Why Knot? Seth Goldstein's tie-tying robot

Seth Goldstein must hate doing up his ties even more than I do. I changed my lifestyle about four years ago so I'd never have to wear one again, but Goldstein has put countless hundreds of hours into designing a robot that can do the job for him. The 'Why Knot?' kinetic sculpture is hypnotic to watch, as the video after the jump shows – and it makes you wonder at the marvel of our human machinery when you see how difficult this simple task is for a purpose-built robot to replicate. Oh, and when you watch it in double-speed, it also sounds a bit like glitch techno music. Very cool.

Sadly, the Why Knot? machine can only make the basic 'four in hand' tie knot – fans of the Pratt, half Windsor or full Windsor knot will have to built their own robots.