Cookie separator, drawing lego machine show how robots can do anything

Physicist and copywriter David Neevel hates cream.

That sweet, creamy filling between Oreo cookies is nothing more than an obstacle to pure chocolaty goodness. Actually, Neevel's primary goal was contributing to Nabisco's new advertising campaign for Oreos, framed as a war between cookie and cream.

But he built a cool machine with a hatchet and a router to polish away any remnants of that pesky cream.

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Neevel gives joke answers to questions about the hard work and greater purpose of his Oreo machine with a deadpan expression.

He says his sacrifices included spending time away from his dog and his girlfriend, and having to find a decent sandwich in the part of the city of Portland, Oregon, where he built his machine in an unheated garage.

One of the hardest parts of the project, he says, was to learn how build working robots. The next hardest part was to keep his hands and the back of his neck warm.

Oreo will unveil other cookie separating machines during the campaign.

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Meanwhile, robots built from LEGO are preparing to displace artists. Legonardo, built by Daniele Benedettelli, is a spectacle wearing artistic genius. That's probably an exaggeration, but the robot can draw portraits, so that's pretty cool.

Benedettelli posted a short video of the making of Legonardo, in which he snaps on pieces of the robot's body. The description says Legonardo is the heir of 18th century Swiss automata with similar skills, like the one depicted in the film adaptation of The Invention of Hugo Cabret.