Next level, make the center one USB-C.

This might actually be the opposite of evil: if you try to insert the USB cable the wrong way, you don't need to rotate it, you can just try the next port. Seems more convenient to me.

Exhibit B

And of course it only goes in after the third attempt

I didn't know how they did it, but USB connectors exist in a superposition in 11-dimensional space. Every time you collapse the wave form by plugging one in, its orientation changes to one at random unless you directly observe their respective orientations.

This can be fixed

Nah, make it worse! The BIOS randomly selects between zero and three ports and ignores them for a random amount of time. It always rerolls when you reboot or when the timer runs out. They are all real and do work, but you never know which ones (if any) or how long.

We found Satan.

And they're also too close together and the screws may be an obstacle to certain dongles, although that shouldn't be a problem for industrial PCs

This could actually be some creative engineering. If you want to split power/fuses along two different circuits, this could be a way to differentiate. I have a tv with 3 HDMI ports but only one of them is CEC..🤷

Yeah, you deserve hell

Just keeping them on their toes.

Counter-argument. If you had three usb cables to plug in, each one would take 2-3 rotations to get it right anwyay.

That looks like a Mettler Toledo titrator