Development of a Swordsmanship Training Robot That Evades Human Attacks by Actively Moving Its Target Areas

In this study, the author proposes a swordsmanship training robot that evades attacks from human opponents by actively moving its target areas (or designated striking targets) on its body. Similar to a human practitioner wearing protective armor in Kendo, the robot is equipped with three target areas corresponding to the head, throat, and torso. They are independently actuated by three AC servo motors mounted in the central or lower parts of the body, which also house the control hardware responsible for motion control. Each target area is driven by a toothed pulley and timing belt mechanism. This transmission system enables precise position control while enhancing operational safety by absorbing excessive loads when large external forces are applied to the robot or when accidental collisions with human users occur. A high-speed camera is installed beneath the robot’s eye. Using visual information captured by the camera, the robot can estimate the likely attack type that an opponent is about to initiate and execute an appropriate defensive maneuver. In addition, a set of push-button switches corresponding to different defensive actions is provided. By observing the opponent’s movement, a human operator can manually trigger the most suitable defensive maneuver through these switches.