Medical and Science

OMG, Now Robots are Sweating!

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U.K. Designer creates robots with sweaty armpits

Now this is indeed an Odd Random Thought to ponder.  There’s a U.K. designer, Kevin Grennan that has created sweat glands for robots.  These robots are designed to be used in several different types of industrial applications.

First let’s discuss where the sweat comes from.  Grennan is using an artificial sweat, a Japanese product used to test certain fabrics to see how they respond to sweat.  I really feel sorry for the people involved in this creation, definite face mask time!

These robots are said to work in conjunction with certain forms of subconscious human behavior.  Such as fear, focus and trust.  Implementing these attributes will increase the glands effectiveness.

These artificial sweat glands are meant to be installed on three different robots as stated earlier, so let’s go over them.

 

Three Sweaty Robots

  1. One application is for a “bomb disposal robot”.  During an exercise, the gland on the robot is to release an odor associated with human fear.  In return it is supposed to increase a person’s cognitive performance.
  2. Next is the “surgeon robot”.  It is designed to release a mist of oxytocin, which is a chemical found in the human brain that causes people to become more trusting when inhaled through the nose.  So they believe if they could have patients meet with this robot before surgery, they would become more trusting and at ease before rolling into the operating room.
  3. Finally the “industrial picker robot”.  This robot’s gland is supposed to release a chemical called androstadienone.  This is normally found in male sweat.  They believe by releasing this odor on an assembly line, it could improve the performance of nearby female workers.

Now let’s think about this for a minute.  I’m all for research leading to better things.  But in my opinion this is going a little far.  I believe that in doing this, if implemented largely, eventually no one will be able to rely on their own senses any more.  Isn’t the whole fun in being human, having the ability to sense things and recognize them legitimately?  I mean, if I’m meant to be scared or nervous, I sure want it to be for a good reason.  Not because some stinky C3PO is sweating his arse off in the chair next to me!  Let me know what y’all think!

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16 thoughts on “OMG, Now Robots are Sweating!
    1. Hey you’re welcome Muhammad, thanks for the reply. I hope everyone can find something interesting here. I’m a big lover of unusual facts as you can see.

  1. I agree with you…I think it’s takin it too far and it’s stupid. When is enough gonna be enough??

  2. It really does just blow me away the time and energy that inventors and engineers put into some tasks. Could you imagine what major advances could be accomplished if all that energy was put into something worth while? We’re human, I think we should continue to be. 🙂

    1. Absolutely Iftieaq, it’s amazing the things that science some up with. Robots used to be for simple tasks like grabbing you a soda, now they can sweat for you! What next?

  3. This article is superb…. I really like that surgeon robot.. which will be very helpful for patience to trust, believe and be strong, which is very important to live..

    1. I definitely agree with you on that one. Normally fear of what may happen during surgery is what causes most people to refuse treatment. This could possibly be a method of reversing those fears so they may receive the procedure that is needed.

  4. Sweaty robots? That’s an awesome first step towards our cyborg takeover 🙂 All kidding aside, I think this is a great idea. I can see a lot of practical implementations for this. After all, robots have been our eyes and ears for a long time. Why not make them our armpits too! Thanks for the share.

  5. The original actors who wore these costumes sweat a lot in them. Naturally they would though because of how confined and hot they were. I don’t think they could be considered normal if they hadn’t sweat at all.

    1. Yes I’m sure that a human being inside one of these costumes would be quite uncomfortable. Although the post was discussing actual robots with the ability to sweat in the name of human research. But still a good point Samson. 🙂

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