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Piggybacking robot feeds you tomatoes while you run
We might have a new winner for the "world's silliest wearable" award. Japanese juice vendor Kagome has teamed up with the mechanical artists at Maywa Denki to build Petit-Tomatan, a piggybacking robot that feeds you tomatoes (which reportedly help your "antioxidant power") while you're running. This goofy helper was meant as a publicity stunt for this weekend's Tokyo Marathon, but it's a fully fleshed-out device -- there's even a timer so that you don't clear out your nutritional supply too quickly. While you're likely never going to see any serious athletes donning contraptions like this, it does make the runner's old-school water bottle look a little outdated.
Bacarobo 'stupid robot' contest is back, and it's hilarious (video)
Our love of tech, gadgets, and anything, really, with blinking lights means that while we certainly value usability and quality in our consumer electronics, there will always be a place in our hearts for the utterly useless. And we're definitely not alone here, as the popularity of the annual Bacarobo (stupid robot) contest will tell you. This year's event was held in Budapest, Hungary, and featured a number of the silliest robots you've never seen before -- all designed to get a laugh. The contest is judged in true hackneyed Gong Show-esque fashion with an applause meter, and the winner received a €2,000 ($2,700 USD) prize. And that's nothing to laugh at! But enough chatter: peep the video after the break to see for yourself.
Wacky Yurex odometer grabbing thighs on April 24th
Without question, Maywa Denki's Yurex is the oddest, most bizarre odometer that we've ever had the pleasure of seeing. The USB-enabled garter actually straps to one's leg in order to gather pertinent statistics, and while we highly doubt that serious athletes will even give this a shot, we're darn sure 3,000 nerds will snap up the limited supply when they become available on April 24th. There's still no word on price, but go ahead and start saving just in case it's far, far more than you had previously imagined.
Yurex: the stat-tracking, song-generating odometer for those with twitchy legs
If you're the sort who unconsciously twitches your leg when lost in thought, only to snap out of it abruptly when you realize the table in the conference room is shaking and everyone's scowling your way, you might be interested in this upcoming product from Maywa Denki, the crazy folks who love inventing "nonsense machines." It's called Yurex, a USB-enabled garter that straps to your leg and counts the number of times you twitch during the day, displaying your running tally on a 10-digit LCD. When you get home you can sync the device up to a PC, which will calculate your own personal rhythm and, get this, create a little song based on your "creative beat pattern." The idea is you can listen to this song, twitch your leg in concert, and boost your brain power to new heights! You'll even be able to chart your restlessness against others online once the things go on-sale in January but, with only 3,000 of them set to be made, you'd better get that order-clicking finger moving too.[Via medGadget]
