This article was originally published on September 6, 2015 but we think it still rocks!The art of teaching new robots old tricks flourishes in Japan with the Yaskawa Bushido Project, which pits Iaijutsu swordsmanship master and quintuple Guinness World Record holder Isao Machii against a mechanical arm in a contest of technique and endurance. After using motion capture to teach the machine Machii's cutting techniques, the Yaskawa Electric Company captured a series of swordsmanship tests with man and robot side-by-side in the video below to see if a computer program could trump years of training and certified excellence.
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Whether or not a series of controlled tests can really hold a candle to Machii's instincts, improvisation, and creativity is up for debate. What's isn't open to discussion, however, is the awesomeness of watching a robot cut a pea pod in half with a samurai sword.
Images courtesy the artists
To see the entire video of an industrial robot vs sword master here.
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