keccers
@keccers.eth
Aescape robotic massage was created by a handful of AdTech/Big Tech alums and just announced an $83mm financing round A massage costs $60/30 min session, which you have to undergo while wearing a bodysuit provided by the company so it can model your body. Only works from shoulders to knees, with “calves coming soon!” The machines will be placed in higher end locations like Equinox and Four Seasons hotels https://archive.is/2025.03.04-121802/https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2025-03-04/ai-massage-startup-raises-83-million-brings-robots-to-equinox
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nicholas 🧨
@nicholas
So it's MORE expensive than a human massage? Hrm.
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keccers
@keccers.eth
Was struck by that too. Rationalized it by thinking that these rich early adopters will subsidize scaling so it gets cheaper with time
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nicholas 🧨
@nicholas
Sounds like positioning it as a premium alternative to human massage, at a financial premium. I'm doubtful but Equinox gonna Equinox
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keccers
@keccers.eth
Erica had a good point here too about how it might be worse https://warpcast.com/heavygweit/0x986b3c8e
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nicholas 🧨
@nicholas
The biggest loss to me is I want insights from the massage therapist. They touch thousands of bodies a year and know things. Tell me what you see when you put your hands on my muscles! Not impossible for robots to get their but cognitive biases of the institution building massage robots unlikely to deliver meaningful lifestyle/ergonomic insights first.
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nicholas 🧨
@nicholas
*there duh
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keccers
@keccers.eth
Whoa, what a fascinating way to think about this. To me the impersonal nature of the robot makes it easier to turn that into an economic exchange, too. $60 massage, + $30 for “muscle insights report”
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