Disembodied remote kissing lips can be yours for under $50

A remote kissing device developed in China has gone viral on social media, after a video of the phone-controlled device’s lips puckering and smooching was put online. It has since garnered wide mainstream media coverage.

The flexible mouth-shaped device was patented by the Changzhou Vocational Institute of Mechatronic Technology, in east China’s Jiangsu Province. It’s being sold for 288 yuan ($42) on the Chinese retail site Taobao.

To use the device, you give a kiss to its ‘module’ area, which is then transferred to the moving ‘mouth’ parts of the device in front of the module.

You can link your phone to the device via Bluetooth and an app, to send the ‘kiss’ movements to another user’s mouth device. Or you can plug your phone directly into the device to activate the remote kissing.

Jiang Zhongli, the leading inventor of the design, told Chinese state media: “In my university, I was in a long-distance relationship with my girlfriend so we only [had] contact with each other through the phone. That’s where the inspiration for this device originated.”

State media said that as well as being used by people in long-distance relationships, the device could benefit people with oral diseases.

It’s designed to also be used by people who aren’t in relationships, but who still fancy some remote kissing action. A feature on the app that links to the device allows you to pair up anonymously with strangers also using the app, and exchange kissing motions with them.

You can also upload your unique kiss movements to the app, which other users can then download, then pucker up to experience them.

It’s not difficult to imagine how a device like this could be used for oral sextech purposes, rather than just innocent kissing. The mouth part of the device doesn’t seem to be able to widen much, though.

In 2016 a similar device, called the Kissenger, was released. The Malaysia-made device worked similarly to the newer Chinese device, but had a ‘mouth’ section that wasn’t particularly realistic, and looked more like a bland ‘pad’ rather than a somewhat replica of a mouth.

Read next: Rubjoy is a $399 mastur-bot designed to give ‘endless blowjobs’