME while almost falling over. Yes, via the good folks over at Robot Dreams, here’s footage from the lightweight finals of the 2011 RoboGames:

And yes, they do kind of look like they’re dancing a little bit. How far has the tech come? Well, here’s footage from the 2007 International Robot Exhibition in Japan:

So yes, we’re not quite there yet when it comes to realizing our sci-fi dreams of robotic gladiatorial combat . But it’s still important to recognize the sci-fi roots of scientific research — especially when it comes to robotics. Many of today’s roboticists grew up watching “Robot Jox” and still more will grow up watching “Real Steel.” How will this latest vision guide them? And is THIS our grand scientific plan?

Step 1: Create machines in the image of man.
Step 2: Give machines the ability to think and behave like a human.
Step 3: Make machines punch each other in the face.

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