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Kuka Robot Bible Calligraphy
A Kuka Roboter industrial robot has been given an unusual production task; writing out the full Martin Luther bible "by hand."
(Kuka robot doing bible calligraphy)
It uses a calligraphic style translated by its creators RobotLab from an early font called "Schwabacher."
(Kuka robot doing bible calligraphy - close-up)
Science fiction fans will view this with a bit of a chill; they remember The Nine Billion Names of God, an early Arthur C. Clarke story from the 1950's. There are these Tibetan monks who are diligently performing their spiritual practice: printing the 9,000,000,000 names of God on paper - a task that will take another 15,000 years if done by hand. But what if they had a faster way?
"This is a slightly unusual request," said Dr. Wagner, with what he hoped was commendable restraint. "As far as I know, it’s the first time anyone’s been asked to supply a Tibetan monastery with an automatic sequence computer. I don’t wish to be inquisitive, but I should hardly thought that your --ah-- establishment had much use for such a machine. Could you explain just what you intend to do with it?""Gladly," replied the lama, readjusting his silk robe and carefully putting away the slide rule he had been using for currency conversions. "Your Mark V computer can carry out any routine mathematical operation involving up to ten digits. However, for our work we are interested in letters, not numbers. As we wish you to modify the output circuits, the machine will be printing words, not columns of figures."
The monks perform this spiritual practice with the belief that once all the names of God have been printed, the universe will come to an end. And guess what happens when the automatic sequence computer finishes printing out all of the variations - all of the names - of God?
Kuka has been doing some unusual things with robots; check these links for details:
- Juke Bot Robot - Kuka Kicks It
- Sword-Wielding WiiBot Kuka Robot Controlled WiiMotely
- Snake-Arm Robot In A Plane
Via Kuka: Robot Ascetic Inscribes Bible, It’s A Holy Robot! and Kuka CalligraphyBot Puts Monk Job Security At Risk.
Scroll down for more stories in the same category. (Story submitted 10/30/2007)
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