knife.hand.chop.bot automatically threatens your digits

We can't stress our "don't try this at home" attitude strongly enough towards readers over this piece of robot hackery from the 5Voltcore collective, called the knife.hand.chop.bot. The basic premise is this: the robot plays a game of "Mumblety-Peg," a test of courage wherein a blade is brought down between your fingers at an ever increasing pace. Of course, we've all played a round or two of this game with friends, but it's unlikely that many of us have allowed a bot to play, much less do all the shot-calling. The system manages to avoid slicing fingers due to signals it receives from an onboard sensor which guides the knife, however, it also utilizes contact sensors underneath the user's hand, which can detect moisture (aka "nervous sweat"). The sweat triggers "stressful" sounds via closure of the contacts, and can have an adverse effect on the accuracy of the aiming mechanism, thus increasing your stress, thus causing you to sweat, thus throwing off the aim, thus... well, we're just going to keep our mitts off of the thing. Check the video after the break to see what all the sweating is about.

[Via Make]

[Ally @ Aug 14th 2007 5:46PM]

And next week, Russian Roulette for all the family!

[Travis Pulley @ Aug 14th 2007 5:39PM]

I'm not very impressed. The workmanship on the machine doesn't look very good, the mechanics are simple (boring simple, not elegant simple), and it's slow and noisy.

I'll keep playing this game with my sewing machine tyvm.

[Jeff @ Aug 14th 2007 5:48PM]

That android from the Alien movies is better at this...

[The Pepto Pimp @ Aug 14th 2007 6:11PM]

Zzzzzzzz...agreed.

Wake me up when someone builds something as cool as Bishop.

Zzzzzzzzz

[Nicholas @ Aug 14th 2007 6:35PM]

Perhaps the honorable Lance Henriksen would have some insights on the subject?

[michas_pi @ Aug 14th 2007 6:51PM]

Seriously. Bishop FTW.

[Zondajag @ Aug 14th 2007 6:16PM]

The machines a bit slow...but if i were to make a machine like that i wouldnt make it that fast. It would scare the crap out of me. Imagine making one of those and turning it on, just to find the off switch was out of reach. Being stuck there for days as it got faster and faster, not moving your hand in fear that your fingers might get sliced and diced. I'm glad I'm not crazy/smart enough to construct something like that :P

[Taylor @ Aug 14th 2007 6:59PM]

How would you turn it on if the switch was out of reach?
-Taylor

[Derrick @ Aug 15th 2007 8:22AM]

You could always just take your hand and pull it directly back.

[pep pep @ Aug 14th 2007 6:38PM]

Oh, F**k that.

[glucoseboy @ Aug 14th 2007 6:45PM]

That ain't funny man

[carl @ Aug 14th 2007 7:03PM]

Was someone breathing into the microphone the whole time on purpose, or was I hearing something else?

[Victor Cornelius @ Aug 14th 2007 7:06PM]

I think this game is actually called '5 Finger Fillet'

Mumblety-Peg involves throwing a knife towards your feet.

[Rand @ Aug 14th 2007 7:19PM]

Yeah, its slow. THATS WHAT IT WANTS YOU TO THINK!

[Karan @ Aug 14th 2007 7:21PM]

I don't think I'd trust my own coding well enough, let alone someone else's!

[33scottie33 @ Aug 14th 2007 8:02PM]

I want to see what happens if they run the software on Vista!!! They it would get very interesting!

[Jeebus @ Aug 14th 2007 8:18PM]

I, for one, welcome our finger filleting robot overlords.

[DaOne @ Aug 14th 2007 10:11PM]

Anyone know what programming software were they using? Looked interesting.

[Parker @ Aug 16th 2007 7:13PM]

I'm 99.9% sure it's VVVV: http://vvvv.org/

I use it to make sound-reactive vector animations.

[evoluderxx @ Aug 14th 2007 11:27PM]

man bishop, i thought you never missed

[Nogami @ Aug 15th 2007 3:32AM]

The control mechanics seem a bit inaccurate (overshoots and such?). I would've thought they'd be using incredibly precise steppers, belt drives and such.

There's no reason an automation manufacturer couldn't make an industrial robot that would do this at an astounding and totally panic-inducing speed and force, missing you by millimetres every time.

It seems to use a laser of some sort to sense hand position. You could make it even more foolproof by adding redundant sensors (laser, optical, thermal), and allowing the robot to reposition the knife as the vertical stroke progresses, if the hand moves at all. You could also have the robot adjust the height so that the blade point barely clears the fingers on the upstroke.

(I still wouldn't be putting my hand in it :P)

[OnimushaSoki @ Aug 15th 2007 7:34AM]

This has to be the ultimate party game. WarioWare doesn't even come close, especially if the participants of this knifey game are inebriated. Sign me up for purchase, LoL.

[PJK @ Aug 15th 2007 7:39AM]

Slowness makes it boring, the fact its boring makes it pointless.

[emanuel @ Aug 20th 2007 8:01AM]

just to get rid of the "oh - so slow, so boring" thing: it is slow in the first turn, it's still not really fast in the 2nd turn, but nobody ever stayed until the 5th turn.

[L_Henriksen @ Aug 15th 2007 4:23PM]

You call THAT Mumblety-Peg? I'll show you Mumblety-Peg!