If Futurama has taught me anything, it’s that one day factory robots will wander the streets drinking, swearing, and occasionally bending pieces of metal for a living. But that’s still a long ways off, as this video of a comparatively primitive pipe-bending bot illustrates.
That’s not to say that Opton’s T-WIN20 KDM, which is arguably the first of a long line of bending robots, isn’t impressive. Unlike its forefathers, the T-WIN20 is able to feed in its own pipe, bend it into any kind of twisted shape that’s required, and then automatically unload it without any human intervention. Without a shadow of a doubt you’re looking at the humble beginnings of the sass-talking robots TV sitcoms have promised us. But if you can’t wait and want your own loveable robot sidekick now, it can be yours for a mere $US194,000. [DigInfo TV]