Crave companionship?  Do you find yourself lacking in love and absent affection, or do you simply need a good hug?  Finally, thanks to Japanese robotics engineers, a hug will always be at the ready with the Sense-Roid HugBot.

Combine the Sense-Roid HugBot with another Japanese creation, a mood-matching cat ear headset, and your emotional state may improve despite the fact that another’s opinion of you may take a serious hit.

The Sense-Roid HugBot was developed by a student at the University of Electro-Communications in Japan, and is described as:

“The Sense-Roid is essentially a sewer’s dress form–a mannequin torso, in other words–that wears a very particular jacket or vest. The user also wears a jacket, and when the two articles of clothing connect, they being to inflate with air and vibrate in ways meant to simulate a real hug.”

“In fact, the Sense-Roid mimics the pressure from the user’s hug, so in a way, hugging it is like hugging yourself. It detects the precise nature of the hug with micro switch sensors, then reciprocates in real-time. There are no known plans to make the Sense-Roid any more than a prototype.”

Sounds warm and cuddly, no?   If the description doesn’t grab you (pun intended), perhaps the “loving” video demonstration below will.

Forgive me if I’m creeped out by the concept and the video, but if I need a hug and can’t find a willing partner (highly likely), don’t expect me to ever turn to the Sense-Roid HugBot for a loving embrace.

What do you think of the Sense-Roid HugBot?  Odd or awesome?

Popular Science

Marriage.  The formal definition of the practice is, “Marriage is a social union or legal contract between people that creates kinship.”  Sounds so special, and it most certainly is, to some.  Unfortunately, nearly 50 percent of all marriages in America end in divorce, and a new, coin-based, method of getting married, Concept Shed’s AutoWed Wedding Machine may result in those figures to rise even higher if the marriage method is made more official.

The AutoWed Wedding Machine,  2.5-meter-tall [8-foot], device mimics an actual wedding ceremony, producing a printed, but unofficial, marriage certificate for a dollar or U.K. pound.

After inserting your money, entering the details of you and your “betrothed” using a steampunk-inspired keyboard, a robotic voice reads out your names.  Once complete, the AutoWed dispenses a set of rings in plastic eggs, producing a “perfect” marriage.

AutoWed inventor Sam Lanyon:

“About a year and a half ago we were playing around with an idea about the bastardisation of a traditional wedding by crossing it with a parking meter. We stuck it into the sketchbook and it just sat there as an idea.”

“We’re going to be designing a simplified version. This one looks great but the custom-built keyboard and other details means that it’s quite expensive. So we’re producing a cut-down version for other bars to appreciate the payback.”

While purely for fun at this point, one can envision certain spots on the globe, Las Vegas for example, where AutoWed could be used as an actual method for getting married.

The question is, would you opt to get married using AutoWed, or would you choose a more traditional marriage ceremony?

AutoWed Wedding Vending Machine by Concept Shed from Conceptshed on Vimeo.

Wired

Most of us are familiar with the concept of speed dating, even if we haven’t been on one ourselves, but this version helped bridge a hundred mile gap with the free calling technology.

Each “date” lasted three minutes.

Sue Ostler, a “professional flirt diva” (eh?), suggested that in the future ” the experience of dating via video will be commonplace”.

What do you reckon? Internet dating is now a generally accepted way of finding a mate. What about video dating?

Apparently it’s those gym-going fitness freaks that are the most self-centered.

The survey of over two-thousand British men and women already in relationships found that there was a strong correlation between geeks and their openness to pleasing a partner in bed. Four in five techies said that sex should be more about “the partner”, compared to 41% of fitness bods.

When asked by www.PS3PriceCompare.co.uk “Do you regularly use sex toys with your partner?” the respondents that worked in the tech sector – in jobs within IT such as computer analysts, web design and development – were most likely to.

Mind you, it seems general office workers and sports and fitness workers are having more sex than techies.

Mike Elsmore, who designed the survey, commented, “The response by the participants that made me giggle the most was that those of us more into gadgets and new technology were more likely to use sex toys with our partners, something that with hindsight may have been obvious before the box was ticked!”