• Home
  • Trends
  • Company News
  • Product News
  • Fashion
  • Podcast
  • Events
  • About
  • Contact
  • March 7, 2021

Wearable Tech Insider

The Inside Word on Wearables and Wearable Technology

You are here: Home / General News / Wearable Bananas and Tomatoes Come to the Tokyo Marathon

Wearable Bananas and Tomatoes Come to the Tokyo Marathon

February 20, 2015 By Dan Rosenbaum

tomato marathon japanThis weekend is the Tokyo Marathon, which looks like a serious race despite experiments with race-ready wearable bananas and tomatoes.

Yes, you read that right. Dole, the world’s largest supplier of fruits and vegetables, has apparently been a long-time sponsor of the race. This year, besides handing out bananas to runners, the company is tricking out a couple of bananas with a power source, some wiring, and a display to monitor runners’ progress. Dole expects the selected runners to keep this banana strapped to their wrists for the entire 26.2 miles — and that the banana (and runner) will survive intact.

And because that’s not odd enough, the Japanese juice maker Kagome had built a gadget that will feed a runner tomatoes during the race. We here at WTI are not imaginative enough to make this up, so here’s what the Bangkok Post said:

The Tomatan looks like a small humanoid robot — with a tomato for a head — and sits snugly on the athlete’s shoulders.

Tugging a tiny lever in the foot moves the arms to catch a tomato from the shooter. It then rotates the fruit over the runner’s head and holds it in front of his mouth.

In fairness, this 8kg thing will be deployed only in a fun run preceding the marathon. But a runner from Kagome will wear a smaller version during the actual race.

And now, more bananas:

 

Last updated by Dan Rosenbaum on February 1, 2017.

Share this:

  • Facebook
  • Twitter
  • LinkedIn
  • Reddit
  • Google
  • Email

Related

Filed Under: General News, Trends Tagged With: bananas, dole, tomatoes, weird

← WSJ: Apple to Make 5 Million Watches, But Not Sure Why Storing Your Data in Your DNA →

Subscribe To Our Weekly Newsletter

Subscribe now to the Wearable Tech Insider's weekly news blast. You'll get links to the top half-dozen stories in the world of wearable tech, optimized for quick reading. It's the best way to read the Wearable Tech Insider; it's free and you can change your mind any time. And, of course, we'll never sell your name or e-mail address...

Search This Site

Recent Posts

New Use Case for Apple Watch: Red Sox Stealing Signs

Fossil Debuts Two Android Wear Smartwatches

Garmin Shows Three New Fitness Bands at IFA

Fitbit Ionic: Minimal Acceptable Product?

Intel (Finally) Ditches Wearables for AR

Don’t Believe Everything You Read: Wearables Are Far From Dead

Eyes F.lashing Before Your Life

Smarty Pants: Nadi X Yoga Leggings

Rings: How Smart Can They Be?

Upskill Closes Series B Financing, But Won’t Say How Much

Stories from Health Tech Insider

  • Digital Apps Work Better for Weight Loss
  • New Study Shows More Consumers Adopted Digital Health in 2020
  • Machine Learning Could Make Early Autism Diagnosis Possible
  • New Smart Hearing Aids Run Up to 61 Hours Per Charge
  • Amazon Picked as Greatest Impact on Healthcare
  • Seniors Are Safer With Help from New Remote Monitor System

Topics

2013 android android wear apple apple watch apx labs basis battery CES ces2016 CES2017 epson finance fitbit fitness fossil fuelband garmin gear glass google healthkit intel iWatch jawbone LG market research microsoft misfit MWC15 nfc nike omate omsignal pebble recon samsung smartwatch sony sports tizen vuzix withings wristware wristwear

Sign up for Wearable Tech Insider

First name
Last name
* = required field

powered by MailChimp!

Subscribe now to the Wearable Tech Insider's weekly news blast. You'll get links to the top half-dozen stories in the world of wearable tech, optimized for quick reading. It's the best way to read the Wearable Tech Insider; it's free and you can change your mind any time. And, of course, we'll never sell your name or e-mail address...

Made in New York
Wearable Tech Insider is proud to be Made in NY.

All text © 2015 Center Ring Media

Privacy Policy

Center Ring Media Sites

Wearable Tech Insider
Seniortech Insider
Health Tech Insider

Copyright 2016 Center Ring Media | Site by JRMC

loading Cancel
Post was not sent - check your email addresses!
Email check failed, please try again
Sorry, your blog cannot share posts by email.