Weird Science - Towel Folding Robot

Judging by the huge response to what I thought was a fairly large and obscure post about a tiny coincidence, the Hitchhiker's Guide and cutting-edge science is obviously a winning combination.

So here is a super special Douglas Adams bonus, a robot folding towels! Okay so that's a bit of a stretch, but it is still quite cool.

Note that this video has been speeded up 50x, in real time it took the robot over an hour and a half to complete this one task. Perhaps it was feeling a little depressed?

Who We Are
Alex Boese Alex is the creator and curator of the Museum of Hoaxes. He's also the author of various weird, non-fiction, science-themed books such as Elephants on Acid and Psychedelic Apes. Paul Di Filippo Paul has been paid to put weird ideas into fictional form for over forty years, in his career as a noted science fiction writer. Contact Us

Comments

"You know what a turtle is?"

Posted by DownCrisis on 04/21/10 at 01:02 PM

i get it guys, i'm an uneducated techo-phobe who doesn't even get the movie quotes :zip: if there are ever any severe problems with the technology i won't be around to see it anyway, its too far off. so there! 😛

Posted by Patty in Ohio, USA on 04/21/10 at 01:14 PM

Actually I was mixing my references. The Turing Police are from Neuromancer, a wonderful book dealing with a lot of the issues we've been talking about here. And Deckard and the quotes are from Blade Runner, a great film from 1982 starring Harrison Ford and Rutger Hauer. If you're a sci fi fan Patty, check these out. They're both really dark in their moods.

Posted by DownCrisis on 04/21/10 at 01:47 PM

You don't need to be a sci fi fan to enjoy Blade Runner, it also has a lot of film noir elements and pretty much anyone who likes good movies would enjoy it.

Posted by Salamander Sam in Chicago on 04/21/10 at 01:49 PM

cool, thanks guys.

Posted by Patty in Ohio, USA on 04/21/10 at 02:16 PM

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