--- title: Humans So Bad at Flirting That Now There's a Wearable For It description: "Ripple" sits boldly on your shoulders and purports to send you a physical signal when it identifies someone checking you out. canonical: https://time.com/4712628/ripple-flirting-wearable-tech/ author: Raisa Bruner article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2017-03-24T20:35:54.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-04-13T07:42:14.644Z og:title: Humans So Bad at Flirting That Now There's a Wearable For It og:description: "Ripple" is a tech accessory that tells you who's checking you out. og:url: https://time.com/4712628/ripple-flirting-wearable-tech/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt5e630cb6aca4e5c8/6988bfcef887dc248de9991a/ripple-wearable.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 8688 og:image:height: 4887 og:image:alt: ripple-wearable og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: Humans So Bad at Flirting That Now There's a Wearable For It twitter:description: "Ripple" is a tech accessory that tells you who's checking you out. twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt5e630cb6aca4e5c8/6988bfcef887dc248de9991a/ripple-wearable.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # Bad at Flirting? 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Every edition is assembled by TIME editors rather than generated automatically.  by [Raisa Bruner](https://time.com/author/raisa-bruner/)  ## Raisa Bruner Mar 24, 2017 8:35 PM UTC  Ripple  by [Raisa Bruner](https://time.com/author/raisa-bruner/)  ## Raisa Bruner Mar 24, 2017 8:35 PM UTC In a sad sign of the dark [state of human interaction](http://time.com/4217902/tinder-dating-app-badoo/) in our modern era, a tech company has developed a new accessory—deemed “Ripple”—that helps determine if someone is checking you out. The hoped-for result? We’ll become better at flirting in real life. Eat your heart out, [Tinder.](http://time.com/4531170/tinder-new-algorithm-matches/) [Ripple](https://www.feelripple.com/) is a bold fashion and social statement, an anemone-like set of glittering, pastel tentacles that sit spikily on one’s shoulders via a wire cage, rather like avant-garde football shoulder pads. The wearable supposedly will be able to identify when someone is directing their gaze in the wearer’s direction, sending a “ripple-like sensation” up their back, [as TechCrunch reports.](https://techcrunch.com/2017/03/24/this-sensory-wearable-is-designed-for-flirting/) If the wearer chooses to seek out that person’s eyes in return, Ripple will “tap” the wearer on the chest once the correct target is identified. “If the interest is mutual, Ripple perceives these natural reactions and amplifies the flirtatious language by moving in response to the suitor’s gaze,” the project’s site notes, conjuring an image of undulating sparkly tentacles broadcasting one’s excitement to the room via sensors and computer vision technology. The brainchild of four art and engineering students at Imperial College London and the Royal College of Art, their site suggests the device will “enhance” human-to-human [meet-cute potential](http://time.com/4393417/stephen-colbert-wife-meet-cute/)—as long, of course, as the wearer is willing to be pretty obvious in their attempt to attract a mate, and is OK with receiving lots of electronic caresses as passersby stare in wonder at the colorful contraption perched on their shoulders. It remains unclear how Ripple would (or could) differentiate between wanted and unwanted attention. Regardless, it’s probably not a great device to test out in a large crowd. ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/4712628/ripple-flirting-wearable-tech/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/4712628/ripple-flirting-wearable-tech/"},"headline":"Bad at Flirting? 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