Published on10/13/06
Hugs are often therapeutic, whether they are directed at adults or children. Engineers at the University of Massachusetts at Amherst has developed a vest which hopes to help people who suffer from high anxiety or autism, featuring pockets which hold air bladders that fills up with a push of a button, giving you the feeling of being hugged. The entire vest requires slightly over a minute to inflate. It looks like any other ordinary vest, but you probably need to stock up on rechargeable batteries if a commercial unit is ever produced, as the prototype runs on 10 AA batteries. If such a device is ever out in the market, most people who wear it will probably not reveal to others that they are doing so out of embarassment. Will such an idea work?