Yesterday we reported on a video that OnePlus sent out via their social media channels of a new product launch coming yesterday — although the product was not a phone or a commercial product. Turns out the new product are snow robots!
The mantra of the 5G carriers is “build it and they will come” with respect to technologies best suited to make use of their new “faster and more reliable” networks. OnePlus have found a use for 5G, snow robots (well, of course, why didn’t we think of that?).
OnePlus have custom-built robots powered by 5G and in Lapland, Finland at 12pm GMT (11pm AEDT) on March 9 they will battle humans in a snowball fight to determine supremacy and ownership of the world — well, maybe not that last bit but the whole exercise certainly sounds like something from a movie.
The snowball fight itself will continue after the robots beat the humans with the robots battling each other for 70 hours to see just who will become the supreme leader of this planet. Of course what good is such a monumental event without a live YouTube stream which we can all watch it on:
The introductory video from OnePlus says that users can play online, controlling the robots which can shoot snowballs at up to 120MPH (193km/hr). The interactive part of the snowball fight of the Snowbots will see users from around the world pitted against one another — it is unclear just when the fight wins, whether it is another robot death match or play just stops after 70 hours.
To sign up to control a robot head on over to the OnePlus site and you can also win a chance for you and a friend to travel to Lapland and battle against the robots in person via their forum. To play you will need to visit the above page via a mobile device and sign in with a OnePlus account (or create one if you don’t have one) but you can only play once so “make it count”.
There are four Snowbots. Two on each team. You’re in control of one Snowbot and need to fire snowballs at your opponents, all while trying to avoid getting hit by theirs. You win by hitting your enemy more times than they hit you, be careful not to run out of your eight snowballs too quickly.
The games will take place until March 12 with games running 24 hours a day so even us Aussies with upside down time frames can join in. After you join the queue to play you will get a browser notification when it’s almost your turn with the queue capped at two hours.
Who hasn’t always wanted to join in on a 5G-powered snowball-throwing robot fight? Head on over to the OnePlus site and sign up for it now to join in the fun. At this stage the entries to the win a trip site are at five pages — get in quick as the competition to win the trip for you and a friend closes in 24 hours.
Good to see a company having fun in an otherwise very serious business (and demonstrate the power of 5G). Shall we join in?
