Robot Learns To Flip Pancakes

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Once again I’ve got exciting robot news for you, folks, and this time it’s likely making the folks out at IHOP quake in their street shoes. It’s a robotic arm that’s designed to make pancakes…or at least flip them.

The pancake in question, along with the pan, has been outfitted with a variety of sensors that allow the researchers behind the project to track the force measures and the like. Using a method called “kinesthetic teaching”, the robot first sees a human perform the desired action, and then through practice and regular feedback, the robot eventually learns to perform the action as needed.

The biggest takeaway so far for the robot is that, when you launch a pancake off the pan, you need a stiffer arm, but successfully catching the pancake requires a softer, more yielding touch.

Obviously, it’s going to be a while before anybody gets to have the pancake-flipping robot in their homes (or places of business, a move that should have most breakfast-restaurant workers terrified), but the idea of buying one robot to make hosts of pancakes likely has business owners very interested.