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Waffle House Reject!: Pancake-Flipping Robot


This is a video of a robot learning how to flip pancakes. Why? Because it dropped out of high school. Stay in school kids, you've got a long life ahead of you. That said, I'd kill you right now for a McGriddle. Shit -- I'd even stab you a couple times just to smell one.

Two researchers at the Italian Institute of Technology-Petar Kormushev and Sylvain Calinon-taught a robot the technique. The robot needs to hold its hand stiff to throw the pancake in the air and then flex the hand so it can catch the pancake without having it bounced off the pan. Initially, one of the researchers holds the robot's arm to show it how it is done, after which the robot tries it.

The researchers hope to present the learning from the robot's efforts at a conference in October. And if you are wondering, what exactly this experiment has achieved, the answer involves the application of algorithms that help learn by imitation and reinforcement.

So how many tries would you guess it takes IHOP-bot here to successfully flip a pancake? 10? 20? Try 50. Even the toothless meth-head at Waffle House learned faster! Didn't you, guy? Haha, why are you rubbing your wiener in my hash browns?

Hit the jump for a video of failbot in action.

Robot Learns to Flip Pancakes [wired]

Thanks to Divo, Rohnny, J-Dizzle fo Shizzle, Jeff, Zoomage, Chris, Romeo and Mitch, who prefer waffles because they hold more melted butter and syrup.

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