Aug. 29 sees the 22nd All Japan Robot Sumo Tournament kicking off with the Tohoku playoffs in Akita.  The tournament is an opportunity for Japan's amateur robot enthusiasts to show off their skills, as their homemade robots do battle within the confines of a 124 cm diameter ring. With this in mind, we thought we'd take the opportunity to take a look at what kind of robots are being constructed by hobbyists these days.

Robot building is a popular activity in Japan, especially among university students studying science-related subjects, and there are a wide range of kits available for the hobbyist. The mecca for these budding robot scientists is Tsukumo Robot Kingdom in Akihabara, which stocks a wide range of robots construction kits from the ridiculously simple to the brain fryingly complex. A visit to the store is pretty exciting as you can usually get to check robots out in action on a little stage set up for them to roam free upon.