Nope, that’s not a typo.
Most of us have been to Ikea. We’ve all purchased bedroom furniture, a sleeper sofa and some kind of kitchen tool. We’ve probably also all witnessed the scary, sometime unsettling chair testing machine enclosed in a clear plastic box.
That robot, as best as we can figure out, was designed to demonstrate how durable the chair was, and is. Like many I’m sure, this chair torture chamber has given me nightmares throughout my adult life but now, I’ve found a new, even more frightening seat torture machine, and just in time for Halloween.
The apply named Robutt is a device used by the Ford Motor Company to evaluate a car seat’s comfort and durability. This is actually serious posterior science. The Robutt’s job is to recreate 10 years of wear and tear on a seat by cycling 25,000 times in and out of the perch. The test requires 3 weeks’ time or enough to send me to an early grave if I was forced to watch it do its thing for any length of time.
And if that wasn’t enough, Ford has another device, or metallic butt, that measures comfort. The bone chilling machine measures the seat cushion’s deflection and softness. But that’s not all. Ford’s got countless other medieval torment apparatuses in their durability torture chambers. I pray I never end up there, on purpose or accident.
If ghouls and goblins aren’t enough for you today, I dare you to watch the video! Be warned, graphic content included!
