Flee for your lives: Robots can now throw knuckleballs, will soon rule the world!

According to the Turing Test, there are a small handful of things that separate man from machine. Namely:

- The ability to reproduce

- Requiring sustenance and producing waste

- Pretending to have read a certain book to look cooler at parties

And, of course,

- The ability to throw a knuckleball

Not wanting to leave well enough alone, four University of Toronto students decided to build a knuckleball-throwing automaton. 

Their stated goal was to create a robot that threw a completely repeatable knuckleball -- one that didn't dance or hop unexpectedly, removing all art or artifice from the beautiful pitch. But, as always, life finds a way. Even when controlling for velocity, air conditions and the orientation of the ball, the knuckler still knuckled. 

Said Professor David Sinton, who conceived of the project for the four intrepid engineering students:

Surely historians will look back at this moment as the dawn of a new-age, one where humans live as slaves to the great robot cause. Call me a crazy person if you like, but I'm planning on turning off my wi-fi, unplugging all my appliances and barricading myself indoors before the Revolution of the Knuckleball-throwing robots begins.