"Swing 25-meter Race" A giant unmanned swing races at full speed?

The NHK program "Magical Modification Night," in which Japan's top engineers compete using extreme ideas and techniques, will broadcast a new episode, "Swing 25m Sprint," on NHK General TV from 7:30 p.m. on September 25th.

The theme this time was "Giant Swing." An unattended, nearly two-meter-tall swing begins to move by swinging the seat back and forth, then starts running, competing for time over a distance of 25 meters. Will we be able to see a scene straight out of a horror movie, with an unmanned giant swing speeding along the dimly lit course of a party?

The participating teams are Kyoto-based electronic parts giant R-Room, printer and electrical equipment giant EPSON, and global automobile manufacturer S-Subaru.

Each team first considered how to make the swing move. They attached a tire to the bottom and had a person push the swing. It initially moved forward, but then quickly fell back. Converting the back-and-forth swing into a force that only moved forward was an extremely difficult task. Furthermore, the swing weighed 30 kg, so a considerable amount of power was required.

How to create the mechanism that swings the seat is also a key issue. Should it be powered by a large motor? Or should it just have an engine? To make it faster, the whole machine needs to be lighter, but this just makes it heavier and heavier. The seat swings wildly, making a loud noise that sounds unlike a swing, and just when you think it's about to start moving, the gears, chains and motors can break, causing the whole machine to wreck. When a strong force is generated, the load is too great for the machine to withstand. Is it really impossible to make a swing move? Engineers are struggling with an extremely difficult problem with no clear answer.

After a month and a half of hard work, each team creates a monster machine. Some weigh nearly 200 kg, some swing their seats in precise rhythm, and some run dynamically like a wild horse. Will the unmanned giant swing take off like a spectacular blast?