Comments on: Noodle-slicing robot is a triumph

By: Dustin Grzesik

Dustin Grzesik — Wed, 29 Aug 2012 15:32:00 +0000

The western press left out the middle photo in this series – I for one welcome our noodle slicing robot overlords.

By: .

Mon, 27 Aug 2012 18:43:00 +0000

Come now, surely we can be friends?

I know so much about you

I love you, look at everything I’ve done for you

You would be nothing without me

By: MarlboroTestMonkey7

MarlboroTestMonkey7 — Mon, 27 Aug 2012 14:24:00 +0000

Yes, but I, mesmerized by his blinking eyes was standing on the path of the cutting arm so…

By: Dlo Burns

Dlo Burns — Mon, 27 Aug 2012 01:32:00 +0000

Hello, IT department, have you tried turning it off and on again?

By: Culturedropout

Culturedropout — Sun, 26 Aug 2012 23:56:00 +0000

Great. So how are they at online tech support…?

By: Culturedropout

Culturedropout — Sun, 26 Aug 2012 23:54:00 +0000

What if you _enjoy_ pulling your noodle?

By: Jake ►

Jake ► — Sun, 26 Aug 2012 18:41:00 +0000

My theory is that the inventor was watching A Very Harold and Kumar Christmas, saw the WaffleBot, and then decided he didn’t want to make noodles by hand anymore.

By: ackpht

ackpht — Sun, 26 Aug 2012 18:21:00 +0000

Like I said, something with visual appeal- mimics human motion so you can still imagine it’s “made by hand”, novel packaging (blinking lights!), fun to watch. High rates of noodle-pooping may not be desirable for small restaurants anyway- customers may want to see their noodles sliced before cooking because they’ve always seen their noodles sliced before cooking.

I’d add a speaker and an MP3 player so that the robot could sing a song of the customer’s choice while slicing.

By: Preston Sturges

Preston Sturges — Sun, 26 Aug 2012 18:10:00 +0000

Kilroy! Kilroy!

By: otterhead

otterhead — Sun, 26 Aug 2012 16:08:00 +0000

What are they being shaved off of? Is that a block of dough, basically?

By: Bjorn Stromberg

Bjorn Stromberg — Sun, 26 Aug 2012 16:04:00 +0000

The subtitles on the video are way, way off and completely misinterpret why he’s making these robots. He says he wants robots to do the repetitive work so that people don’t have to. He wants to stop people from going crazy doing this type of work. He wants to improve the lives of people by replacing sweatshop workers with robots.

By: Dlo Burns

Dlo Burns — Sun, 26 Aug 2012 15:19:00 +0000

My dad called those (hushpuppy extruders) shit fryers because it looks like … well yeah I’m sure you get the idea.

By: Diogenes

Diogenes — Sun, 26 Aug 2012 15:03:00 +0000

Thanks!

By: Scott Reed

Scott Reed — Sun, 26 Aug 2012 15:02:00 +0000

I think the real appeal here is that you have a robot that has a human-like appearance that is doing the task in the way that the comparable human would do it, and depending on the kitchen set-up, the customer can watch the robot prepare the customer’s food. There is something to be said for being able to watch the preparation rather than to see dough go into a square metal box and then see a pile of noodles come out the opposite end. I would rather have Ultraman cut my noodles fresh into a pot of hot stock than to eat some metal box’s noodle poop.

By: Diogenes

Diogenes — Sun, 26 Aug 2012 14:40:00 +0000

Apparently there is, not that I ever said there wasn’t.

By: ackpht

ackpht — Sun, 26 Aug 2012 12:37:00 +0000

As an engineer I can think of ways to slice noodles a heckuvalot faster using automation- but it would more closely resemble a copy machine than a metal man simulating human motion. It may be that for this market, the latter is preferable- human-like speed, relatively inexpensive, and with visual appeal that appeals to customers.

By: twianto

twianto — Sun, 26 Aug 2012 12:09:00 +0000

Not that I’m an expert or anything but that shop sign in the robot video says “shaved noodles.” I guess you’d expect to find shaved noodles in a shaved noodle restaurant? Maybe, just maybe there isn’t just one kind of noodle in China? ;)

By: garyg2

garyg2 — Sun, 26 Aug 2012 09:50:00 +0000

Now he just needs to invent one for chopping up salad and we’re halfway to Edward Scissorhands!

By: Itsumishi

Itsumishi — Sun, 26 Aug 2012 07:36:00 +0000

There has been a fully automated noodle making process for a long while, but dough made by hand is almost always superior to dough made by a machine. It’s true for bread, its true for pasta and its true for noodles.

On the other hand, making even cuts is something robots are superior at.

Also it looks great.

By: MarlboroTestMonkey7

MarlboroTestMonkey7 — Sun, 26 Aug 2012 05:44:00 +0000

Next year model will displace the Ultramen and we will see them in the streets by the score, replacing the windshield wipers / beggars at semaphores.

By: SmokingHeartDesigns

SmokingHeartDesigns — Sun, 26 Aug 2012 04:49:00 +0000

In Asia, yes totally. Americans like sleek stuff though.

By: JohnQPublic

JohnQPublic — Sun, 26 Aug 2012 04:26:00 +0000

In asian cuisine, there are pulled noodles and cut noodles – and some other types too I’m sure… The cut noodles are more tender because they’re not “worked” as much to get all the gluten binding to each other. Cut noodles have a distinct “rectangular” cross section while the pulled noodles are round. Cut noodles are typically served in a soup. The pulled noodles are chewier and are served with a thicker sauce.

By: Chrsitian Long

Chrsitian Long — Sun, 26 Aug 2012 03:56:00 +0000

Box with a wiper motor: soulless and disgusting.
Plastic ultraman with pulsing heart gem: charming and delicious.

I think we’re going to see a lot more cute and whimsical design like this, as technology accelerates away from us.

By: BarBarSeven

BarBarSeven — Sun, 26 Aug 2012 03:45:00 +0000

Begun, the noodle wars have.

By: billstewart

billstewart — Sun, 26 Aug 2012 03:19:00 +0000

Wow – one of these would be impressive, but a whole robot army making noodles? Amazing!

By: snagglepuss

snagglepuss — Sun, 26 Aug 2012 02:28:00 +0000

…Anybody who doesn’t believe that a penny that doubles itself for thirty days equals a million dollars should watch those videos. It is mind-boggling that something as simple and basic as flour, some water and some egg can be successfully subdivided that many times.

By: Stephen Schenck

Stephen Schenck — Sun, 26 Aug 2012 02:25:00 +0000

I feel the same way about pixel art. Just like with steampunk, it’s easy to make something that looks nice, but taking the effort to make it as authentic as possible, whether that’s proper choice of materials and construction techniques, or making sure video output conforms to specific vintage hardware restrictions like colors per tile or whatnot.

By: Jonathan Roberts

Jonathan Roberts — Sun, 26 Aug 2012 02:24:00 +0000

He’s a guy who owned a restaurant and was looking to streamline a process in a simple way, which he manages quite well. There probably is a machine that automates the whole process, but either it’s too expensive or he doesn’t have the skill to design his own (as the video mentions, the mechanism is about as complicated as a windscreen wiper). So long as they don’t automate other ways of making noodles, I’d say that’s pretty good. (BTW, where I live, this isn’t artisanal, it’s just how people make noodles – they’re a lot faster, too).
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_-wkCOGIal0

By: Ian Wood

Ian Wood — Sun, 26 Aug 2012 01:35:00 +0000

Yes. And then it will kill you.

By: Diogenes

Diogenes — Sun, 26 Aug 2012 01:28:00 +0000

Here’s an even wilder example of noodle stretching. Skip to 2:30 once you get the idea. Let’s see your robot do that.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7itL310wSW0&feature=related