Humanity's technological zenith reached with 3D printer that makes a little sandwich

Humanity is set apart from the rest of the animal kingdom thanks to our remarkable technological achievements. Our species has made the wheel, the printing press, the internet, and spaceships that bring us to the stars. All of those inventions pale in comparison to the creative apex reached by YouTuber Kuroki Yuto, though. He has created an automated sandwich maker.

A video from Kuroki shows off the sandwich machine in action. 3D printer components whizz around, chopping up a cucumber and lifting slices of bread and bologna into place before sawing the completed (admittedly rudimentary) sandwich in half.

Would it be faster to make the sandwich by hand? Absolutely! Does it seem like Kuroki skipped condiments in an effort not to destroy his machine by getting its components all gooped up? Most likely! And yet, the promise of a device that allows us to stand motionless while a sandwich is prepared for us by what’s essentially a super advanced Rube Goldberg machine is undeniable. When the dolphins, the chimpanzees, and the octopi reach this same milestone, we’ll know we finally have some real competition. For now, we can be content knowing that humans are the only citizens of Earth smart enough to create extremely complicated ways to stack bread, meat, and vegetables onto one another.

We should mention that Kuroki stands on the shoulders of sandwich giants. The 3D printer sandwich machine is the latest in a long line of unnecessarily complicated sandwich production methods that runs from the guy who managed to spend $1500 making one to KFC’s sculpted meteor chicken idol and the laser cut ham and cheese shaped like Vin Diesel. This doesn’t lessen the importance of Kuroki’s work, but it does remind us that even something as impressive as his creation will one day be built upon—and possibly exceeded—by other sandwich innovators.

[via Digg]

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