A favorite story of mine growing up was “If You Give A Mouse A Cookie.” It was an excellent beginner’s guide to the rule of causation. I don’t think Berlin-based echtwald ever read that story because they obviously didn’t take causation into account when they strapped a chainsaw to an industrial robotic arm.

German designers Tom Pawlofsky and Tibor Weissmahr flirted with danger when they thought it would be a good idea to strap a chainsaw to an industrial robotic arm as part of a design show. The robot, using an advanced algorithm, would cut decorative stools from a tree trunk. The project displayed a robot’s perfectionism as the stools were cut perfectly each time.

chainsaw robot carves the 7Xstool by tom pawlofsky + tibor weissmahr from designboom on Vimeo.

As you may have noticed, the really cool thing about this project is that it cuts out two stools from a single piece of the trunk. It also doesn’t create a single piece of scrap wood unless you count all the sawdust. It’s a unique take on traditional furniture design that makes the most of the materials given to the artist.

Of course, we can’t ignore the horrifying implications of giving a robot control of such a dangerous tool. In all reality, a chainsaw isn’t that effective as a weapon, but it’s still terrifying to see something like that coming at you. Good thing the robot is stationary for now. I don’t know what we would do if somebody gave a chainsaw to a robot that could actually move… Oh right, this would happen.

[h/t: designboom]