Energy gels are so 2014. When it comes to winning races, modern marathon runners need a robot that straps to their back and force-feeds them tomatoes.
Luckily, Japan has already delivered this technological wonder. Wait till you see it in action!
The Tomatan, built by Japanese ketchup company Kagome and unveiled just in time for this weekend’s Tokyo Marathon, is a different kind of wearable fitness device. The 18-pound humanoid robot — with a cute tomato head that’s not at all creepy — might weigh heavy on the shoulders, but it delivers indispensable energy in nature’s own convenient packaging.
Just pull the lever and the Tomatan’s metal arms deliver a juicy red love apple directly into the athlete’s mouth.
“Tomatoes have lots of nutrition that combats fatigue,” Kagome’s Shigenori Suzuki told Agence France-Presse.
Japan’s fascination with weird tech never ceases to amaze. And now, marathon runners’ pernicious tomato problem has been solved.
In Sunday’s Tokyo race, a Kagome runner will wear a smaller tomato-dispensing device called the Petit-Tomatan. That machine, which consists of a “delivery tube attached to a mini-tomato holster worn on the runner’s back,” will weigh about 6.6 pounds, according to AFP. It also includes a timer that will keep the weary marathoner from running through the tomato supply too quickly.
Because eating tomatoes the old-fashioned way is just too damn difficult.
Source: Yahoo News
