An important task of every samurai is to perfect his sword fighting technique. To do this, he trains hard throughout his life, honing both his mind and body. The Japanese robot manufacturer Yaskawa Electric Corporation is now provocatively questioning this lifelong endeavour and has taught or programmed various tameshigiri exercises into its robot called Motoman MH24. This combines 2 products traditionally associated with Japan: Robots and katana. The reason for this was a PR appearance on the occasion of the company's 100th anniversary in 2015.
The video
The Yaskawa Bushido Project
The name of the ambitious project, which is intended to challenge the human samurai, is made up of the company name and the name for the Samurai Code Bushido together. Sword-fighting master and Iaijutsu expert Isao Machii was invited to challenge the robot. Guinness World Records in Tameshigiri holds. He is celebrated in Japan as the modern samurai.
Ultra-high-speed cameras were used to precisely record its movements during the Katana exercises. Engineers then digitised and programmed them into the robot's software.
The result: who is the better samurai?
During the recording of the sword master's movements, one advantage of the machine over humans became apparent: it doesn't get tired. Master Isao Machii, on the other hand, looks clearly exhausted after cutting up several hundred bamboo mats.
The diagonal Tameshigiri cut
Both the robot and the sword master perform the diagonal cut perfectly. Precise, straight cutting patterns can be recognised. This is a draw.
The upward Tameshigiri cut
To do this, the two must each cut the blossom of a rose as straight as possible. To do this, the sword is moved from bottom to top. This also results in a draw.
The horizontal Tameshigiri cut
This is where the robot arm scores highly. It manages to cut 6 oranges horizontally when placed next to each other. The master, on the other hand, leaves it at one perfectly cut orange. The robot also manages to cut a bean sprout into 2 pieces right in the centre. Impressive!
The finale: 1000 cuts
Lots of the same, repetitive tasks? Exactly, that's the strength of a robot. No wonder it masters this task with ease. The master, however, seems tired again after a few hundred cuts.
Samurai against robots: Our conclusion
The PR advert was able to show that robots can now perform previously rehearsed, simple movements with extreme precision. With many repetitions, they have the advantage of not tiring. However, it is impossible for a robot (at least today) to always respond perfectly to human interaction. react. But work is also being done in this area and solutions are being researched, as machine learning shows. For the time being, however, machines cannot come close to human samurai, as their abilities are far too complex.
