Motoman MH-24 is an industrial robot made by Yaskawa. They programmed it with the moves of Iaijyutsu master Isao Machii. Then they compared the two in performance. It appears that Machii is faster, but the robot is just as accurate. Still, the more terrifying of the two is the robot, because with the sword master, you can always yell “Uncle!” or something and get him to stop. A robot can be programmed as a unstoppable killing machine.
Oh, did you think they were going to fight each other? This is not a snuff film, but rather a corporate video to show off the programmable robot’s features. They did that well, with lovely videography, especially in the slow-motion sequences. They’ve also given us an idea for a rather scary science fiction action movie. If you think this will leave you with nightmares, go see the videos from the DARPA Robotics Challenge; that should make you feel better. -via Metafilter