New Scientist describes and shows (in the video—click on the image to be whisked to a viewing site) a mechanism meant to simulate what pregnancy feels like:
“The device can replicate the 9-month long process in two minutes or it can be worn for a longer period to experience what it feels like day-to-day. To mimic the fetus, it contains a 4-litre bag filled with warm water. Kicking movement is recreated with a lining of 45 balloons that expand and contract. But wiggling is more complex to reproduce and requires a grid of air actuators that exploit a tactile illusion.”
The inventors: Takuya Iwamoto and colleagues from the Japan Advanced Institute of Science and Technology.
(Thanks to investigator Peter Haas for bringing this to our attention.)