ayb2101 Posted July 23, 2003 Posted July 23, 2003 I was reading the IgNobel prize(basically for wierd/unusual inventions) awards and found this. Its a machine that cleans dogs and cats. Basically a robotic shower. The idea is that it would make it easier for professionaly groomers, vets, etc.. to bathe dogs that don't want to be bathed. It has robotic cleaning sprayers that wash, shampoo, and rinse the dog. It also has a blower for drying. It can be programmed for different types of dogs too. It automatically filters out shed fur, so it can't plug up the drain or anything. There's a glass door so the dog can still see the groomer so they don't get scared. Despite what you might think, its probably not anymore scary than a regular bath either. From the dogs perspective, either way they get strange things spraying water at them. The jets on the machine probably feel good too(like the massage setting on an expensive shower head). The dog in the picture seems to be enjoying it. It actually reminds me of a hand washer they had where my dad used to work. It had two holes in the front with perforated drums inside. You would just stick your hands in and the machine would start. The drums rotate and have water jets around them which soaped your hands down then rinsed them off. It would also periodically clean itself out. It felt better on your hands, was easier, cleaned better, was more sanitary, was quicker, and of course was neater than a regular sink. Although, either machine is huge, heavy, and expensive. I doubt they would sell very well. Actually, I think someone also made a people washing machine once that worked like the dog-washer. You step in it, and it sprays you off, soaps you down, rinses you, then dries you :) I might be thinking of something else, though. Anyways, heres the page: You'll need to translate the page with Babelfish since its in Spanish. Page: http://www.perroperdido.cl/aykan.html Quote
imported_Cassie Posted July 23, 2003 Posted July 23, 2003 That is what I do for a living (part time) is I bath and blow dry dogs...you mean I can be replaced by a machine!!!!! :o :o :o :o :o I am not going to let the groomer I work for read this! :lol: :wink: I can't read spanish so I am unable to read your attachment...but what you have mentioned is very interesting. Quote
ayb2101 Posted July 24, 2003 Author Posted July 24, 2003 You can go to http://babelfish.altavista.com/ to translate it. Quote
Horsefeathers! Posted July 24, 2003 Posted July 24, 2003 I saw one of these (or one similar) at a trade show in Atlanta earlier this year. In my ever so humble opinion, I think it's a rotten idea. I absolutely hate it. Not because I think groomers/bathers can be replaced, but because I think HANDS ON is the way to groom dogs. It just goes against everything I believe in to shove a dog (or cat) into a closed box, turn it on and leave the dog there. It sure looks handy, but I enjoy the interaction with the dogs. I totally hate the concept of assembly line grooming. Besides that, it's usually when washing and drying that I am able to discover lumps, moles, parasites, skin irritations, whatever. How can you dethatch and deshed dogs in this thing when that requires plain and simple elbow grease? A balmy breeze just won't cut it. Also, even if it were true that it's not any more scary than a bath otherwise (which I don't believe), it's certainly not any LESS scary. How can you talk to and reassure a dog who is already scared if he's locked away in a box? How can you shield his eyes from the spray (soapy water??) coming at him, or keep it from blowing up his nose? What happens when he gets frightened and pees or poops in that thing? How long before someone notices and turns it off? Meanwhile the dog is being showered in its own feces and urine. After all, apparently no one will be just standing there monitoring it as the point of it is to increase efficiency by freeing up time to do other things. I am all for having the best equipment available and being high tech. I have the best dryers on the market and also a recirculating "power washer," as well as clipper vacuum system to make my grooming life easier, but it's still all strictly hands on for me. I want to see and FEEL what's going on with a dog. I don't care a thing about putting a dog into a cage to dry, anyway. I hand dry everything unless it is an extremely old/frail/sensitive dog that just can't handle the blower. The idea of just plopping a dog into a cage to wash and dry makes me grind my teeth. That whole box thing outright disgusts me. If I were an owner and a groom shop was utilizing one of these, I'd quickly haul my dog out of there and find a shop that isn't too busy to actually interact with my dog. Sorry for the rant. I sat through a presentation of sorts when I saw this thing at the trade show and it made me want to just slam my head on the wall. Quote
Guest Anonymous Posted July 24, 2003 Posted July 24, 2003 I don't think that my baby RU would like any kind of a machine washing her every week. She has to try and get kisses while soapy Quote
ayb2101 Posted July 24, 2003 Author Posted July 24, 2003 Thats why it got the IgNobel prize, Horsefeathers. Because it will never sell. Quote
ayb2101 Posted July 25, 2003 Author Posted July 25, 2003 Its meant as a joke, BTW. Anyways, here are the others: The 2002 Ig Nobel Prize Winners BIOLOGY Norma E. Bubier, Charles G.M. Paxton, Phil Bowers, and D. Charles Deeming of the United Kingdom, for their report "Courtship Behaviour of Ostriches Towards Humans Under Farming Conditions in Britain." [REFERENCE: "Courtship Behaviour of Ostriches (Struthio camelus) Towards Humans Under Farming Conditions in Britain," Norma E. Bubier, Charles G.M. Paxton, P. Bowers, D.C. Deeming, British Poultry Science, vol. 39, no. 4, September 1998, pp. 477-481.] PHYSICS Arnd Leike of the University of Munich, for demonstrating that beer froth obeys the mathematical Law of Exponential Decay. [REFERENCE: "Demonstration of the Exponential Decay Law Using Beer Froth," Arnd Leike, European Journal of Physics, vol. 23, January 2002, pp. 21-26.] INTERDISCIPLINARY RESEARCH Karl Kruszelnicki of The University of Sydney, for performing a comprehensive survey of human belly button lint -- who gets it, when, what color, and how much. CHEMISTRY Theodore Gray of Wolfram Research, in Champaign, Illinois, for gathering many elements of the periodic table, and assembling them into the form of a four-legged periodic table table. MATHEMATICS K.P. Sreekumar and the late G. Nirmalan of Kerala Agricultural University, India, for their analytical report "Estimation of the Total Surface Area in Indian Elephants." [REFERENCE: "Estimation of the Total Surface Area in Indian Elephants (Elephas maximus indicus)," K.P. Sreekumar and G. Nirmalan, Veterinary Research Communications, vol. 14, no. 1, 1990, pp. 5-17.] LITERATURE Vicki L. Silvers of the University of Nevada-Reno and David S. Kreiner of Central Missouri State University, for their colorful report "The Effects of Pre-Existing Inappropriate Highlighting on Reading Comprehension." [ PUBLISHED IN: Reading Research and Instruction, vol. 36, no. 3, 1997, pp. 217-23.] PEACE Keita Sato, President of Takara Co., Dr. Matsumi Suzuki, President of Japan Acoustic Lab, and Dr. Norio Kogure, Executive Director, Kogure Veterinary Hospital, for promoting peace and harmony between the species by inventing Bow-Lingual, a computer-based automatic dog-to-human language translation device. HYGIENE Eduardo Segura, of Lavakan de Aste, in Tarragona, Spain, for inventing a washing machine for cats and dogs. ECONOMICS The executives, corporate directors, and auditors of Enron, Lernaut & Hauspie [Belgium], Adelphia, Bank of Commerce and Credit International [Pakistan], Cendant, CMS Energy, Duke Energy, Dynegy, Gazprom [Russia], Global Crossing, HIH Insurance [Australia], Informix, Kmart, Maxwell Communications [UK], McKessonHBOC, Merrill Lynch, Merck, Peregrine Systems, Qwest Communications, Reliant Resources, Rent-Way, Rite Aid, Sunbeam, Tyco, Waste Management, WorldCom, Xerox, and Arthur Andersen, for adapting the mathematical concept of imaginary numbers for use in the business world. [NOTE: all companies are U.S.-based unless otherwise noted.] MEDICINE Chris McManus of University College London, for his excruciatingly balanced report, "Scrotal Asymmetry in Man and in Ancient Sculpture." [PUBLISHED IN: Nature, vol. 259, February 5, 1976, p. 426.] The 2001 Ig Nobel Prize Winners MEDICINE Peter Barss of McGill University, for his impactful medical report "Injuries Due to Falling Coconuts." [PUBLISHED IN: The Journal of Trauma, vol. 21, no. 11, 1984, pp. 990-1.] PHYSICS David Schmidt of the University of Massachusetts for his partial solution to the question of why shower curtains billow inwards. BIOLOGY Buck Weimer of Pueblo, Colorado for inventing Under-Ease, airtight underwear with a replaceable charcoal filter that removes bad-smelling gases before they escape. ECONOMICS Joel Slemrod, of the University of Michigan Business School, and Wojciech Kopczuk, of University of British Columbia, for their conclusion that people find a way to postpone their deaths if that that would qualify them for a lower rate on the inheritance tax. [REFERENCE:"Dying to Save Taxes: Evidence from Estate Tax Returns on the Death Elasticity," National Bureau of Economic Research Working Paper No. W8158, March 2001.] LITERATURE John Richards of Boston, England, founder of The Apostrophe Protection Society, for his efforts to protect, promote, and defend the differences between plural and possessive. PSYCHOLOGY Lawrence W. Sherman of Miami University, Ohio, for his influential research report "An Ecological Study of Glee in Small Groups of Preschool Children." [PUBLISHED IN: Child Development, vol. 46, no. 1, March 1975, pp. 53-61.] ASTROPHYSICS Dr. Jack and Rexella Van Impe of Jack Van Impe Ministries, Rochester Hills, Michigan, for their discovery that black holes fulfill all the technical requirements to be the location of Hell. [REFERENCE: The March 31, 2001 television and Internet broadcast of the "Jack Van Impe Presents" program. (at about the 12 minute mark).] PEACE Viliumas Malinauskus of Grutas, Lithuania, for creating the amusement park known as "Stalin World" TECHNOLOGY Awarded jointly to John Keogh of Hawthorn, Victoria, Australia, for patenting the wheel in the year 2001, and to the Australian Patent Office for granting him Innovation Patent #2001100012. PUBLIC HEALTH Chittaranjan Andrade and B.S. Srihari of the National Institute of Mental Health and Neurosciences, Bangalore, India, for their probing medical discovery that nose picking is a common activity among adolescents. [REFERENCE: "A Preliminary Survey of Rhinotillexomania in an Adolescent Sample," Journal of Clinical Psychiatry, vol. 62, no. 6, June 2001, pp. 426-31.] Quote
ellieangel Posted July 25, 2003 Posted July 25, 2003 Ha ha !!!! I like this one.... Peter Barss of McGill University, for his impactful medical report "Injuries Due to Falling Coconuts." :lol: :lol: :lol: :lol: Quote
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