Japan-based Furukawa Kiko has developed a “magical” robot spatula [JP] that can scoop off semi-liquids like mayonnaise and ketchup and replace them without destroying their shape. Dubbed SWITL, the hand was first shown back in 2007 and is supposed to handle bread dough in bakery production lines one day.

Furukawa isn’t revealing technical details (looks like they are still trying to get a patent), but the way the SWITL does what it does is pretty impressive.

This video shows the hand in action:

Here’s an early clip shot in 2007 (in Japanese):

Via Pink Tentacle