quote [ Hugs make us feel warm and safe and comforted and loved. If we need a hug and another human isn't available, we can sometimes get a little bit of satisfaction from hugging inanimate objects like stuffed animals, but it seems like robots might be able to be somewhat more fulfilling. The importance of hugs goes way beyond "oh that feels nice thank you." There’s plenty of research showing that hugs offer tangible health benefits, including lowering blood pressure and increasing oxytocin levels, as well as significant improvements to mental health, like social support reinforcement and stress relief. ]