Vest lets Facebook users hug from afar

The designer of the Like-A-Hug vest develops technologies that deliver 'a reawakening of a sensorial spacial experience.'

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Agence France-Presse

Mon, Oct 08 2012 at 10:20 AM

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Computers, Facebook, Web

An image of the Like-A-Hug vest in action

Image: Melissa Kit Chow

SAN FRANCISCO — A vest developed in Massachusetts Institute of Technology lets Facebook users hug one another no matter how far apart they are.

A Like-A-Hug vest on display on Oct. 5 at the website of designer Melissa Kit Chow was touted as "wearable social media" that inflates to embrace wearers whenever Facebook friends "Like" items they post at the social network.

Chow worked with Andy Payne and Phil Seaton in the MIT Media Lab to create the puffy black vests, according to her website.

Like-A-Hug lets hugs "be given via Facebook, bringing us closer together despite physical distance," Chow said in a post describing the vest.

And, provided the sender is also wearing Like-A-Hug, a recipient can return a hug by squeezing their own vest to deflate it.

Chow described herself as a graduate of the Harvard Graduate School of Design who subtly skews everyday interactions with the environment for "a reawakening of a sensorial spacial experience."