I got a butt massage by an AI robot in L.A. Here’s how it went

My first meeting with Aescape, the AI-powered massage robot, was benign enough — if a bit eerie. As a solution, Litman imagined a “fully automated, customizable massage experience,” with the goal of “bringing personalized wellness robotics to the masses,” as the Aescape company describes its mission. The Aescape massage table’s padded face cradle and user touch screen. “The intent was to build a product that addressed the needs of people like myself who struggled with getting the specific massages that their body needed — whether that’s because of a lack of therapist availability, a lack of consistency among therapists or just the desire for a very personalized experience,” Litman said in an interview. Aescape knows where your body parts are located in space, so as to target the areas you’ve selected for your massage.