Sword-wielding robot samurai are coming, and this video proves it

Just because the robot apocalypse is coming, that doesn't mean our new masters will use lasers to oppress us. Some might use samurai swords.

That's the conclusion you'll have to come to once you get a look at a recent demonstration set up by Japanese robotics company Yaskawa Electric Corporation. In a video titled "Yaskawa Bushido Project," the company tracked the sword strokes of master swordsman Isao Machii and then transferred those killing blows to its Motoman-MH24 robot.

The robot not only duplicates Machii's strokes with devastating accuracy, but toward the end of the sword-off between man and robot, the human expert is exhausted and drenched in sweat, while Motoman is looking for more organic matter to slice up Read more...