Karate robot tests cash machines

Scientists at a Scottish university have created a karate-punching robot designed to destroy a cash machine.

NCR asked the University of Abertay in Dundee to develop the robot to gauge the toughness of its automated teller machines (ATMs).

The company has a plant in Dundee that makes about 40,000 machines every year for use in 130 countries and wanted to assess the strength and physical security of its latest models.

A team from Abertay produced a piston-like robot arm that can strike the machines with varying force using pressure measurements similar to those of a karate expert.

The scientists have not stated how the ATMs have so far stood up to their robot's martial arts skills.