At the very beginning of Survival Research Laboratories in 1978, the group's founder Mark Pauline predicted that people would eventually start building their own technology in order to seize control of the very violence that characterizes the age we live in. Survival Research Laboratories was conceived and founded by Mark Pauline in November 1978. Since its inception, SRL has operated as an organization of creative technicians dedicated to re-directing the techniques, tools, and tenets of industry, science, and the military away from their typical manifestations. Since 1979, SRL has staged over 50 mechanized presentations in the United States, Europe and Japan, each performance consisting of a unique set of ritualized interactions between robots and other machines. Humans are present only as operators and audience members.

Once called anti-escapist entertainment, Survival Research performances have always been much more than the robotainment presented now-a-days on cable TV. SRL shows employ themes of socio-political satire. they also give the human audience something few others can, a very real sense of danger. With all the smoke and fire and noise, SRL shows always seem genuinely life-threatening. SRL shows provide both a catharsis and a philosophic lesson in man's mortality and his relationship with machines.