Ford Made a Robot Butt to Test Its Car Seats, and It Has an Amazing Name
Not even sitting is safe from the AI revolution.
By Nina Zipkin •
While there are some jobs out there that are going away in the face of automation and robotics, you would think that there are some that only humans can do. It turns out, sitting isn't one of them. Friends, I give you the "Robutt." It is exactly what you'd think it is.
The minds at Ford built a robot that's designed to move like a human would to simulate how drivers and passengers get in and out of car seats. And to make sure that every vehicle provides the user with the maximum amount of comfort, ease and durability, the car manufacturer has turned to robots to leave nothing to chance.
Related: Here Are the Jobs Most Likely to Be Replaced by Robots, and Those That Are Safe
The robot was created to run through every possible scenario of how a person sits. According to the video demonstrating how it works, the robot gets in and out of a test seat 25,000 times. That's a lot of sitting. Start to finish it takes three weeks to complete a test and is meant to simulate 10 years worth of car use.
"From the first moment we get into a car, the seat creates an impression of comfort and quality. Previously, we used pneumatic cylinders that simply moved up and down," Ford durability engineer Svenja Fröhlich explained in a blog post about the innovation. "With the "Robutt,' we are now able to replicate very accurately how people really behave."
