Science & Tech

Watch a Robot Play That Ridiculously Dangerous Knife Game with a Trusting Human’s Hand

by Matthew Hart
Apr 25 2017 • 5:01 AM

There’s a pretty good chance that as soon as you glimpsed the Stäubli TX40 ( a six-axis industrial machine) armed with a knife, you thought of that scene from Aliens with Bishop the robot playing some wickedly fast five finger fillet with Private Hudson’s hand. But can this modified Stäubli stabber play the knife game as well as Bishop? Watch to find out, and try not to imagine your hand being the one underneath the dancing robo-blade. (Just kidding, of course you will!)

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The video of the robotic five finger filet (a game that also goes by the names of pinfinger, nerve, stabscotch, and–yes–bishop) comes via Sploid, and mostly seems like a way for the TX40’s maker to demonstrate the accuracy and reliability of the machine. It also apparently serves as a great opportunity for a fellow to demonstrate that he’s really worthy of his arm tattoos! Although he clearly doesn’t need to worry, because the Stäubli’s just like Roberto from Futurama, in that it looks like it’s practiced its stabbin’.

The stabscotch robot does start out reasonably slow, but at some point, somebody off screen turns up the speed and makes things quite spicy. And when the Stäubli finally whips the knife away, it’s like watching a samurai who’s just lopped somebody in half with his sword, only to have the two pieces of torso slide apart, the top half falling off the bottom. Which is perhaps a bit of hyperbole, especially considering the TX40’s day job as a denture packaging robot.

This machine literally makes dentures when it’s not stabbing.


GIF:  Irfon Automation/YouTube

What do you think about this denture sorting machine super fierce-looking stabby machine? Is this robot the king of stabbin’ or does that title still belong to Roberto? Stab out some thoughts in the comments below!

Images: Irfon Automation/YouTube