Chris Higgins
Video: Salami Sorting Robot
by Chris Higgins - May 4, 2010 - 1:38 PM

Disorganized salami goes in one end, robotic FlexPicker™ hands go to work, and neatly organized rows of perfect salami exit the machine. A control panel shows salami status at all times (strangely reminiscent of the shipping dock computer seen in season 2 of The Wire). This is all happening, right now, in Ansbach, Germany. Just keep thinking about that all day — somewhere, robots are sorting your salami….

For more robotics videos, check out the ABB Robotics channel on YouTube. For example, do you want to see humans and robots working together to pack sausages? I thought you might.

(Via Kottke.org.)

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Comments (10)

  1. . . . and Bart, Lisa, and Maggie visit the stock footage festival . . .

    posted by Firebrand on 5-4-2010 at 2:44 pm

  2. I want one of those FlexPickers to follow my kids around the house.

    posted by B on 5-4-2010 at 5:38 pm

  3. Bet you didn’t think you’d ever make a living writing phrases like “Disorganized salami.”

    posted by B on 5-4-2010 at 5:45 pm

  4. The twin German passions of precision engineering and sausages brought together on one assembly line. :)

    What is it about factories that demands a sort of bad 1980s synthy/techno soundtrack, though? It was always my beef with “How It’s Made.” I want to hear the machines working, and ideally, have the operators explaining it all to me. (If you simply MUST have music, “Powerhouse” is really the only acceptable choice. ;)) Liked that the second (linked) video at least cut away from the soundtrack for a few seconds.

    posted by LawMonkey on 5-4-2010 at 6:38 pm

  5. More like Pepperettes than salami, or is that a Canadian term?

    posted by Ranger J on 5-4-2010 at 7:45 pm

  6. I haven’t heard of Pepperettes…though agreed, these are some pretty skinny salami if they are even technically salami.

    posted by Chris Higgins on 5-4-2010 at 7:50 pm

  7. is this by the same company that made a machine that sorts pancakes/waffles?

    posted by Allison on 5-4-2010 at 10:12 pm

  8. Going only by size, these are comparable to our beef jerky. I’ve been in Germany 2 years now, and these are generally sold two to a package (Slim Jim style) and eaten as a snack. Beer and cheese optional, but not required. :)

    posted by Tamsyn on 5-5-2010 at 9:48 am

  9. B — I think somewhere, deep down, I knew that disorganized salami would be part of my professional life. :)

    Allison – yep, these folks also brought us the pancake sorting robots. Equally terrifying in their efficiency.

    posted by Chris Higgins on 5-5-2010 at 8:30 pm

  10. Did anyone else read that as SNORTING or was it just me? I have this mental image of a robot shoving sticks of salami up its nose now.

    posted by Pho on 5-6-2010 at 12:19 am

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