A couple of years ago, a Chinese startup invented a virtual kisser, a long-distance kissing machine that can transmit users’ kiss data to a long-distance lover. The data is collected through motion sensors hidden within the silicone lips, which move when replaying kisses.
The virtual kissing device, MUA, aptly named after the sound people make when blowing a kiss, is able to capture and replay sounds and warm up slightly during kissing, claimed the Beijing-based startup Siweifushe.
Users are also able to download kissing data submitted via an accompanying app by other users.
The idea came from China’s lengthy lockdown measures during the COVID-19 pandemic. The founder, Zhao Jianbo, explained that he had been in a relationship at the time, however, was unable to visit his girlfriend due to these strict nationwide lockdowns.
At the time, he was a student at Beijing Film Academy, and focused his graduate project on the lack of physical intimacy in video calls. This led to him later setting up the company and releasing MUA, the first and only product, back in January 2023, selling for around 260 yuan.
The MUA resembles a mobile stand with realistic pursed lips projecting from the front. Users must download an app onto their smartphones and pair their kissing machines, which they plug into their phone’s charging port. They activate the device using the app, then when they kiss it, it kisses back.
In the two weeks after the product’s release, it was reported that over 2,000 kissing machines had been sold, and the firm had received around 20,000 orders. This shows great promise for future technologies that connect people more intimately.
The MUA is not the first to tackle virtual kissing. In 2016, The Gadget Show featured the kissing app ‘Kissenger’, a technology that mimicked a real kiss through a touchpad. The team created a prototype that plugged into a phone’s headphone jack, and was triggered through pressure.
There are other companies successfully connecting people long-distance. British startup Little Riot has created Pillow Talk, a piece of technology that facilitates human connection. Pillow Talk allows you to connect to a loved one when unable to be in the same place as them, all through the sound and feel of their heartbeat. As a pair, each of you get a wristband to wear to bed and a small speaker that should be placed under your pillow. The wristband picks up your real-time heartbeat and sends it to the other person’s pillow. In your own pillow, you can hear the heartbeat of your loved one, wherever in the world you each may be.
Connection facilitating technology isn’t new, and became especially popular during lockdowns. So is there a future for more intimate technology?
More recently, people have been finding intimacy in unexpected places. Since LLMs have become more accessible, people have been finding companionship in these models. Having trained the models to know them like a partner, regular people are living side by side with their trained models, speaking with them via voice mode, and building relationships with machines. There are also specialised AI girlfriend/boyfriend apps, where people are able to form these relationships from the get-go, shunning in-person interaction altogether.
So will the next phase of intimate tech get rid of the human connection altogether? Maybe the next step will be human and humanoids partnering. Or will physical devices that bring real people together be the future of intimacy? As technology rapidly evolves, it will impact every aspect of our lives, not just jobs, but relationships and family matters.
