It’s fun to pit various opponents against each other in our imagination. Batman vs Optimus Prime, Thomas the Train vs Shia LaBeouf, and so on. I assure you, there’s absolutely nothing strange about an adult carrying out this sort of… thought experiment. Nothing strange at all!
In this day and age, it seems there’s also nothing strange about a massive industrial robot competing against a modern day samurai master. No, they’re not killing (scrapping?) each other, but industrial robot MOTOMAN-MH24 and sword master Machii Isao – five time Guinness World Records holder – do face off in a battle of swordsmanship ability.
MOTOMAN-MH24 is used in industrial applications and “medical treatment”, which sounds pretty sinister to me. Sword master Machii Isao, on the other hand, holds a bunch of world records including “fastest 1,000 iaido sword cuts (36 min 4 sec)” and “most iado sword cuts to one mat (8)”. Mysterious!
Pretty cool, right? The robot is pretty impressive given that it couldn’t even cut through bamboo or straw when it first started. It just kept breaking sorts like a jerk. Seriously, what kind of robot can’t cut through a piece of straw with a Katana? Jeez.
Anyway… here are some of the video highlights for your viewing pleasure.
Alright, let me finish this off with the typical disclaimer. Please don’t fight a robot with a Katana. In fact, maybe just don’t even keep or have access to a Katana or any kind of sword. People will think you’re a tremendous weirdo, and they’ll probably be right.
