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PETMAN Bipedal Robot Tests Your Future
The Petman humanoid robot performs a very special function; it wears clothing designed for humans to test performance. For example, it can test chemical suits in a hazardous environment to see how it would work in the real world, worn by real humans.
According to witnesses, Petman is able to walk, kneel, squat and even do push-ups.
(New, improved Petman)
Petman may remind readers of the Toy Testing Dummy from Philip K. Dick's paranoid 1959 story War Game.
Even better, in Frederik Pohl's 1954 short story The Midas Plague, human beings were no longer able to keep up with the consumption requirements of the modern consumer economy. So, robots took up the slack:
There was the butler robot, hard at work, his copper face expressionless. Dressed in Morey's own sports knickers and golfing shoes, the robot solemnly hit a ball against the wall, picked it up and teed it, hit it again, over and again, with Morey's own clubs. Until the ball wore ragged and was replaced: and the shafts of the clubs leaned out of true; and the close-stitched seams of the clothing began to stretch and abrade.
(Read more about Pohl's consumption robots)
Compare this 1954 illustration of consumption robots to the real-life Petman:
Via IEEE; read more about Petman's early history and Petman details and video.
Scroll down for more stories in the same category. (Story submitted 10/2/2011)
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