Ad: Manage updates with the Download App
ie8 fix

fits.me

FitBot robot mannequin gets bodacious

Va-va voom! The FitBot just got busty.

The shape-shifting robot mannequin, previously only available with a male physique, now comes in female form too. Score one for robot gender equality.

The robot is part of a virtual fitting room service for online retailers created by Estonian start-up Fits.me. Customers shopping for clothes at a participating site enter their measurements online (height, chest, arm length, torso, and so on), then see photos of a real-life mannequin shaped just like them (only headless) "trying on" items in various sizes and styles.

To be clear, shoppers are not watching the robot try on clothes in real time. When a retailer signs up for the service, Fits.me snaps pictures of the bot trying on the garb in the shop's inventory and stores those photos in an online database that shoppers access later. (Watch the vid below for a safe-for-work demonstration of the naked lady FitBot trying on clothing.)

The FitBot aims to tackle online fashion retail's biggest hurdles--the lack of a fitting room and resulting hassle of having to return ill-fitting clothes. Instead of just eyeballing clothes online and guessing which size would work best, shoppers can get a more accurate sense of whether a garment will look fab or get them nominated for "What Not to Wear." … Read more

Robot mannequin helps shoppers find the right fit

How do you increase the odds that a shirt you bought online will fit just right? Well, you could cross your fingers--or enlist the help of a new shape-shifting robot mannequin that shows you how clothes hang on your frame.

The headless robot is part of a virtual fitting room service for retailers created by Estonian start-up Fits.me. Customers shopping at a participating site enter their body measurements online (height, chest, arm length, torso, type, and so on), then see photos of a mannequin shaped just like them "trying on" the item they're eyeing in different sizes and styles.

For now, the robo-mannequin can only step in for male shoppers. Created using scientific algorithms based on more than 30,000 3D human body scans, it can shift into 2,000 different male body shapes (wait, are there really that many male body shapes?!), gaining or losing pecs and biceps with the adjustment of a scroll bar.

The virtual fitting room, which launched earlier this year, is currently being tested by several retailers, including Germany's Quelle and U.K.-based Hawes & Curtis, which makes and sells shirts and other apparel items.

"Not only do we expect it to increase sales," Hawes & Curtis' e-commerce director, Antony Comyns, told the BBC, "but it should also cut down on returns, because customers should be receiving a product that fits perfectly on their bodies." … Read more