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 Friday 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.”
