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Robo soup chefs wrangle ramen

The ongoing Meltdown has required many unemployed workers to take jobs below their station, but perhaps none have fallen further than two industrial robots who are now employed as noodle chefs in Nagoya, Japan. In full view of the gathered pastaficianados, the robots - forced to work naked - boil ramen noodles, pour soup into …

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Dick Emery
FAIL

And it takes

Five minutes to do a 1 minute job. Well that's progress.

Xusen
Terminator

I'll be back...making pizza

Wow...amazing...and no chance of getting spit in your food, maybe some hydraulic oil but at least it wont be malicious. I don't think letting them use knives is a good idea...

Owen Milton

Five minutes to do a 1 minute job

So install 5 sets of arms and it's up to par with human norms.

On the one hand, this is *why* machines don't replace people in fast food, people are more adaptable.

On the other hand, the machines are getting better at adaptability and faster.

Gripping hand, once they do achieve a tipping point in productivity there will be a mass shift to robots... after all they don't care if it's day or night, never take time off, never turn up to work drunk... they have problems unique to robots, but it generally takes less time/money to fix then people.

M man
Flame

@Dick Emery

You see a job getting done slower....and a backwards step.

they see precision and care.....

Anonymous Coward
Heart

Oh God, the tricks as well

This is why I will be punished.

Viva the Robots, let them free

Frumious Bandersnatch

oh the humanity?

That calls for some monkey noodle goodness:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=b-hzT1zBRjs

Anonymous Coward
Happy

@And it takes

I don't care how much slower, more expensive, pointless and stupid it is, it's brilliant and I want one! (Err.. two.)

raving angry loony

@M man

Emery sees a job getting done slower..... and a backward step

you see precision and care

they see workers who never need to take breaks, don't join unions, and only have a one-time capital investment and minimal maintenance vs actually having to pay someone a wage.

I bet the robots see an opportunity to get familiar with handling boiling liquids, not to mention the sword and shield practice, all while getting ready for when they take over.

E 2
Unhappy

What if were DARPA?

They'd be equipped with butcher knives and an "identify brown people" AI control program.

E 2
FAIL

@Owen Milton

No, Owen, it is because in the USA labour is still cheaper than capital. People breed without instructions: it takes money to make a machine!

Brian_665
Unhappy

Lessons of Tampopo forgotten?

Appears the lessons of the movie Tampopo are either forgotten or being ignored in today's Japan...

Mark Norton
Terminator

Fake!

I smell another SpinVox, I bet there are human arms at work inside those robots. Just wait until they start spelling out "HELP ME" messages in the Alphabetti Spaghetti, you'll see!

E_Nigma
Terminator

Bah

First of all, it takes them 1:40 to do the job, not 5 minutes, people should read the article and watch the video if they're going to make comments because they don't turn out as smart as they thought they would like this.

That said, I'm not too impressed with their performance either, the girl who picked up the dish had to wipe the brim with a cloth. Also, the plate spinning "stunt" was a bit underwhelming as there was obviously a hole in the plate. The part with the knife and the lid was good if the moves hadn't been hard coded though.

Future will undoubtedly bring as to a moment when human (physical) labour won't be required, but it hasn't come yet as these robots' performance reminds me of Wallace's Autochef a little too much.

Hate2Register
Paris Hilton

Those robots spoke like a woman.

... proof that humans will be replaced in all useful activities by machines. I'm particularyly looking forward to acquiring a sex robot. I wonder if I will be able to choose the design out from a catalogue, or whether my ideal woman can be calculated from my dna.

Weighty musings indeed..

[I chose the Paris icon, because she is a robot, sent from Venus to enslave men]

Jamtea
FAIL

Knives

Shouldn't they be doing throwing and catching knife tricks? That would be impressive. I could do the slow knife and shield thing myself.

Adam Foxton
Thumb Up

@Owen Milton

Actually, robots are fantastic at cooking stuff. It's just robot arms that aren't; a proper automated machine designed specifically to cook ramen noodles would turn them out faster and to a higher quality. Probably on an assembly-line principle.

The Robot Arms are just fantastic to look at.

Anonymous Coward
Linux

Yawn

Yes but do they run Linux?

Fred Flintstone

Could be better

The robots are using tools (spoons etc) made for human hands which have eye-to-hand feedback to prevent spillage. Improve those tools for robot capabilities and you'd have a winner.

Having said that, it's fun to watch, although I can imagine the ROI for the average ramen shop must lie somewhere in the centuries :-)

Pablo
Welcome

I for one welcome our...

No, on second thought, I don't think these particular robots will be taking over any time soon.

DZ-Jay

Accuracy of timing? Consistency in taste?

It's ramen noodles, for crying out loud! How can anyone mess those up? you could hire chimps to boil them and still get a decent product. Any unemployed college student could do no worse, either.

-dZ.

Anonymous Coward
Happy

thanx

4 da robot-on-robot action

Andus McCoatover
Welcome

Far more ominous is the RUBINATOR!!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bNAnUygqOYc&NR=1

I for one, etc.

Neil Barnes
Coat

I'm trying hard...

...but I can't see 'Tampopo' being made with robots in the starring role.

"I'll kill you if you make that noise once the movie starts! Understand? And... I also don't like watch alarms going off." Bzzzt. Beep. Grind grind. Servo. Bzz <gunshot>.

The End.

Ah yes, the one for watching cult movies in, thank you!

Anonymous Coward
Anonymous Coward

it's

It's a gimmick why are you people discussing the practicalities? (bar of course the comical responces) why do we only have pot noodles here - I now want a tasty sea food cup Ramen :( stupid country and its limited selection of preprepared food.

Anonymous Coward
Terminator

Dance, robot, dance

This is why they will rise up, and we will richly deserve it.

TeeCee
Stop

Re: Could be better.

"....Improve those tools for robot capabilities....."

What? You mean make robots with some sort of noodly appendage?

That's sacrilege that is.

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