BEIJING. A remote kissing machine invented by a Chinese startup that created a device capable of transmitting data about users’ kisses via touch sensors on silicone lipsto transfer them to a similar kiss recipient device.

OUR MUA device – pronounced “mua”, the sound we usually make when kissing someone – also “captures” and reproduces the sounds and movements of the lips during a kiss, making the experience more authentic, according to the Chinese manufacturer Seafushe Company.

Users can even upload friendship data saved by other users to the companion smartphone app. In this way, the recipients of the kiss will be able to enjoy their gift another time or save it for reuse.

Device and software inventors drew inspiration from draconian isolation. During the strictest days of the lockdown, Chinese authorities banned citizens from leaving their apartments, in some cases for months. “At the time, I was romantically involved with a young woman, but because of the curfew, it was impossible to meet her,” says long-distance kissing inventor Zhao Jianbao.

As a student at the Beijing Film Academy, Zhao focused his thesis on the lack of physical contact and intimacy during video calls. He later created Siweifushe, which launched the MUA device on the market on January 22, 2023. The system, which is Siweifushe’s first commercial product, costs 260 yuan (35 euros).

High demand

Two weeks after launching Remote Kiss, the company has sold 3,000 units and received orders for another 20,000. MUA looks like a cell phone stand with plump lips protruding from the front. To use it, couples in love need to download the application to their mobile phones and connect the device to them. When they kiss the device, it reacts to the kiss.

The machine is sold in several colors, but with unisex lips of the same shape. The first reviews were full of questions, and some users reported that they were confused by the process. Among the main complaints was the lack of a tongue on the device’s kiss. One user called the remote kissing device a “warm baby pacifier”. A post on the Taobao online platform said, “Very inconvenient and embarrassing. It doesn’t feel like a real kiss at all.” Other users, however, reported that the small device helped their relationship survive despite the geographic distance that separated them. Others have also raised concerns that the device could be used as an online sex toy, in violation of strict Chinese law.