Closing the long-distance relationship gap through technology
Jackie Chia Hsun Lee invents "Lover's Cups"
Aug 4, 2006
People who live continents apart from their families or girl- or boyfriends will have a creative new way to help relieve their bouts of homesickness and aching hearts: lover's cups.
Yes, lover's cups. The cups, which come in pairs, are actual glasses that glow whenever they're in use. So when one "lover" is drinking from a cup in, say, Boston, the cup of his or her lover in another country will light up also, keeping the couple's long-distance relationship literally glowing.
The cups were invented by Jackie Chia Hsun Lee of Taiwan and Hyemin Chung of South Korea, who were students and lab mates at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. The lovers cups were created as an offshoot of another invention that they made for a course at MIT, where Lee was admitted in 2003 on a full scholarship at the MIT Media Lab.
The invention for their MIT course was a pair of tablecloths that could detect weather conditions of each other's environment -- regardless of how far apart they were. If it was snowing, raining or sunny in one tablecloth's setting, then the other tablecloth in another continent would "know" and "report" it through color changes.
As Lee continued his studies at MIT -- he was admitted as a master's degree student and is now working on his PhD there -- he grew increasingly homesick for his family in Taiwan. The computer genius turned to technology to help relieve his severe homesickness.
"I'm interested in designing…everyday objects…to enrich our living experience and make technology connect people's emotion and feelings," says Lee in a statement on his MIT Web page.
With Chung, Lee invented the lover's cups. The labmates found a way to imbed liquid sensors, wireless Wi-Fi links, and light-emitting diode, or LED, technology into glassware, which enable the imbedded glasses to light up.
The invention is reflective of Lee's philosophy about technology; that is, the most reliable tool for expressing human affection is not necessarily spoken language, but the unspoken metaphysical. When both "lovers" drink from the cups simultaneously, Lee says, the warm glow that results is like a virtual lovers' kiss.
It's been also a virtual whirlwind of publicity for Lee. He and the lover's cups have been featured on the Discovery Chanel, the National Geographic Channel, Reuters news agency, and other media in the USA and Taiwan. Glass companies and art studios in Taiwan have expressed interested in manufacturing the lover's cups, too.
Lee is unfazed by all the attention. Instead, the budding inventor is looking to new, if not comical, ways to use technology to express emotions. Already, he is working on a ball that people can throw at their TVs whenever they don't like a character or person on the TV screen. When the ball hits the TV, the image of the person in the TV gets distorted and "screams."
Yes, lover's cups. The cups, which come in pairs, are actual glasses that glow whenever they're in use. So when one "lover" is drinking from a cup in, say, Boston, the cup of his or her lover in another country will light up also, keeping the couple's long-distance relationship literally glowing.
The cups were invented by Jackie Chia Hsun Lee of Taiwan and Hyemin Chung of South Korea, who were students and lab mates at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. The lovers cups were created as an offshoot of another invention that they made for a course at MIT, where Lee was admitted in 2003 on a full scholarship at the MIT Media Lab.
The invention for their MIT course was a pair of tablecloths that could detect weather conditions of each other's environment -- regardless of how far apart they were. If it was snowing, raining or sunny in one tablecloth's setting, then the other tablecloth in another continent would "know" and "report" it through color changes.
As Lee continued his studies at MIT -- he was admitted as a master's degree student and is now working on his PhD there -- he grew increasingly homesick for his family in Taiwan. The computer genius turned to technology to help relieve his severe homesickness.
"I'm interested in designing…everyday objects…to enrich our living experience and make technology connect people's emotion and feelings," says Lee in a statement on his MIT Web page.
With Chung, Lee invented the lover's cups. The labmates found a way to imbed liquid sensors, wireless Wi-Fi links, and light-emitting diode, or LED, technology into glassware, which enable the imbedded glasses to light up.
The invention is reflective of Lee's philosophy about technology; that is, the most reliable tool for expressing human affection is not necessarily spoken language, but the unspoken metaphysical. When both "lovers" drink from the cups simultaneously, Lee says, the warm glow that results is like a virtual lovers' kiss.
It's been also a virtual whirlwind of publicity for Lee. He and the lover's cups have been featured on the Discovery Chanel, the National Geographic Channel, Reuters news agency, and other media in the USA and Taiwan. Glass companies and art studios in Taiwan have expressed interested in manufacturing the lover's cups, too.
Lee is unfazed by all the attention. Instead, the budding inventor is looking to new, if not comical, ways to use technology to express emotions. Already, he is working on a ball that people can throw at their TVs whenever they don't like a character or person on the TV screen. When the ball hits the TV, the image of the person in the TV gets distorted and "screams."
Article Reference: http://www.sampan.org/show_article.php?display=741
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