(click to enlarge)

A grandmother on the west coast can give her grandson on the east coast a real-time Cyberhug™ using teddy bear peripheral devices linked by personal computers via the Internet.  As the grandmother hugs her teddy bear, sensors in the device pick up the physical interaction and send a signal over the Internet to the grandson's teddy bear. Mechanical devices in his teddy bear cause the bear to give him a hug as directed by the grandmother's physical input. The grandson can return the hug in  a similar manner thereby allowing the two of them to interact in real-time through bilateral touch.