"Would you like a virtual hug?" said Xyla Foxlin, a sophomore from Case Western Reserve University, to a woman passing by her booth at this year’s International Consumer Electronics Show.
"What’s a virtual hug?" replied the passer-by, Tiphaine Bichot.
Ms. Foxlin handed Ms. Bichot a fuzzy, brown teddy bear that happened to be tethered electronically to an identical stuffed animal.
"The idea is that, as I give one bear a hug, it sends a Wi-Fi message to that one, and that bear gently vibrates," the student said. As the visitor nestled the toy to her chest and began to feel the simulated embrace, she laughed delightedly, with a wide-eyed smile.
Image: Chronicle photo by Jeffrey R. Young Digital teddy bears that enable people to share hugs from afar were among the products on display at last week’s CES consumer electronics show. The bears’ inventors are Harshita Gupta, a high-school senior in California, and Xyla Foxlin, a sophomore at Case Western Reserve U.
