Always wondered this whenever i open my screw driver box.
In: 19
Some context:
Slot: easier to manufacture. The OG of screw types. It sucks, but heck, when making screws was hard, it worked well from a machining standpoint.
Phillips: two purposes. One, the driver won’t just slide out like a slot. It also cams out as previously mentioned which has its advantages. You can still wear the pattern in the screw if you go “nuts”. It is harder to reliably stamp/machine on a screw head than slot.
Robertson: square head. It doesn’t came out (both good and bad). In my experience, it is harder to deform the patter on the screw head, but it can absolutely be done still. Making the hole on the screw head square is also more difficult than slot types.
Torx: I expect it was designed to make removing the screws harder, basically an anti-tampering measure.
Hex head: I am not sure of its origin, but I expect it was also designed for reasons similar to the Robertson.
Other weird screws (triangle, spanner, etc.): anti tampering measures. They’re basically useless nowadays, but some still use them.
EDIT: For the obligatory xkcd, I expect there is some of this too that happened at some point: https://xkcd.com/927/ Someone found something on a design inadequate and figured they’d make a better screw type. Result: one more screw type around.
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