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A Vest to Hug You
Roland Piquepaille writes "In "New vest offers wearer a portable hug," the Boston Globe reports that engineers at the University of Massachusetts at Amherst have designed a vest to help people suffering from autism or high anxiety. This inflatable vest has pockets that hold air bladders and is powered by 10 AA batteries. When you push a button, the vest squeezes — or hugs — you. Now the engineers also want to know if their vest is effective — apparently a premiere. So they're testing it with both students and psychatric patients. So far, it's just a prototype, but read more for additional details and a picture of this hugging vest."
Being a nerd, I will admit to being somewhat inexperienced on this subject, but it is my opinion that a hug is about being close to someone and feeling their warmth, not being sqeezed by an air compressor...
Surely, this gadget will provide a ray of hope for cold, unfeeling, wireframe mothers everywhere.
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This is a great invention for pirates!
Not only does it hug you to sleep on those long pacific ocean crossings, but it'll also serve as a life vest should the unthinkable happen and your land-lubber-hearties force you to walk the plank!
Roger the cabin boy must be so relieved by this idea...
>>>Scanning for I.D.I.O.T.S. >>>
>>>I.D.I.O.T.S. FOUND! >>>
Probably, but it's better than nothing. I suffer from severe OCD, often making real hugs more stressful than simply avoiding human contact. This vest sounds like a reasonable stand-in for those times that I need a hug but can't bring myself to actually go through with one.
Reality is fluffy!
But it will be a top seller among the ravers
If they are going to design biomechanical clothing, they might as well design a pair of shorts to massage your lower torso. They would be very popular with slashdotters who still live with their parents:
Bobby: Calls through closed bathroom door "I need to get another pair of massage shorts this pair is almost worn out."
Mother: "Why Bobby, that's your third pair of massage shorts this month you've worn out."
Son: *silence*
Mother: "Bobby, what are you doing in there." knocks on door "Open this door this instance."
Bobby: "Go away. I'm brushing my teeth. Yeah, that's it, brushing my teeth."
"You'll get nothing, and you'll like it!"
Dr. Evil: Well, don't look at me like I'm friggin' Frankenstein! Come here and give your father a hug.
Scott Evil: Get away from me, you lazy-eyed psycho!
Of course, it would have to be an EVIL hugging vest. Now where are the (oblig) sharks with frickin' lasers.
Here's the original hug machine the story refers to, if you're interested.
http://grandin.com/inc/intro-squeeze.html
Of course, Dr. Grandin also designs slaughterhouses.
I want a vest like the one worn by Michael J. Fox during Back to the Future Part II. You know, the one that automatically dried itself out after he fell into the fountain? Your clothes are now dry!
There is no mod option "-1: Disagree" for a reason. "Overrated" is not an acceptable substitute. Post something instead.
i doubt that will make anyone feel better
...
but it will feel so good when they stop
The article probably frustrated the researchers - and certainly misled most of the slashdotters - by fixating on the idea of a hug. I'm not sure how it would work for people suffering from anxiety, but for people with autism, what they want is specifically a calming pressure without the stressful-for-them element of human emotions. Definitely not a hug. I'd like to know what Dr. Grandin thinks of the vest. By the way, she is a consultant on slaughterhouse design because she knows how to build them so that they are less stressful for the cattle than conventional ones. Think empathy, not sadism or callousness.
Thank you Doctor. I didn't realize there was a scientific link between OCD and a lack of hugging.
Seriously, this sounds like the typical US tendency to find someone to blame for every medical condition.
This is a variation on the Squeeze Machine that Temple Grandin developed for herself. Some types of autistics need/crave tactile stimulation. It can help them organize themselves, and even can be a form of pleasure. I know one fellow with Asperger's who said he loved it when people punched him in the gut.