Japanese Researchers Create Robot that Can Hug

The researchers from Tokyo have developed a Robot, named Sense-Roid, which hugs you in return for your hug.

The robot looks like a tailor’s mannequin with skin made up of silicon and has pressure sensors inside. The robot is connected to a jacket worn by the human user and it repeats the hug with the help of the pressure sensors. It has artificial muscles and vibrating devices that enhance the feeling of receiving a hug. The inventors of this robot are from the University of Electro-Communications in Tokyo.

One of the team members explained that the user feels a little uncomfortable in the beginning but later gets used to the feeling and starts feeling good when hugged by the robot. One of the applications of this device could be in the care of the elderly who live alone. They would feel comforted by receiving hugs from the robot. The Sense-Roid is being displayed at the 3D and Virtual Expo that begun on the 22^nd of June in Tokyo.