Recently, Japanese company Yaskawa Electric announced that they had successfully trained one of their robots to mimic the real-life Iaijutsu style cutting actions of acclaimed swordmaster Isao Machii.
The specific robot, known as the MOTOMAN-MH24, is actually more just a robotic arm than a full robot body. However, this only enhances the level of skill to which the MOTOMAN robot has been perfected. In commemoration of their 100th anniversary, Yaskawa Electric released a video called the Yaskawa Bushido Project, which pitted the cutting skills of Machii against the MOTOMAN, and the results are nothing short of amazing.
Both man and machine cycle through a series of side-by-side demonstrations, and whether it’s cutting through tatami mat posts or delicately slicing a bean pod in two, the MOTOMAN matches Machii move for move. The sheer power behind this mechanical slicing arm alone is enough to scare anyone, but the surprisingly nuanced control it displays is both awe inspiring and eerily chilling.
Like a little row of heads..
The MOTOMAN may be just a stationary arm for now, but give it a few more years, and who knows? The level of humanistic complexity that machines such as Yaskawa Electric’s robots are approaching is enough to give anyone fearing a robot apocalypse nightmares.
Written by Cody Uyeda