Overview
We can all relax. The task of trying to eat tomatoes whilst running has finally become easier; thanks to a piggybacking robot.
Created for marathon runners by Japanese juice company Kagome and inventors Maywa Denki, the 8kg device dubbed Tomatan sits atop a person’s shoulders, and by the flick of a switch, uses its mechanical arms to feed the red and juicy delights into their mouth - while they ketchup to the competition. It can hold six tomatoes at a time, enough sustenance for a lenghty 42km.
As well as being a novel idea and helping runners combat fatigue by eating the nutritious vegetable, the bot was created as a publicity stunt for the Tokyo Marathon. Kagome sent an employee and Tomatan to run the marathon. It is unknown how they fared in the race.
In other edible technology news, Dole Japan has developed a banana smartwatch that can detect running time, heart rate and advise when to eat the watch during a race.
