As a young child, Grandin realized she would seek out deep pressure stimulation, but she felt over-stimulated when someone hugged or held her. The idea for the hug machine came to her during a visit to her aunt's Arizona ranch, where she noted the way cattle were inoculated while confined in a squeeze chute, and how some of the cattle immediately calmed down after pressure was administered. She realized that the deep pressure from the chute had a calming effect on the cattle, and she decided that something similar might well settle down her own hyper-sensitivity.
Grandin's device did not meet with approval at first, as psychologists at her college sought to confiscate her prototype hug machine.[4] However, her science teacher encouraged her to determine just why it helped resolve her anxiety and sensory issues