Long-distance kissing made possible by robot lips - video

Long-distance kissing device created by a Chinese firm. 

When users kiss the device, which transmits data about their kisses obtained from motion sensors encased in silicon lips, it creates noises and warms up a little.

A Chinese start-up has created a device for long-distance kissing that sends data on users' kisses via motion sensors tucked away in silicon lips, which move simultaneously when repeating kisses received.

According to Beijing-based Siweifushe, MUA, which is named after the sound individuals typically make when blowing a kiss, also records and repeats sound and warms up slightly during kissing, improving the authenticity of the experience.

Users can even download kissing data that has been submitted by other users using a companion app. Lockdown isolation served as the catalyst for the invention. At their worst, China's lockdowns prevented residents from leaving their apartments for weeks at a time.

Inventor Zhao Jianbo remarked; 

"I was in a relationship back then, but due to lockdowns, I couldn't meet my girlfriend."

His doctoral project, which he worked on while still a student at the Beijing Film Academy, was centered on the lack of physical closeness in video chats. Later, he founded Siweifushe, which on January 22nd published MUA, its debut product. The cost of the item is 260 yuan ($38).

According to him, the company sold over 3,000 kissing machines and received over 20,000 orders in the two weeks following its introduction.

The MUA has colorless pursed lips sticking out from the front that mimic a moving stand. Couples must couple their kissing machines and download a software onto their smartphones in order to utilize it. When they kiss the gadget, it returns the favor.

At the house of Jing Zhiyuan in Beijing, China, a remote kissing device known as "Long Lost Touch" is on exhibit on a table. Associated Press/Tingshu Wang

The device comes in a variety of colors with the same gender-neutral lips. There have been conflicting opinions about it; some people found it intriguing, while others found it unsettling. One of the main issues was its lack of tongue.

Reviews online were conflicting. One person compared the sensation to "a warm pacifier."

On the Chinese online marketplace Taobao, they said, "Very uncomfortable, it doesn't feel like a real kiss."

Others claimed that it had benefited their long-distance relationships. I used to be able to see her but not touch her, but there is now a product that enables us to experience the kiss.

Even if you are single, according to another reviewer, it was a fun product.

On the social media platform Weibo, some users voiced worry that the gadget would be used to access China's severely prohibited internet erotica.

Zhao claimed that although his business complies with laws, "there's little we can do as for how people use the device."

The MUA remote kissing device is not the first. A "kiss transmission machine" was developed by Tokyo University of Electro-Communications researchers in 2011, and Malaysia's Imagineering Institute produced a similar device in 2016 under the name "Kissinger."

This report's sources included Chi Hui Lin. in conjunction with Reuters.

Source: Reuters.