Meet Aescape: Automated massage robot that vanishes body’s tension makes debut

Artificial intelligence can help find insights, wax lyrics about anything you please, and even create images of any scenario your mind can conjure. But can it be a masseuse?

San Francisco-based design studio Whipsaw has unveiled a cutting-edge robotic massage table, Aescape.

This machine features a pair of metallic arms adorned with silicon-padded “hands” designed to replicate the human touch, delivering deep-tissue massages. Aescape founder Eric Litman initially created a prototype before collaborating with Whipsaw to bring the final product to life.

The design team at Whipsaw faced a unique challenge: making the robotic arms appear approachable and non-intimidating.

Speaking to Dezeen , Whipsaw’s founder highlighted the use of sensors within light rings to minimize any anxiety users might feel during the body scan process.

“Its appearance had to look very friendly and approachable, especially considering that robotic arms can be intimidating to some,” Harden added.

Aescape leverages artificial intelligence to make each massage personalized to the individual user. Suspended sensors create a 3D scan of the user’s body, and this data is processed alongside user inputs on a touchscreen display on the massage table.

The AI-driven program learns and improves from each massage, guided by professional massage therapists’ techniques. “Every stroke that the robot is commanded to do has been informed by licensed professional massage therapists, many prototype experiments, and years of robotic research,” Harden explained.

Massage like never before

Aescape offers a new approach to massages, moving away from the traditional human touch to a more tech-savvy experience.

According to Wired , the process begins with the user changing into Aerware. This custom-designed apparel ensures that the depth sensors accurately capture the user’s body.

Once positioned on the massage table, users interact with a touchscreen display to select from various massage programs. While Aescape currently offers 20 different options, more are expected in the future.

Aescape then scans the body with infrared to map the body’s contours and identify key areas for the massage, generating over a million 3D data points. These data points remain within the system to help AI improve its techniques albeit in an anonymized form.

During the session, users can see a timeline of the massage and adjust pressure, position of the headrest, armrest, leg bolster, and other settings.

Additionally, users can opt to be entertained with music and calming visuals as the robotic masseuse moves along the body and eases tension.

Efficiency and sustainability in massage therapy

More than just a technological marvel, Aescape presents itself as a solution to an industry that is demanding and often physically detrimental to therapists’ bodies.

“People age out of the profession on average in seven years, because it’s just so hard on your wrists and lower back,” Litman told Wired earlier this year.

Aescape stresses that it aims to augment, and not replace, human therapists, highlighting the industry’s labor shortages that were exacerbated by the COVID-19 pandemic.

Besides the machine’s AI-driven learning capabilities which allow it to refine its massage techniques continually, Aescape offers environmental benefits, such as reducing the need for therapists to commute and thereby cutting down on vehicle pollution and energy usage.