Robot takes the job of sitting on your arse Car-maker Ford has revealed a robot that's taken the job of sitting on your arse. Described as a “metallic butt” in video below, the device is used to determine “the exact pass pattern of a person's sitting behaviour” so that the company can design better car seats. The robot simulates sitting in and out of a car seat 25,000 …
perhaps they could lend it to British Airways?
Why would any airline want that? Economy airline seats are specifically made to be uncomfortable, to ensure those who can afford to a reason to pay premium fares.
The whole experience of scheduled flying is so unnecessarily protracted and unpleasant, that they need economy class to be even more unpleasant than it need be, chosen only by those unable to afford to upgrade.
chosen only by those unable to afford to upgrade.
incorrect. I refuse to multiply the price of my flight by 5 just to get a bigger smile and a bowl of caviar. Long haul economy flights are pretty lush from what i remember, and when I get to be CEO of a giant company - the same goes for all the employees.
*I've just googled Manchester to New York first class , and I'm revising that 5x estimate to 10x.
"I refuse to multiply the price of my flight by 5"
Agree ... I've travelled transatlantic once in business class and, while very pleasant, I couldn't see it was woth the several £k. I have travelled premium economy for work (basically economy with legroom) and can just about see that being worthwhile - but wasn't when I was paying for our family holiday!
"when I get to be CEO of a giant company"
I remember when I was ot ST of stories there, during travel expenditure cut=backs, of Pasquale Pistorrio saying hello to ST managers in busness class who'd managed to get their flights signed off as a "necessary exception" from the economy class only rule while he walked past them to his seat in economy!
The outcome is a better-designed seat, in this case for the Ford Fiesta.
Must be a new invention. My wife had a Ford Explorer when the kids were younger. Most uncomfortable driver's seat I've ever been in. Always felt like I was going to slide off it (and I'm not a large party -- I'm 5'8" and 185 lbs). Sure, it was the cheapest seat option (not power, leather or heated), but it still should have been better designed.
Toyota knows how to make seats. Even my daughter's cheap little Yaris was, if not a joy, at least not a pain, when we drove it across the US a few years ago. Quite an accomplishment for an econobox.
The seats in the current Fiesta are quite good, had one as a rental last month for 2 weeks. But then I'd classify the current Fiesta as an actual car, unlike whatever the thing was Ford called Fiesta 40 years ago; which got it's nickname for a reason. (Yes, I checked. The first one came out in 1976. Feel free to feel old.)
So they've got the rubbing and shimmying bit sorted, easy, I say.
But what about the corrosive affect of flatulence? Does Robo-bum generate the full symphony and chemical diversity of human arse gases? And sweat, it needs to exude gallons of salty, dirty, malodorous juice.
The biggest damage to a car seat is from buttons and other uneven features on the clothing which covers our posterior.
When buying a second hand car it is quite easy to see if the previous owner used to wear jeans with buttons on their wallet pocket and/or a large wallet - the traces are self-evident. In fact, for one of my cars, I ended up telling the dealership to order new driver seat upholstery if they want me to buy it. It had only 70k miles on the clock and was otherwise in reasonable condition - except the driver seat. It had a hole in the driver seat upholstery from the previous owner wallet + pocket buttons.
I do not see how a metal butt which only sits up and down will test it. It needs to sit, wriggle for a few hours, then get up, then do it again.
Is one machine sufficient - surely it would be more productive to have an array of these machines so could have a constant supply of seats at different agings available for analysis. To control/monitor these machines you would need some for of IoT infrastructure to form what I think would be a "bot net"
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Oh look it gets in and out in a nice manner.
Give it a few hours with a bunch of kids; eating food, spilling drinks, puking, peeing, climbing, tantruming, kicking, picking and pulling.
Oh and a dash of someone spilling coffee all over it as well.
Then get back to me with you namby pamby testing robot.
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