\n<\/p>\n
I am alone in a dimly lit room, splayed face down on a table. Megan Thee Stallion\u2019s Mamushi is bumping from a speaker, and on a large screen, two white circles roam up and down an outline of my body.<\/p>\n
Am I at an exclusive German sex club at 2am?<\/p>\n
Sadly, no. I am in a suburban shopping complex on a Tuesday afternoon, getting a massage from an Aescape robot.<\/p>\n
Aescape describes itself as a \u201cpioneering lifestyle robotics company\u201d that is \u201crevolutionizing the wellness industry by introducing exceptional massage experiences\u201d. Put simply, they make robot masseuses: cushioned tables with two large, white, robotic arms that rub your body based on your preferences and preselected programs.<\/p>\n
I love massages \u2013 I am never happier than when the profane flesh sack I call my body is being kneaded like Wagyu beef. So I opt for a 30-minute \u201cPower Up\u201d, which costs $60 and promises to leave me feeling \u201cinvigorated and alert\u201d.<\/p>\n
A<\/span>ccording to the Mayo Clinic Health System, massage therapy can help with a number of conditions including anxiety, depression, sports injuries, digestive disorders, headaches and soft tissue sprains. It can also improve circulation, strengthen the body\u2019s immune response, lower stress levels and increase energy.<\/p>\n But is a massage from a machine as good as a massage from a person?<\/p>\n \u201cThere are so many contraptions out there. My mom has a massage chair and I use a Theragun at home,\u201d says Crista de la Garza, a board-certified massage therapist in Colorado. While there can be value in these tools, De la Garza says she is not worried about a robot coming for her job.<\/p>\n First, there are real physical benefits to being touched by a person. During the early pandemic, for example, when people were isolating and social distancing, many reported feeling \u201cskin hunger\u201d \u2013 a sense of deprivation and abandonment that comes from not getting enough physical touch.<\/p>\n A 2024 paper in the journal Nature said that receiving touch was \u201cof critical importance\u201d and found that touch interventions helped reduce pain and feelings of depression and anxiety in adults. The paper also found that touch interventions from objects or robots \u201cresulted in similar physical benefits, but lower mental health benefits\u201d.<\/p>\n \u201cIt is a powerful thing to be touched safely and appropriately and therapeutically,\u201d says De la Garza.<\/p>\n In fairness, Aescape\u2019s website says it \u201cis not about replacing therapists\u201d. Instead, \u201cit\u2019s about enhancing their work and addressing the industry\u2019s labor shortage.\u201d<\/p>\n <\/span>A robot masseuse made by Aescape.<\/span> Photograph: Courtesy of Aescape<\/p>\n \u201cNothing can replace a human,\u201d the efficient, blond receptionist tells me when I arrive for my appointment. I\u2019m late because of parking woes, but the machine doesn\u2019t care. It\u2019s a regular spa, with manicures, pedicures, human massages and crystals for sale at the front desk. On our way to the robot\u2019s chamber, she says the Aescape has been popular, especially with clients who \u201caren\u2019t comfortable being touched by a stranger\u201d, she says.<\/p>\n Inside, she hands me a high-compression, Aescape-branded top and leggings to wear during my treatment. Apparently, they help enhance the machine\u2019s \u201cbody detection\u201d. I lie down on the table and hold very still while the Aescape scans my body. She shows me the screen controls and an emergency button that I can press if anything goes wrong.<\/p>\n skip past newsletter promotion<\/p>\n Practical advice, expert insights and answers to your questions about how to live a good life<\/p>\n Privacy Notice: <\/strong>Newsletters may contain information about charities, online ads, and content funded by outside parties. If you do not have an account, we will create a guest account for you on theguardian.com to send you this newsletter. You can complete full registration at any time. For more information about how we use your data see our Privacy Policy. We use Google reCaptcha to protect our website and the Google Privacy Policy and Terms of Service apply.<\/span><\/p>\n after newsletter promotion<\/p>\n \u201cWe haven\u2019t needed that!\u201d she says brightly before leaving me to change.<\/p>\n O<\/span>nce I\u2019m prone and facing the screen, I\u2019m confronted with an array of choices. What kind of music would I like to listen to? Lo-fi ambient jazz, classic rock or a playlist called \u201cbrat\u201d? I can view an unsettlingly detailed outline of my body \u2013 they didn\u2019t need to depict my saddle bags so clearly \u2013 or soothing videos of the ocean, a snowy mountain or a rainy forest. I can adjust the height of my headrest and change the pressure of the machine.<\/p>\n One of the things that makes De la Garza skeptical about robot massage is that it \u201cmakes you think too much\u201d. Getting massaged by a person involves more surrender \u2013 the therapist controls most of the experience, she says, and the client can turn off their brain: \u201cThe client\u2019s job is to breathe, communicate as needed, and simply be in a relaxed state.\u201d<\/p>\n Indeed, I find myself distracted by the urge to tweak the music and scenery. Do I like looking at snow? It\u2019s OK. Can I relax to the \u201cbrat\u201d playlist? No \u2013 back to ambient lo-fi. Is that really what my butt looks like? Chilling.<\/p>\n Graphic with three lines of text that say, in bold, \u2018Well Actually\u2019, then \u2018Read more on living a good life in a complex world,\u2019 then a pinkish-lavender pill-shaped button with white letters that say \u2018More from this section\u2019\u00a0<\/p>\n Some friends said a machine massage would make them nervous. What if the powerful robotic arms skewered my soft flesh like a pile of antipasti? I, on the other hand, was more worried it wouldn\u2019t be strong enough, and that my knots of tension would remain coiled and tight.<\/p>\n But the massage is enjoyable. The robot\u2019s blunt, plastic hands are gently warmed. They can\u2019t knead and poke as precisely as human fingertips, but their ministrations feel pleasant. Actually, the hands are more like knobs, roughly the size and shape of small Dutch clogs. It feels a little like someone pressing their fist into your back.<\/p>\n At the end of my session, I feel looser and more relaxed than I had at the beginning. I don\u2019t feel invigorated, exactly, but I do think I could drop into a deep, dreamless sleep.<\/p>\n It is certainly no substitute for a real massage. I like the surrender and precision of a normal massage, and the Aescape can\u2019t massage the head, hands or feet. But if I can see myself going again if I feel particularly sore after a workout, or if I find myself roaming around a suburban shopping center with 30 minutes to kill. It\u2019s relatively cheap, and you don\u2019t have to tip.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" I am alone in a dimly lit room, splayed face down on a table. Megan Thee Stallion\u2019s Mamushi is bumping from a speaker, and on a large screen, two white circles roam up and down an outline of my body. Am I at an exclusive German sex club at 2am? Sadly, no. I am in<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":19955,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[52],"tags":[12131,12255,5464,6188],"class_list":{"0":"post-19954","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-technology","8":"tag-lived","9":"tag-massage","10":"tag-robot","11":"tag-tale"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/naijaglobalnews.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/19954","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/naijaglobalnews.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/naijaglobalnews.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/naijaglobalnews.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/naijaglobalnews.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=19954"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/naijaglobalnews.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/19954\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/naijaglobalnews.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/19955"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/naijaglobalnews.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=19954"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/naijaglobalnews.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=19954"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/naijaglobalnews.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=19954"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}