Working With This Test Dummy Is No Sweat
Not every Natick Lab employee is human.
One of the oldest staffers is a $386,000 copper dummy nicknamed Uncle Wiggly because of the jerky motions he makes when programmed to march. Wired to computers and heated to human skin temperature, the dummy tests the insulation of clothing and sleeping bags. Natick researchers have hauled Uncle Wiggly to mountaintops, deserts, jungles and the coast of Florida, where he evaluated wetsuits.
The dummy even posed for a Vogue fashion shoot in the 1980s.
“The manikins are great employees,” says scientist Thomas Endrusick, who also supervises two copper feet and a fiberglass hand for testing boots and gloves. “They come to work every day; they never complain.”
Using data from the dummies, Natick researchers can gauge how humans will hold up under virtually any weather conditions. In 1982, when the wind-chill factor in Cincinnati hit 59 below zero before an NFL playoff between the host Bengals and the San Diego Chargers, league commissioner Pete Rozelle phoned Natick scientist Ralph Goldman to ask if it was dangerous to play.
Don’t worry, Goldman advised. If the sun is out and heated benches are installed on the sidelines, the players will be fine. The game went on, with the Bengals winning, 27-7.
Nevertheless, Uncle Wiggly’s days might be numbered. Natick honchos recently met with a salesman who demonstrated a state-of-the-art fake leg (the rest of the body is still under construction) that can be programmed to sweat Evian water through millions of tiny pores. In contrast, Uncle Wiggly must wear a layer of water-soaked cotton to simulate sweating. (Scientists track the evaporation rate to test a fabric’s “breathability.”)
The new model, called Adam, has 150 individually controlled sweat zones and a simulated lung system that mimics the humidity of breathing.
Adam can be programmed to react as a male or female of any body type.
“We’re contemplating buying it,” says Endrusick, who adds that the sweating-dummy industry is bustling (it even held an international convention in Switzerland last year).
