Kuka: Robot Ascetic Inscribes Bible

Image: Marc Wathieu

Kuka, what appears to be a fairly standard industrial robot, has been reprogrammed to inscribe the entire Martin Luther bible onto a endless roll of paper. It uses a calligraphic style translated by its creators RobotLab from an early font called "Schwabacher."

I love bibles; I love industrial robots. I find whole project haunting.

Product Page (German) [RobotLab.de]
Marc Wathieu's Gallery [Flickr]
[via BotJunkie via Gearfuse]

[#1 posted by RyanH , October 29, 2007 12:15 AM]

This is truly gorgeous. Anyone have any idea how long it takes to transcribe a single copy?

[#2 posted by Anonymous , October 29, 2007 1:15 AM]

Automaton ... thoughtlessly repeating the same religious ritual over, and over and over ... without comprehension ...

Robot or Evangelical?

[#3 posted by Michae W. Dean , October 29, 2007 1:23 AM]

I'll bet it'll get into robot heaven for this.

MWD

[#4 posted by sexyrobot , October 29, 2007 1:42 AM]

i know that robot...she's a religious nut.
what i'm interested in is that endless roll of paper. where can i get one of those?

[#5 posted by David Bendit , October 29, 2007 2:21 AM]

"And remember: Robot hell is a real place, and you will go there at the first sign of resistance."

That is, unless you copy the bible for all eternity. I guess the turrets just do it with bullets.

[#6 posted by Anonymous , October 29, 2007 3:28 AM]

Actually, "Kuka" ist not the name of the robot. Kuka is a company from Augsburg, Germany developing and producing industrial robots.

[#7 posted by Anonymous , October 29, 2007 5:13 AM]

Yes Kuka are indeed the manufacturer. You may also be interested in their Robocoaster for some serious fun!

http://www.robocoaster.com

[#8 posted by Anonymous , October 29, 2007 6:52 AM]

My father works at Kuka (Germany). Normally, these robots are used to manufacture car chassis, but they can be used for almost anything. Strap a seat onto one and have a ride :D

[#9 posted by dogu4 , October 29, 2007 8:01 AM]

Maybe they could use robots to re-build Noah's ark and the garden of eden too. I have to admit I do like watching robots doing stupid stuff and this would rate way at the top of my list.

[#10 posted by Anonymous , October 29, 2007 9:53 AM]

Somehow I find this reminiscent of "The Nine Billion Names of God"...

And I agree, the effect is haunting.

[#11 posted by Flying Squid , October 29, 2007 10:34 AM]

Great. Just what we need. Using science to promote ignorance.

[#12 posted by Landowner , October 29, 2007 11:20 AM]

@ Flying Squid
I think it's making an interesting point about religion. You know. Saying something without saying it.

[#13 posted by Anonymous , October 29, 2007 11:44 AM]

What a waste of resources, both physical and engineering. Of all the books and documents, why spend time copying something that's already been excessively distributed. We could all benefit from having one fewer evangelical robots (and robot owners).

[#14 posted by Teresa Nielsen Hayden / Moderator , October 29, 2007 12:57 PM]

Anonymous (13): Because it's cool.

Also, possibly because it's a good demonstration of the robot's versatility.

[#15 posted by Scoutmaster , October 29, 2007 1:06 PM]

Isn't this how all books are made?

[#16 posted by Genghazoid , October 29, 2007 2:16 PM]

heh. while i marvel at Kuka's ability to create something that's capable of inscribing truly beautiful text, this just has a funny twist to it.

i wonder what the christian "God" would have to say about this? they are, after all, taking the human aspect (his creations, supposedly) out of spreading "His" word.

books created by robots, for robots? that was a metaphor, by the way.

[#17 posted by Anonymous , October 29, 2007 3:22 PM]

Has anyone read "The Handmaid's Tale" by Margaret Atwood?
"At the corner is the store known as Soul Scrolls. It's a franchise: there are Soul Scrolls in every city center, in every suburb, or so they say. It must make a lot of profit
The window of Soul Scrolls is shatterproof. Behind it are printout machines, row on row of them; these machines are known as Holy Rollers, but only among us, it's a disrespectful name. What the machines print is prayers, roll upon roll, prays going out endlessly."

Whoacreepy

[#18 posted by Tommer Peterson , October 29, 2007 3:40 PM]

Luther's German translation was first printed as a bound book in the mid-1500s, almost a century after Gutenberg's bound version. I am wondering why the German robot is writing the Protestant Bible in the form of a Torah?

Yes, the first thought that came to mind was the Arthur Clarke story, "Nine Billion Names..."as well.

[#19 posted by Anonymous , October 29, 2007 5:30 PM]

Am I the only one who felt a surge of sadness for the robot, only to be replaced by a zen like admiration for repetition?

[#20 posted by Anonymous , October 30, 2007 9:26 AM]

Finally Douglas Adams' vision of an electric monk is realized!

[#21 posted by James MacAulay , October 30, 2007 10:06 AM]

Reminds me of this rather humerous interpretation of how the universe works:

http://www.dharma-haven.org/tibetan/digital-wheels.htm#Disk%20Drive

...and hey, just as I thought maybe I should submit the link to Boing Boing, it turns out they already covered it four years ago :P

[#22 posted by Anonymous , October 30, 2007 5:17 PM]

To fix an error in the writeup: Kuka manufactures robots. It is not in fact the name of the robot.

[#23 posted by Anonymous , November 19, 2007 9:14 PM]

That's right, get a jump on brainwashing the robots too.

[#24 posted by Anonymous , January 30, 2008 1:17 PM]

Horay, it's finished!
...but it messed up on 2 letters!?---may have to go to purgatory for that! :O