7pm

The Twitch stream has started. Both teams are ready to rumble, and after months' worth of heavily edited videos from the MegaBots team (and precious little from Suidobashi), we're about to see if the state of the art in 2017 mecha-fighting has any potential as a Real-Steel-type sporting spectacle.

7.15pm

Sponsor-hype videos abound. It's genuinely impressive how many different companies, from Howe & Howe, to NASA, to Autodesk and a ton more, have chipped in to get the MegaBots effort off the ground.

7:20pm

Driver safety testing with the MegaBots team … Boy do these guys look like they have fun. Giant paintball cannons and wrecking balls to simulate the rigors of combat.

7:35pm

More hype … A sportscasting commentary team. There's 152,000 viewers tuning in. I'm not sure we can handle this level of excitement.

Here's how the win is to be decided: either the opponent's robot gets knocked down, it stops working, or the opposing team taps out. Team MegaBots has brought two robots, the MkII Iron Glory, and the gigantic Eagle Prime.