Panasonic's Hair-Washing Robot: Weird Beauty

Stylelist | By Dana Oliver | Posted: 09/28/11 09:13 AM ET | Updated: 09/28/11 09:13 AM ET

Panasonic Hair-Washing Robot. Photo: BeautyHigh.com

Panasonic caught our attention this time last year with a "16-fingered," hair-washing robot designed to aid those living in nursing homes and hospitals. The highly-skilled gadget had sensors that scanned an individual's head to establish the appropriate amount of pressure to apply during a shampoo. Insanely intelligent, right?

Well, the Japanese consumer electronics company went back to the drawing board and is set to present an updated version of the machine in October at the 38th International Home Care & Rehabilitation Exhibition in Tokyo. The new hair-washing robot possesses "24-fingers" that work to complete the experience -- shampooing, rinsing, conditioning and drying. Plus, it boasts a spot massage feature to target areas on the scalp that may need special attention.

Would you suds up with a hair-washing robot? Or do you prefer to leave your grooming in the hands of an actual human being?

Tell us your thoughts in the comments section and check out this bizarre medical-esque lash curler.

Style around the web

Panasonic's hair-washing robot: rinse, kill, repeat -- Engadget Hair-washing robot leaves your locks silky-smooth | Crave - CNET Panasonic Hair-Washing Robot : DigInfo - YouTube

Comments
18
Pending Comments
0
View FAQ

Comments are closed for this entry

View All

Favorites

Recency |

Popularity

Page: 1 2 Next › Last » (2 total)

Kim Sanders-Harrison

11 Fans

06:49 AM on 10/21/2011

Permalink | Share it

niter36

88 Fans

12:37 AM on 10/01/2011

scary!!

Permalink | Share it

ginausa

47 Fans

12:21 AM on 10/01/2011

That's a NIGHTMARE! I'd never want a robot washing my clients hair or a nursing home pt's hair! What if it malfunctions or the electricity goes out and now that thing is STUCK on someone's head? It's just one more thing to take away jobs from REAL human beings! They did it at the auto plants and other factories because they can turn out big business and not even have to pay health insurance or paid holidays. No perks for a machine so it saves them money in the long run. UGH that thing would NEVER get near my head! What's next? A ROBO GYNO?

Permalink | Share it

Priscilla Bailey

1 Fans

10:03 PM on 09/30/2011

Xyraine - Sorry!

Permalink | Share it

Priscilla Bailey

1 Fans

10:02 PM on 09/30/2011

I agree with Xyrina - One less time of human interaction for nursing home patients. Also what if something goea wrong, especially if the patient can't speak!

Permalink | Share it

Xyriane

0 Fans

09:46 PM on 09/30/2011

Wow seriously? Yet another way to minimize the amount of human contact the people in nursing homes get, and minimize jobs. While yes I realize that nurses are overworked, the residents of nursing homes, and assisted living facilities often don't have many people going to talk to them, and the interaction with another human who can talk to them, and attention often times means a lot to them, even for the ones who have family coming to visit them. Plus really, now they're in the facility unable to do a lot of basic things for themselves, and now they're going to be denied the right of having humans do things like that for them? Honestly even if the nurse might not do a perfect job, even the ones whose minds are going can still sense if it's a human touching them, and the human interaction means a lot, you can't replace the touch of another human being with a robot, on top of that, many of the elderly living in these homes are afraid of, or just simply don't trust technology, and want nothing to do with that... Ditch the robots, leave that kind of work for humans.

While the concept of those robots is cool, replacing humans with robots shouldn't be done, leave them as an optional feature in hair salons, or for snobs who can't possibly wash their own hair like common people do.

Permalink | Share it

Denise Hoo

9 Fans

08:49 PM on 09/30/2011

I would try it, but I think it would tangle my hair and pull it. I wonder if it really would do a thorough job.

Permalink | Share it

This user has chosen to opt out of the Badges program

sageast

4 Fans

05:27 PM on 09/30/2011

Anything with a motor has been known to go haywire, stall, overheat and catch fire. No thanks.

Permalink | Share it

HUFFPOST SUPER USER

bds6543

69 Fans

03:20 PM on 09/30/2011

This is the stupidest thing I have ever seen. Who would stick their head into this, esp. being "unattended" which is what the aim of this is.. for use in nursing homes.. they would just walk away and leave the person in this thing. and then what? What if something went wrong with this gizmo???

Some things can't replace human interaction.

Permalink | Share it

This user has chosen to opt out of the Badges program

jacmed

71, female - whatever happened to common sense?

646 Fans

02:54 PM on 09/30/2011

No problem as long as I had a control switch in my hand to turn it off if something went wrong.. After all, it is a machine and something could go wrong, like rubbing or squeezing too hard.

Permalink | Share it

lydatarz

169 Fans

02:52 PM on 09/30/2011

Another way to replace jobs. I can see this being used until it accidently pulls a chunk of hair out of someone's head. And, what's with the body shield that's attached to the chair? Is that in case you have second thoughts, you can't get away?

Permalink | Share it

nitroreefclub

33 Fans

02:04 PM on 09/30/2011

Yeah til they crush/massage your skull till it is in pieces due to a Malfunction/Not.
Thanks anyway

Permalink | Share it

bleumoon58

4 Fans

01:55 PM on 09/30/2011

Thats pretty amazing!!! I would be willing to have my hair washed that way at a beauty salon--it would be different! They could use these robots in hospitals too. Unless you can take your own bath or shower in a hospital-your hair never gets washed. Good idea!!

Permalink | Share it

nobodysbiznez

7 Fans

01:28 PM on 09/30/2011

Ok, It's a machine, and things can go wrong with any machiine. What if it miscalculates the size of your scalp and squueezes the bejesus out of you???

Permalink | Share it

bigred8690

20 Fans

12:56 PM on 09/30/2011

Weirdest way to wash hair: at one time Listerine was recommended to treat dandruff. I am not kidding.

Permalink | Share it

gdzilla2

216 Fans

01:38 PM on 09/30/2011

I wash my own hair so doubt I would ever have use for it but it is kind of cool. Oh and Listerine makes a great hair rinse! I used to raise parrots and after bathing them I would put half Listerine and have water in a bottle and spray them down really good until they were soaked. Made their wings glossy plus it cut down on the feather dust. An Avian vet recommended it to me.

Permalink | Share it

This user has chosen to opt out of the Badges program

jacmed

71, female - whatever happened to common sense?

646 Fans

02:58 PM on 09/30/2011

Listerine is still recommended by some people and not only for dandruff but to prevent hair loss. I googled it and was quite surprised at the results. I might just try it!

Permalink | Share it