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Panasonic's hair-washing robot exterminates dirt, unauthorized humans (video)
Panasonic is now testing its hair-washing robot at a salon in Nishinomiya, Japan. Designed to care for the elderly or the physically less-able, it sprays water, shampoo and conditioner over your bonce while 24 robotic fingers knead at your scalp. The company claims that it offers a more satisfying and relaxing experience than a wash from a human, unless you remember what happened when Mr. Kinney tested ED 209. If you're in the Osaka region, you've got until June 10th to get down there and have a go yourself -- for everyone else, there's a video after the break.
Panasonic's hair-washing robot: rinse, kill, repeat
If Panasonic can build an exercise horse then surely a robot that washes your hair should come as no surprise. Imagine being lifted from your robotic bed by a plush care-assist robot and placed into a chair for an automatic shampoo and scalp massage. That is the future of care for the elderly and sick in Japan, or the rich and lazy everywhere else. Panasonic's hair-washing robot scans each human head three-dimensionally to apply just the right amount of pressure during the shampoo, massage, and rinse phases. It recognizes repeat customers and then applies that person's preferred massage course using its human-like sixteen "fingers." Each arm contains a trio of motors to power swing, press, and massage motions... or to snap your spinal column should you decide to sass.
Head and Shoulders alerts public to dandruff threat with ceiling cams
You may have seen or heard of marketing campaigns that are annoying or even offensive in their own right, but it's not very often that you'll see one that aims to notify the viewer of a personal annoyance: in this case, that they're suffering from a socially unacceptable hair-based ailment. That's not to say that Head and Shoulders' photo booth-based dandruff detecting campaign is an entirely benevolent one, but we appreciate the thought nonetheless. Saatchi & Saatchi was the agent behind the idea of placing a camera into the ceiling of British photo booths in order to deposit a photo of the recipient's hairline, with the obvious intention of selling their client more shampoo. Although the British may be used to 24/7 surveillance nearly everywhere they travel, at least in those cases they can fool themselves into believing that the only eyes on the other end are those of a bored security guard. With the dandruff detector, the suspicion is far more personal: how is an innocent Briton to know that information on their bald patch won't be surreptitiously stored and resurface years later in the form of anti-balding marketing leaflets through their door? Yes, that was a joke, but we're sure there are still going to be people that won't take lightly to being told by a photo booth that they should wash their hair more often. As they'll no doubt argue, isn't getting a photo of one's face traumatic enough? Personally, we know exactly what to bring if we ever had to visit one of these -- that tin foil hat hasn't failed us yet.[Via Core77]
New methods surfacing to rat out hostiles at airports
It seems that flying the not-so-friendly skies is becoming quite a hassle these days, as airport security is getting beefed up even more to account for the recent scare in the UK. Having to suffer through countless checkpoints as if you're guilty until proven innocent definitely flies against what we freebirds are used to, but apparently that's the price you pay if you want some sense of security while cruising the friendly skies. One company is trying to take lemons and make lemonade by offering up sophisticated filtering and detection systems that can supposedly distinguish a highly explosive Pantene bottle from your average (i.e. non-destructive) bottle of shampoo, while another outfit is lobbying to get its "intention analyzer" booth installed in commercial airports. Guardian Technologies is in talks with the TSA to get its PinPoint imaging software integrated into airport X-ray machines, which can reportedly analyze the density of liquids and determine the difference between "organic and explosive" substances (The timing here is somewhat intriguing, eh? Reminds us of how Parallels came hot on the heels of Boot Camp). The software transforms its density measurements into colorized images which provide an easy visual for spotting harmful materials, even through innocent-looking containers. Meanwhile, Suspect Detection Systems, Ltd. is also in cahoots with the TSA as it looks to install a number of "booths" in airports to rat out potential felons; any suspicious individual could be asked to answer a series of on-screen questions (such as "are you smuggling drugs?") while placing their hand on a biometric scanner within the booth -- the built-in algorithms analyze the heart rate, blood pressure, sweat quantity, etc. (think snazzy polygraph) to determine if the subject truly has an ill will or not. The Israeli-based company expects the $200,000 machine to accurately select "90 percent of potential saboteurs," while inconveniencing "only" 4 percent of non-thretening travelers. We're not sure which is more disturbing about this scenario: the fact that one in ten cool and collected terrorists can slip through undetected, or that millions of innocent travelers will be scrutinized for nothing. Regardless, with hijackings and terrorism becoming a seemingly growing threat, we can probably expect that these off-the-wall security measures will impact some of us just trying to catch a last minute flight, but aside from the impending aggravation, we're all better off safe than sorry.Read- Interrogation booth [subscription required, via Boing Boing]Read- PinPoint imaging [Via The Inquirer]
