Japanese Juice Company Creates a Backpack That Feeds Tomatoes To Runners

Between smart watches, fitness trackers, and tomato dispensing backpacks, wearable technology is the way to go. Yup, you read that right —if the latter is on your wish list, The Tomatan has got you covered.

Vegetable juice company Kagome has unveiled a wearable tomato machine that can be loaded with six mid-sized tomatoes, which the makers say should be enough power runners through the Tokyo Marathon this weekend. The Tomatan looks like a toddler robot with a tomato head; the red and silver machine sits on the wearer’s shoulders, and a tiny lever in the foot moves the arms to catch a tomato from a dispensing shoot. The arms then rotate to the front of the wearer’s mouth.

The company that designed The Tomatan, Meiwa Denki, is known for their off-the-wall machines and musical instruments. “We used about 100 tomatoes to complete this machine. We focused mostly on its visual design,” said the designer, Nobumichi Tosa.

Kagome’s Shigenori Suzuki said he would wear the 18 lb device at a fun run this past Saturday in preparation for the marathon. Another runner from Kagome also participated with a lighter design, the Petit-Tomatan, which is only about 6 lbs.

(via Japan Times)

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