Comments on: Video – ABB Pancake Stacking Robot

By: meetsy

meetsy — Fri, 02 Oct 2009 15:57:51 +0000

wait…what sort of f*cked up world are we living in that it is necessary for a factory to make pancakes, for a machine to stack them, and for ungloved workers to stand there watching a machine.
This makes even less sense than the reality that all our steel mills have gone overseas (to China), that the only thing “made in america” is junk food and cheap swill, and the only jobs to be had are either a.) government, b.) fast food, or c.) paper pushers
I have one thing to say: don’t eat fast food, don’t by the packaged frozen pancakes, and stop being a stupid consumer.

By: Rich

Rich — Fri, 02 Oct 2009 03:20:05 +0000

[Ed. - Comment deleted for violation of posting guidelines]

By: wirelessg

wirelessg — Thu, 01 Oct 2009 19:54:50 +0000

Has the midnight shift hacked into the robot and programmed it to arrange the pancakes into words such as:

DONUTS RULE!

HELLO CARL THIS IS GOD

WILL YOU MARRY ME?

This technology was actually bought from Hewlett-Packard after they discovered that there was no market for a .08 dpi dot matrix printer.

By: bobbo, most of what we know is lies

bobbo, most of what we know is lies — Thu, 01 Oct 2009 17:12:46 +0000

Pedro–yes I did. Or even “milk.” I had some buttermilk left over from making cheese and tried it in the pancakes. I could not taste it at all so I see no reason to pay extra for it. I’ll use it when I have it to get rid of it, but thats about it.

Once you have any “recipe” at all, its fun to play with the other variables, and it really does get mind blowing: how hot the gridle is before you pour the batter, the temperature profile during the cooking of the pancake, how much moisture is in the batter, olive oil vs butter vs lard. When I can “taste” the difference in the above variables, and not taste the difference between milk and buttermilk, I think that is “telling.” Many recipes put an “emphasis” on using buttermilk. I don’t think it is warranted, and how buttermilk supposedly activates baking powder/vs Soda doesn’t make a difference from what I can tell.

Further funny—I can “get into food” in this detail, or just eat any crap to get filled up. All depends on my mindset going into the meal. Kinda like this blog?

By: pedro

pedro — Thu, 01 Oct 2009 16:51:35 +0000

#19 You left out the buttermilk.

By: Radiotube

Radiotube — Thu, 01 Oct 2009 16:37:53 +0000

Why would a robot stake (see title of article) the pancakes anyway? Are they blood sucking pancakes? [Fixed. - ed.]

By: bobbo, most of what we know is lies

bobbo, most of what we know is lies — Thu, 01 Oct 2009 16:22:00 +0000

#13–RTaylor==that reminds me of that plant that blew up in Bhopal India a few years back? I think part of the problem is that it was designed with technology that was 50 years old in order to employ more people==so fewer automatic valves and what not, leading to the explosion. The plans for such plants can’t be found anymore which has lead to India joining the first world as a force in manufacturing.

Yep==its all social planning brought to you by our good elected folks operating on the net of their conflicts of interest.

By: bobbo, baking is science more than art

bobbo, baking is science more than art — Thu, 01 Oct 2009 16:12:27 +0000

WHOa!==make that 1.5 teaspoons of baking powder. I musta been thinking scones when I typed that.

Great Chefs must be an untapped source of wisdom. They know/learn/deal with the results of many variables constantly interacting with one another==all regardless of what the Chef’s own dreams and motivations may be. Hard to come to grips with that reality all day long over the hot stove and then come home to think about social issues in any other way????? Unless you gotta go down to the basement and visit your locked up daughter that is.

Ok, maybe Chef’s are just like the rest of us.

By: bobbo, are we of science or devo

bobbo, are we of science or devo — Thu, 01 Oct 2009 16:00:08 +0000

I posted once before its been years since I had a pancake, then about 2 months ago I thought: Lets have a pancake for breakfast. It was fantastic. The recipe should vary according to taste, but here is my current brew:

1/2 Cup Buckwheat
1/4 Cup Whole Wheat
1/4 Cup Oat Flour
3 Tbs Corn Meal
5 Tbs Powdered Milk
1.5 Tbs Wheat Germ
1 Tbs Sugar
1.5 Tbs Baking Powder
1/8 Ts Salt

The above is all mixed up in a 5 pound can. In the morning, I scoop out 3/4 cup of the mix, and add one whipped up egg with 1/2 cup water–nice and foamy for the air bubbles. Then I adjust by adding more water if needed for the right consistency of batter. A thicker batter actually makes the final pancake taste slightly different.

I use my crepe pan and heat it with a teaspoon of olive oil. Wait until it just starts to smoke, then pour the batter on.

I also make my own home made syrup, but that will have to wait for a thread on honey, berries, or high fructose corn syrup.

Anyway, “the market” serves all needs. Those too stupid to make their own pancakes do need a factory to make it for them.

And yes==”the market” decides how many people work, what they do, and what per centage are redundant. We could have a shortage of workers right now, 100% employment by simply outlawing electonic switching devices. Call it “public safety against the danger of radiation” and all of us could work overtime manually doing the work of a 25 cent circuit.

I’m still waiting for the rupture.

By: NobodySpecial

NobodySpecial — Thu, 01 Oct 2009 15:32:23 +0000

Especially when they could have one in lego instead
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YoXCn4Gh_HA

The flexpicker is a clever design of robot for handling food type where the shape/size/position varies.

By: Animby

Animby — Thu, 01 Oct 2009 15:26:29 +0000

# 12 1010902 said, “Latex is a tree sap that is not meant to come in contact with the skin. It can have nasty direct effects and cause skin cancer.”

OMG!!! Is my dick gonna rot off?
I’m going to my “massage therapist” tonight and have her check for spots…

By: Animby

Animby — Thu, 01 Oct 2009 15:00:05 +0000

Phydeau:

“Today, the fifty fourth president of the United States, officially announced his plan to provide uninsured Americans with personal robots. Members of the Alfie1 sect have rioted on the north lawn after they discovered, among the details of the “public” option, a provision for “access” panels they conclude will allow the robots to become pleasure machines.” – - -

By: Fritze

Fritze — Thu, 01 Oct 2009 14:46:49 +0000

I worked as a cnc operator for 7 years, I am guessing that machine probably cost about $250,000.00 to $500,000.00 easy.

So its going to take along time to pay for itself, and by the time it does it will be obsolete in comparison to the by then newer gen of “pancake stacker” robots.

Why in the heck a pancake stacking operation needed automation is beyond me, but hey I,ll bet the machines rep made a great sale that day.

I used to run $500,000.00 machines the size of a large school bus that made parts the size of a banana, lol.

By: Phydeau

Phydeau — Thu, 01 Oct 2009 14:34:55 +0000

#7 Animby, I have the same question. The average IQ in America is 100. Robots are replacing the 100 IQ people who used to do menial work. Where will these replaced people find jobs? They’re not smart enough to do anything that takes more brainpower. As we build more and more robots to do menial labor, these people will become… obsolete. And as robots get smarter, smarter people will become obsolete.

The old science fiction novels used to portray a utopia where no one had to work, everyone had robots looking after them. The reality is that the benefit of the robots goes only to those who own them, leaving an increasingly large percentage of the population out in the cold with no work.

By: pedro

pedro — Thu, 01 Oct 2009 14:32:16 +0000

Truth be told, the robots is cleaner than the employees, isn’t it?