Chinese inventor spends 16 years designing hair-washing machine (VIDEO)

A robotic helmet? A sci-fi movie shoot? Wrong. Here’s what (a slightly eccentric) Chinese inventor has created to tackle a routine task: washing your hair.

The device is programmed to wash, massage and dry your hair.

And the latest video shows how it operates. The machine reminds one of an eccentric robotic helmet with water tanks, pumps, a goggle mask, a drain collar and an old-style switchboard. It turns washing your hair into a real challenge.

The clip shows how the helmet “massages” a person’s head, sliding across it. The device also screeches, and largely looks like a scene from a retro sci-fi film.

The hair-washing machine was designed by 38-year-old Chen Gongke, who broke 18 motorcycle helmets and spent 16 years on his creation, according to The Daily Star.

Apart from the helmets, the device consists of two water tanks and a powered control panel.

Gongke initially wanted to design the device for his grandmother – now, unfortunately, deceased – who was physically challenged, and couldn’t wash her hair herself.