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Tomato-dispensing wearable robot livens up Tokyo Marathon
Finally, a reason to watch competitive running.
I try to shy away from opening an article with anything along the lines of “What the actual fuck, Japan,” but on this occasion I’m left with little choice: Japanese juice maker Kagome has, for some reason, engineered and debuted the “Tomatan,” a hands-free robot backpack that allows the user to eat tomatoes on the go.
The baffling technology underwent a field test ahead of the 2015 Tokyo Marathon, with one of the designers, Shigenori Suzuki, wearing it during Saturday’s three-mile fun run. We don’t have footage of that, so we can’t surmise how much of the device’s six-tomato load he consumed or how messy said feast may have been. But there’s no doubt he looked damn cool the whole time.
Fine, but what I really need is a robot that runs marathons with me on its back.
Photo via Technology News/YouTube

Miles Klee
Miles Klee is a novelist and web culture reporter. The former editor of the Daily Dot’s Unclick section, Klee’s essays, satire, and fiction have appeared in Lapham’s Quarterly, Vanity Fair, 3:AM, Salon, the Awl, the New York Observer, the Millions, and the Village Voice. He's the author of two odd books of fiction, 'Ivyland' and 'True False.'