I’ve had a lot of massages in my life—Thai sessions that had me approaching joint dislocation, Balinese flower-oil rituals, quick chair sessions at the airport—but never one that came with a power switch. When I heard San Diego was welcoming its first fully robotic massage experience, I booked immediately. A therapist that never cancels, never gets tired, and runs on AI instead of espresso? I was intrigued.
So, I headed up to the airy Sunny’s Spa at The Seabird Resort in Oceanside—the only place in San Diego where you can swap your massage therapist for a motherboard (for now)—to try the Aescape Robotic Massage. Aescape, a New York–based wellness tech company, designs machines that use AI-driven body mapping and pressure-responsive sensors to bring robotics into the recovery space.
The Setup
The treatment room resembles your usual wellness sanctuary: soft music, dim lights, and a faint scent of eucalyptus. But the centerpiece is a futuristic bed outfitted with two sleek robotic arms and a touch screen glowing underneath the face cradle. A soft motorized hum hangs in the air, like the quiet, steady whirr of medical imaging equipment that decided to take up meditation. The mechanical arms remind me of aerospace parts, with rounded joints and silicone-coated contact surfaces designed to feel smooth rather than cold against the skin.
Before the massage begins, the machine asks me to customize my session. On the screen, I select which muscles need attention (shoulders, always shoulders!) and adjust the sliders for pressure, speed, and even the background music. It’s a bit like using a touch screen sandwich kiosk, but I’m ordering deep-tissue on my traps instead of toppings.
Once I hit start, a soft, mechanical undertow settles into the room, steady and intentional, in the way engineered movement finds its rhythm. The arms glide toward me, using body-scanning cameras and micro-pressure sensors embedded in the contact pads to reportedly capture 1.2 million data points and create a unique blueprint for my massage. Within seconds, I feel the first press—firm, even, deliberate.
The Sensation
At first, I’m hyperaware that I’m being touched by metal and plastic, not hands. The machine emits soft, occasional clicks—subtle reminders that gears are calibrating beneath the surface. But as the system finds its rhythm, the motions become hypnotic, long, sweeping strokes that never falter or fade. It’s strong, and the pressure stays consistent along the length of my spine.
Watching the screen becomes part of the experience. It’s easy to view and adjust the settings without moving my head. I watch my body map light up as sensors track the pressure and what’s next in the sequence. It’s empowering to be in control mid-massage, tweaking the intensity or skipping ahead with a tap.
But, eventually, curiosity gets the better of me. I decide to see what this machine can really do. I slide the pressure bar all the way to the max….
Read full article at San Diego Magazine’s website.