A French woman called Temple Grandin designed the first hug machine. Now it’s used to soothe people on the autism spectrum.
Her inspiration was the cattle’s squeeze chute she saw on a visit to her aunt’s ranch. She noticed that some of the cattle calmed down immediately after pressure was administered, realising that deep pressure calms down hypersensitivity.
Weighted blankets and swaddles for infants work in the same way.
In a hug machine, the amount of pressure can be controlled. A person sits on a chair where the backside is covered, and after sitting, the chair blows up the cushion and squeezes the person sitting on it.