Chef Robot makes its video debut, nightmares forthcoming

Sure, a few still photos of the sushi-making Chef Robot now on display at the International Food Machinery and Technology Exhibition in Tokyo are all well and good, but there's nothing quite like a high def video to really bring all that creepiness home, and one has now surfaced courtesy of the brave folks at DigInfo. In case you missed it, the robot itself is actually just a standard issue FANUC M-430iA robot arm with a way too realistic hand attached to it, which apparently not only helps it prepare sushi, but some tasty desserts as well. Head on past the break for the must-see video, you've nothing to lose but your ability to unsee it.

[Wayne @ Jun 15th 2009 4:57PM]

amazing, just looks like my hand

[Gabriel @ Jun 15th 2009 7:05PM]

I was just about to say, thats one creepy robot hand

[Thijs @ Jun 15th 2009 4:58PM]

It has a scary ring to it when they say it'll be able to replace more humans on workfloors. I'm glad my job probably can't be done by robots, but still, it would suck if a lot of people lost their job because a robot could do the work.

[va jj @ Jun 15th 2009 5:22PM]

i' m sure alot of prostitutes lost their job to blow up dolls.

[abib @ Jun 15th 2009 5:25PM]

well, no job is safer than mine, robotic engineer.

[mirakutea @ Jun 15th 2009 5:26PM]

absolutely inevitable if it's cheaper to employ than a human, I think the more jobs that get replaced, the more downward pressure on human population numbers.

[Amber @ Jun 15th 2009 9:11PM]

I think in terms of technology, in replacing limbs this hand would be amazing, there are already a lot of jumps in technology in that department, this would add an extra bit of realness to someone using a CLAW or something. To be able to do complicated things would be so astonishing for those with lost arms.

[rajsanand @ Jun 16th 2009 11:19AM]

You would not have to worry about that. Atleast here in my city we are facing problem with labour. The labourers who clean your houses, save money, educate their kid and try to make them doctors and engineers. The least they end up in marketing and as tech support or call center executives.
Even the mexicans who work as maids send their kids to a college.
Infact this was the main reason why the rich wanted the poor to remain poor.
Who will wash their asses if the poor got rich?
Well now thanks to robotics atleast the rich will not try to keep the poor, poor.

[G @ Jun 16th 2009 4:48AM]

Steam machines got the same criticism from workers in the early 1800s and look how well it all turned out.

[Forrest @ Jun 16th 2009 11:58AM]

This is a real potential problem for Japan - their birthrate is low and they don't like outsiders, so their population is in decline. Eventually they'll require more automation just to continue an upward trend in productivity.

Either that or they'll have to start letting in more dirty foreigners.

[The Observer @ Jun 15th 2009 4:59PM]

I, For One, Bow and Welcome Our Overlords..

[Brandon @ Jun 15th 2009 5:39PM]

How...original.

[Ishcabible @ Jun 15th 2009 6:42PM]

He did add bow. That's somewhat original...

[The Observer @ Jun 15th 2009 10:42PM]

No wonder you confused, lowly pheasants.. you have not been touched by The Mighty Hand of our Overlords!

[sacapuntas @ Jun 15th 2009 11:26PM]

pheasants?

I cry fowl grammar.

[Andy TGD @ Jun 16th 2009 5:14AM]

@sacapuntas

*Rim Shot*

[dBs @ Jun 15th 2009 5:00PM]

I see sushi moving...no sushi making...

[Nosmo Rex @ Jun 15th 2009 5:06PM]

Not only is it just moving sushi around, it doesn't look like real sushi. It looks like the plastic fascimile stuff you see on display.

[TentosToys @ Jun 15th 2009 5:06PM]

Exactly my thoughts - I was expecting it to wield a knife at least.

[Eleazar @ Jun 15th 2009 8:23PM]

You guys are missing the point... that thing didn't wash its hands before touching the sushi.

[n_shakuras @ Jun 15th 2009 10:10PM]

Sometimes I wonder if Engadget's writers even bother to watch the videos they post.

[Crazy J @ Jun 15th 2009 11:08PM]

So, in the near future, I can replace some of my sushi chefs at my restaurant...

Ginsu style cost cutting...

[Sachin @ Jun 15th 2009 5:03PM]

that looks a bit too realistic to be a fake hand...you can even see faint purple veins on it!

[Makavre @ Jun 15th 2009 5:04PM]

Replace that hand with a more feminine one, paint its nails, and those things will sell like pankakes ....

not to mention that "sushi making" will be the last things on the buyers mind

[papari @ Jun 15th 2009 5:07PM]

Oh the balls crushing malfunctions!

[Carrie @ Jun 15th 2009 5:06PM]

You're right. That hand is WAY too realistic.

[va jj @ Jun 15th 2009 5:08PM]

might of been a hand chopped off by mafias.

[Mike P. @ Jun 15th 2009 5:09PM]

Look at that pinky twist. Definitely gay.

[waiownsyou @ Jun 15th 2009 5:09PM]

I need one of these for my car.

[mere @ Jun 15th 2009 5:32PM]

i need one of these in my shower

[peepeepants @ Jun 15th 2009 5:11PM]

I am so hungry now.

[ByronGman @ Jun 16th 2009 2:57AM]

God damn people with avatar's like yours should really have their posting privileges restricted to day light hours.

[NoobSlayer @ Jun 15th 2009 5:17PM]

engadget apparently in no hurry to use a bit more imagination in a robot related story than the usual "oh muh god robot takeover let's welcome skynet overlordz & nightmarez aren't we funny". let's all slap our knees about the chicken crossing the road.

[mirakutea @ Jun 15th 2009 5:19PM]

Would sir like his food prepared by a robot or a person?

[TCC @ Jun 15th 2009 5:22PM]

"The hand, which has a silicon skin just like a person's" - ummm, lemme check something real quick. Nope. No silicon on my hand.

[jon @ Jun 15th 2009 5:54PM]

Damn, I wish you hadn't said that.

As long as nobody said anything, we were going to let it go.

As one of the few natural humans remaining you were something of a curiosity, but not one we liked to talk about.

Having called attention to yourself, we will of course, have to respond.


Please wait at your location, an unmarked processing vehicle has been dispatched.

We apologize for the discomfort you are about to experience.

[Don Corleone @ Jun 15th 2009 5:38PM]

My family could use a robot like this for following up on legitimate business transactions with difficult customers.

[psp @ Jun 15th 2009 6:04PM]

I dont like how engadget/gizmodo/other gadget blogs say "Robot doom is among us" or other crazy stuff, Even AOTS has its own segment, WTF!!!

You guys are brainwashed from watching I,Robot, Terminator and other movies based on robot apocalypse.

You guys should be saying awsome, because it is a gadget. It has to do with electronics
But you see it as the destruction of earth is going to happen because its this close to being humanized.

[Gad Get @ Jun 15th 2009 7:48PM]

Someone broke their humerus.

[darkmax @ Jun 15th 2009 6:18PM]

hm.... i can see some blind guy proposing to his girlfriend but putting the ring on the mechanical hand......

[Gad Get @ Jun 15th 2009 7:49PM]

Why does the girlfriend have a mechanical hand?

[nicleT @ Jun 15th 2009 6:27PM]

Is the guy at 1:15 real ?

[skuttling @ Jun 15th 2009 6:28PM]

I think they underestimate how cheap and disposable people are compared to robots...

[jon @ Jun 15th 2009 6:34PM]

Yes, but disposing of a person requires paperwork, disposing a robot just requires a wheelbarrow.

[Sara @ Jun 15th 2009 10:27PM]

It depends who you pay to do it...

[nicknackpattywack @ Jun 15th 2009 6:31PM]

Can that hand play crisis?

[mirakutea @ Jun 15th 2009 6:52PM]

Engadget's popularity is increasing amongst infants I see.

[MetalBLACKFOX @ Jun 15th 2009 6:57PM]

stuff like music, cooking and art should be off limits to robots..just cause you can don't mean you should

[st2356 @ Jun 15th 2009 6:57PM]

I think I saw it bleed

[Seoul Brother @ Jun 15th 2009 6:58PM]

Would Mr. Ballmer like a "shocker" for dessert?