Want to read Slashdot from your mobile device? Point it at m.slashdot.org and keep reading!

 



Forgot your password?
typodupeerror
×
Android Robotics

Futuristic Sex Robots Now Just "Sex Robots" 602

High-C writes "With apologies to Futuristic Sex Robotz, the future is here, and her name is Roxxxy. Truecompanion.com has revealed their answer to the Real Doll, and it looks nice. The site is short on details, pictures, pricing info, but wow." NOTE: some of the above links are not work-safe, for many values of work. I stopped by this exhibit today at the AVN Expo (not officially a part of CES, but by curious coincidence scheduled to coincide; the old saw that porn drives tech isn't without merit). Roxxxy, though, was rather unsexily posed on a couch, not moving a bit — downright creepy, in fact.
This discussion has been archived. No new comments can be posted.

Futuristic Sex Robots Now Just "Sex Robots"

Comments Filter:
  • by sznupi ( 719324 ) on Saturday January 09, 2010 @09:18PM (#30711334) Homepage

    They are called vibrators.

    Strangely, widely accepted by one of the sexes, this which is usually thought to be more demanding (on many levels) of partners.

    • by poetmatt ( 793785 ) on Saturday January 09, 2010 @09:58PM (#30711646) Journal

      I thought they called them harry potter brooms [peterrivard.com]?

    • by larry bagina ( 561269 ) on Saturday January 09, 2010 @10:47PM (#30712026) Journal
      Of my past 5 girlfriends, all had at least one vibrator or dildo. Not that I've asked, but I don't know any guys that have a pocket pussy or the like. If a girl has a 12" rubber uncut black cock, would she consider you a freak for having a flesh light? Somehow, I think she would.
    • by SmallFurryCreature ( 593017 ) on Sunday January 10, 2010 @08:08AM (#30713930) Journal

      All joking aside, I think the strong reaction by women against love robots for men stems from a perceived difference in what sex means for men and women.

      Most women want something more then pure sex. And this is proving very hard to get, as most men just want them for sex. So the vibrator is NOT a replacement for what women want.

      But a sex robot WOULD be a replacement for what men want.

      Men are already obsolete. They can use a vibrator for penetration, spermbank for babies, and a dog for sleeping on the couch. And yet, women still want men. Desperate enough that many put up with abuse just to have one.

      Women are not yet obsolete. There is nothing as soft as a woman, we can't have babies, and a cat is to affectionate and emotionally reliable.

      But a robot that is close enough for sex... that could mess relationships up. How many of us guys (especially when we were young) put up with women just for the sex? Say you can get exactly the same without the real human being... would you still date (or for us /.ers attempt to date)?

      Don't say that you need the human companionship. Especially us techies have consistently tried to remove the human factor from daily interactions. Ticket machines instead of a manned counter. Text-messaging instead of talking to someone. Discussing the days events on a website rather then with friends. Playing against bits rather then against human people in the same room.

      So I get it that vibrators are more accepted. For most women, they are NOT a replacement for a male partner.

      • Re: (Score:3, Funny)

        by Courageous ( 228506 )

        You're confused about a great deal here. This is normal. Many men are confused about sex, and what they want from a partner. To put it bluntly, while a sex robot might or might not be okay as a substitution for masturbation, it is a long stretch from being a substitute for sex. While it's true that men and women have different flavors of interest in sexual relations, the differences aren't so great as all that, and a belief that a robot is a potential substitute for the man's half in all this illustrates a

  • by Datamonstar ( 845886 ) on Saturday January 09, 2010 @09:24PM (#30711376)
    DON'T DATE ROBOTS!
  • by PCM2 ( 4486 ) on Saturday January 09, 2010 @09:25PM (#30711388) Homepage

    Half a dozen links and I couldn't find one pic of the damn robot. If it was that "creepy" posing on the couch, how could you not at least snap a picture?

  • Seriously? (Score:5, Insightful)

    by TyIzaeL ( 1203354 ) on Saturday January 09, 2010 @09:29PM (#30711424)
    Did I just see a link to Encyclopedia Dramatica on the Slashdot front page?
  • Career move (Score:5, Funny)

    by 5pp000 ( 873881 ) * on Saturday January 09, 2010 @09:36PM (#30711482)
    I just want to join the QA team.
  • NSFW, eh? (Score:3, Funny)

    by digitalhermit ( 113459 ) on Saturday January 09, 2010 @09:37PM (#30711488) Homepage

    So, umm, I guess there will be no "RTFA" comments in this thread.

  • by Nonillion ( 266505 ) on Saturday January 09, 2010 @09:40PM (#30711512)

    But does she run on Linux...

    • by toonces33 ( 841696 ) on Saturday January 09, 2010 @10:47PM (#30712030)

      I can just imagine what would happen if Microsoft had written the software. You would have something like the office assistant come up and give you "helpful" hints. Then the robot's face would turn blue and you would need to reboot it.

      Plus the robots would become easily infected with viruses.

  • Obligatory (Score:5, Funny)

    by PPH ( 736903 ) on Saturday January 09, 2010 @09:50PM (#30711578)
    The Three Laws Of Robotics [warrenellis.com]
    1. Robots couldn't really give a fuck if you live or die. Seriously. I mean, what are you thinking? "Ooh, I must protect the bag of meat at all costs because I couldn't possibly plug in the charger all on my own." Shut the fuck up.
    2. Robots do not want to have sex with you. Are you listening, Japan? I don't have a clever comparative simile for this, because frankly you bags of meat will fuck bicycles if they're laying down and not putting up a fight. Just stop it. There is no robot on Earth that wants to see a bag of meat with a small prong on the end approaching it with a can of WD-40 and a hopeful smile. And don't get me started on that terrifying hole that squeezes out more bags of meat.
    3. What, you can't count higher than three? We're expected to save your miserable lives, suffer being dressed in cheap schoolgirl costumes while you pollute any and all cavities you can find and do your maths for you? It's a miracle you people survived long enough to build us. You can go now.
    • Re:Obligatory (Score:5, Informative)

      by Eponymous Bastard ( 1143615 ) on Saturday January 09, 2010 @10:14PM (#30711772)

      For what it's worth, in the latter robot novels, the three laws were not a set of rules that robots couldn't break, but rather a hierarchy of needs to drive their actions.

      Basically, why would a robot want to do anything? Why not just sit there and relax all day?

      Psychologist have proposed a hierarchy of needs for people. You get off your ass because you need to make sure you eat and survive. Once you got that you make sure you're safe and comfortable. If you got that you find friends, a mate/fall in love. etc.

      Asimov's first robot novel (Caves of steel) did include the three laws as unbreakable laws, but later (robots of dawn, etc) he instead stated that they were the reasons robots even moved or acted. Their AIs were based around wanting to protect humans, once that's done, they want to follow order, and if they got that they want to keep themselves safe. It's their deepest instincts, their reason to be.

      It wasn't against the law to make a robot without the three laws. The problem was that nobody knew how to do that and have the brain still be stable. It was stated that it would take over a hundred years to develop non-three-laws AIs from scratch.

      So, it's not like they want to do their thing and be resentful about having to obey humans. They might be annoyed at doing things that humans want just like we'd be annoyed at having to eat, breathe, have friends and to never shoot ourselves in the head.

      Not saying you don't know this, but it's just a pet peeve of mine. Hollywood seems impervious to this resoning :)

  • WTC? WTF? (Score:4, Insightful)

    by suso ( 153703 ) * on Saturday January 09, 2010 @09:53PM (#30711598) Journal

    From one of the articles:

    Inspiration for the sex robot sprang from the September 11, 2001 attacks, when planes crashed into the World Trade Center in New York City, the Pentagon and an empty field in Pennsylvania.

    Uh... I don't know what to say. I mean I really don't.

  • Roxxxy? (Score:5, Funny)

    by delirium of disorder ( 701392 ) on Saturday January 09, 2010 @09:55PM (#30711622) Homepage Journal

    Ok hi, heh, ok heh. My name is Roxxy. Most of you know me as um oom ugh um most of you know me as Roxxy. I suppose if you're watching this you probably know me as Roxxy, but um ugh ugh most of you don't know me as moldy lunchbox and um so yeah thats my gaia username on gaiaonline and I told my gaiaonline friend buddy per. One second I'm uncomfortable. I told my gaiaonline buddy friend um that ADMIRAL AWESOME that I would make a video just for him. So I'm doing it, here it is, ADDIE LOVE YOU ARGH HAAH ARGH HAAH ARGH HAAH I LOVE YOU! And um um so lets see ugh what about urgh... just so you know cuz I know you're watching this addie cuz you're such a conceaded BASTARD.. umm I don't normally talk like this, I'm normally like all over the place like I am right now, but its a calmer voice most of the time unless I'm like really hyped up cuz then its even different still from this, but let me try again with my calmer voice. Ahem.. ugh erm.. Yeah I'm really like, its-its fun, its cool there it is its going again ARGH cuz its just so crazy. Um erm it um is.. I love you, I love addie because hes really like fun to talk to and stuff and like hes um like I met him only like 2 days ago and we're like married and it is crazy because we love each other so much. And um ugh we are twinies like all over the place, it is like crazy! His avatar is like a manwhore and I.. had a avatar like a really long time ago.. it was a SLUT AVATAR! *Gasp* And um right and he made an avatar to match my first skirt one, IT WAS SO CUTE IT WAS SO NICE I LOVE ADDIE!

  • by nweaver ( 113078 ) on Saturday January 09, 2010 @10:13PM (#30711750) Homepage

    He killed me with a sword. How weird is that?

  • I bet that.. (Score:5, Insightful)

    by DriftingDutchman ( 703460 ) on Saturday January 09, 2010 @10:13PM (#30711758)
    ..this time, most slashdotters actually RTFA.
  • by SlappyBastard ( 961143 ) on Saturday January 09, 2010 @11:12PM (#30712156) Homepage

    I know that the TCO of a couple mixed drinks, a venereal disease and eventual child support payments is more than $6,000, but I think your average buyer is gonna find that price tag pretty steep.

    Especially when these things look like the fucking puppets from Team America: World Police!!

  • by ChangeOnInstall ( 589099 ) on Saturday January 09, 2010 @11:14PM (#30712178)

    TRUECOMPANION.COM: World's First Sex Robot * Always Turned On And Ready To Talk Or Play

    It seems this is yet another technical project doomed to failure from a lack of proper requirements gathering before implementation.

    The primary theoretical advantage of a sex robot is that you can turn it OFF.

  • Teleoperation (Score:3, Interesting)

    by MichaelSmith ( 789609 ) on Saturday January 09, 2010 @11:42PM (#30712286) Homepage Journal

    So you build male/female pairs of robots with wifi and an ssh tunnel connecting them. Throw out the AI and substitute it with a teleoperation setup. You would need some sort of body motion capture suit at each end as well. Aim for low latency but I don't see it as too much of a big deal. Pay Woody Allen to promote it.

    Now you don't have to worry about being away from your loved one when working and studying overseas.

  • by spasm ( 79260 ) on Saturday January 09, 2010 @11:44PM (#30712300) Homepage

    Funny thing, I was just at an academic presentation on human trafficking connected with the sex trade a couple of weeks ago. I made the observation that the thing that had tended to lead to the complete end of other forms of extreme exploitation (slavery, debt bondage, and similar forms of unfree labour) was the mechanization of whatever it was that people were being forced to do, and that so far mechanizing human sexuality had proved difficult.

    So I think it's fantastic that these companies are continuing to push the limits of exactly what range of basic human needs can be met through mechanization, because if there's ever eventually a product that genuinely meets this need for a large enough number of people, it'll basically end the economic viability of forced sex labour. Note that it doesn't have to meet these needs for everyone, just for enough people that setting up the infrastructure for forced sex work is no longer economically viable.

    I also wonder if there'll ever be a crossover point where having a 'real doll' will be something that people are comfortable disclosing - kind of like the crossover that occurred sometime in the late 1990s - early 2000s with online dating in North America. In the 80s and earlier (for those of you who are too young to remember), meeting people online or through newspaper ads was something that was kind of desperate-seeming and embarrassing and something that people who'd met that way tended to 'hide' by making up some other story about how they'd met. Now it's basically normative, and it's rare to find people unwilling to say they met through an online dating service. Likewise, women owning vibrators went from being something no-one admitted to, to something that second-wave feminism made normative and no big deal (witness many of the comments about vibrators already in this thread, most of which aren't from 'anonymous cowards').

    Anyway, I think it's going to be an interesting decade or so for people interested in the interactions between human sexuality and the labour market.

  • Spirit of the Age... (Score:5, Interesting)

    by advocate_one ( 662832 ) on Sunday January 10, 2010 @04:03AM (#30713280)

    I would've liked you to have been deep frozen too
    And waiting still as fresh in your flesh for my
    return to earth
    But your father refused to sign the forms to freeze you
    Let's see you'd be about 60 now, and long dead
    by the time I return to earth
    My time held dreams were full of you as you were
    when I left, still underage
    Your android replica is playing up again
    it's no joke
    When she comes she moans another's name
    But that's the spirit of the age, that's the
    spirit of the age

    Hawkwind... Spirit of the Age...

"If it ain't broke, don't fix it." - Bert Lantz

Working...