--- description: This robot can cut through anything title: Watch This Robot Perfectly Mimic a Master Japanese Swordsman image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt2cab8d8dfd307ebd/698853450b72e3325d6e455b/yaskawa.jpg?branch=production&width=1920&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  * [Newsfeed](/tag/time-section-newsfeed/) ## Newsfeed Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close # Watch This Robot Perfectly Mimic a Master Japanese Swordsman by [Josh Sanburn](/author/josh-sanburn/) ## Josh Sanburn Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close Jun 6, 2015 5:44 PM CUT  Yaskawa by [Josh Sanburn](/author/josh-sanburn/) ## Josh Sanburn Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close Jun 6, 2015 5:44 PM CUT Robots these days can [play the violin](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EzjkBwZtxp4 "undefined"), send us [Amazon packages](http://time.com/3605924/amazon-robots/ "undefined"), even [adapt](http://theweek.com/articles/558636/robots-are-adapting "undefined") if they get hurt. Now, one of them can slice us all to bits. Yaskawa Electric Corporation recently tracked the movements of Isao Machii, a renowned Japanese swordsman, and taught a robot called Motoman-MH24 how to mimic his use of a katana (also known as a scary Japanese sword). In a [video](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=O3XyDLbaUmU "undefined") released by the robotics company, the sword-wielding robot can be seen slicing through flowers and fruit with ease and precision. He even battles Machii, who holds several world records and has sliced through a [fried shrimp](http://kotaku.com/modern-samurai-slices-an-80mph-fried-shrimp-1704397993 "undefined") hurtling towards him at 80 m.p.h., in a 1,000-cut challenge. Hopefully, Yaskawa’s next project is a robot that’s really good at dulling swords so it can protect all of humanity. ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/3911676/yaskawa-robot-sword-isao-machii/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/3911676/yaskawa-robot-sword-isao-machii/"},"headline":"Watch This Robot Perfectly Mimic a Master Japanese Swordsman","datePublished":"2015-06-06T17:44:42.000Z","dateModified":"2026-04-13T07:20:49.347Z","description":"This robot can cut through anything","url":"https://time.com/3911676/yaskawa-robot-sword-isao-machii/","keywords":["Newsfeed","Tech","robotics","robots"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt2cab8d8dfd307ebd/698853450b72e3325d6e455b/yaskawa.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Josh Sanburn","jobTitle":null,"url":"https://time.com/author/josh-sanburn/"}],"articleSection":"","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt2cab8d8dfd307ebd/698853450b72e3325d6e455b/yaskawa.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675,"headline":"yaskawa sword robot","caption":"yaskawa sword robot","creditText":"Yaskawa","representativeOfPage":true}],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/tag/time-section-newsfeed/","name":"Newsfeed"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/3911676/yaskawa-robot-sword-isao-machii/","name":"Watch This Robot Perfectly Mimic a Master Japanese Swordsman"}}]}] ```