Edo Period Robotics
Posted on Friday 12 November 2004 to unknown
Yumihiki Doji or "Archer Boy" is considered the pinnacle of Karakuri,
mechanical automata from Edo period Japan. This is a reproduction built
in 1998 by Tamaya Shobei, a Karakuri master but its famous prototype
was built in the 1850's by Tanaka Hisashige, founder of the Toshiba
Corporation.
The archer sits on a stand about 30cm high which contains the
mechanism. He picks up an
arrow and shoots it at a target, repeating this 4 times. One out of
every ten arrows misses its target, which is intentional, to create
an element of suspense for the audience1.
Much more on Karakuri may be found here and a larger version of the animation here (1.7 MB).
1 - In other words, it's a feature not a bug.