Bots at Work

April 29, 2024 4:27 PM

I'm looking for examples of exceptionally precise and delicate work done by robots/automation. What have you got?
posted by NotMyselfRightNow to Technology (17 answers total)

Pick and place machines?

That's a general category . Googling will show endless examples.
posted by AbelMelveny at 4:31 PM on April 29

Oh god, how small do you want? The machines that lay out the inside of a CPU draw thousands of traces (small conducting lines) 0.004 inches wide.
posted by Tell Me No Lies at 4:42 PM on April 29 [1 favorite]

Scanning tunneling microscopy.
posted by heatherlogan at 4:44 PM on April 29

A few years ago the New Yorker magazine had an article about the technical challenges of developing agricultural robots with enough dexterity to pick strawberries without mangling them.
posted by forkisbetter at 4:47 PM on April 29

Response by poster: (For anyone interested, the article is The Age of Robot Farmers)
posted by NotMyselfRightNow at 5:00 PM on April 29

Are you only asking about physical work? Automation is used in data processing all the time.
posted by soelo at 6:08 PM on April 29

Does Robotic Surgery on humans fit the bill?
posted by forthright at 6:32 PM on April 29 [1 favorite]

Laser paper cutting
posted by St. Sorryass at 7:51 PM on April 29

For your enjoyment, here's a robot 3D printing pancakes.
posted by Cheese Monster at 8:28 PM on April 29

IV compounding robots! Here's another that makes chemo.
posted by smangosbubbles at 10:00 PM on April 29

So in the meat processing industry there are now butcher robots, I saw an early version in about 2012 which was a creepy experience as it would scan a piece of meat, pause (apparently thinking) and then start cutting. Now a butcher is a highly skilled profession here in NZ, and I seriously doubt these things do the finest cuts .. but every year they get better.

Seeing images will give you an idea. CW; animal parts.
Set search for images.

site:.nz butcher robot "meat processing"
posted by unearthed at 1:40 AM on April 30

Response by poster: Are you only asking about physical work? Automation is used in data processing all the time.

Only looking for physical work - thanks!
posted by NotMyselfRightNow at 3:36 AM on April 30

Just looking up CNC (computer controlled lathe) on YouTube yields loads of interesting videos of precision manufacturing. I was reminded of the original Macbook unibody manufacturing marketing video.
posted by snarfois at 4:02 AM on April 30

I think this fits your question. I was just happened to be looking at Ryan Krusac Studios fountain pens. A linked page in his bio says he uses CNC to engrave his designs on scrimshaw (moose antlers).

Link
posted by TWinbrook8 at 5:18 AM on April 30

Surgeon uses robot to fold an origami crane.
posted by A Blue Moon at 5:32 AM on April 30

The latest wave in cell biology is the development of "anthrobots"; that is, taking the self assembling nature of cell proteins to perform medical procedures. Here is a Mindscape podcast by Sean Carroll with a cell biologist discussing this work. His two minute introduction describes the content of the talk, so you can determine if this is what you're looking for: anthrobots
posted by effluvia at 9:52 AM on April 30

A modern microchip has features on the order of 50 nanometers in width, or around 1/2000th the width of a human hair. Materials are placed in layers a few atoms thin. Creating objects this small requires ultra-precise manufacturing equipment, and a production environment that can screen out as many sources of interference as possible; every rogue speck of dust or tiny fluctuation in electrical voltage. And these conditions must be maintained not in the rarefied conditions of an experimental lab, but in a mass production facility that is producing hundreds of millions of microchips every year. The combination of ultra-precision and high-volume production results in some of the most complex, expensive factories in the world.

posted by Tell Me No Lies at 8:08 PM on May 4