A Chinese start-up company has invented a remote kissing device that transmits users' kiss "data" collected through motion sensors on silicone lips.

MUA – named after the sound people usually make when kissing – also captures and reproduces the sound and warms up slightly during the kiss, making the experience more authentic, the Beijing-based company Siweifushe said.

The device was inspired by being in quarantine for a long time as a result of Covid-19. "I was in a relationship at the time, but I couldn't meet my girlfriend because of the isolation," said inventor Zhao Jianbo.

To use the device, lovers must download an app on their phones and virtually connect their kissing devices. When they kiss the device, it kisses the other person.

MUA costs 260 yuan ($38). Two weeks after release, the company sold 3,000 devices and received another 20,000 orders.

Comments are mixed. Some people say it's an interesting product, others point out that it has helped them in long-distance relationships, while for some people it's an awkward device that doesn't resemble real kissing at all. There were also complaints about the lack of language. oO

MUA is not the first remote kissing device. Researchers at the University of Electro-Communications in Tokyo invented a "kiss broadcasting machine" in 2011, while the Imagineering Institute in Malaysia created a similar device called the "Kissinger" in 2016.