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Sex robot at Las Vegas adult expo also aims to appeal to mind
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Photo by The Associated Press
Douglas Hines, founder of True Companion, poses Saturday with a life-size rubber doll named Roxxxy at the Adult Entertainment Expo.
Tools
THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
Updated: Apr. 10, 2012 | 10:34 a.m.
A New Jersey company says it has developed "the world's first sex robot," a life-size rubber doll that's designed to engage the owner with conversation rather than lifelike movement.
At a demonstration at the Adult Entertainment Expo in Las Vegas on Saturday, the dark-haired, negligee-clad robot said, "I love holding hands with you" when it sensed that its creator touched its hand.
Another action, this one unprintable, elicited a different vocal response from Roxxxy the robot.
The level of sophistication demonstrated was not beyond that of a child's talking toy, but Roxxxy has a lot more brains than that.
There's a laptop connected to cables coming out of its back. It has touch sensors at strategic locations and can sense when it's being moved. But it can't move on its own, not even to turn its head or move its lips. The sound comes out of an internal loudspeaker.
Douglas Hines, founder of Lincoln Park, N.J.-based True Companion LLC, said Roxxxy can carry on simple conversations. The real aim, he said, is to make the doll someone the owner can talk to and relate to.
"Sex only goes so far -- then you want to be able to talk to the person," Hines said.
Owners will also be able to select different personalities for Roxxxy, from "Wild Wendy" to "Frigid Farrah," Hines said. He's charging somewhere from $7,000 to $9,000 for the robot, including the laptop, and expects to start shipping in a few months.
An engineer, Hines said he was inspired to create the robot after a friend died in the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks. That got him thinking about preserving his friend's personality, to give his children a chance to interact with him as they're growing up. Looking around for commercial applications for artificial personalities, he initially thought he might create a home health care aide for the elderly.
"But there was tremendous regulatory and bureaucratic paperwork to get through. We were stuck," Hines said. "So I looked at other markets."
The broader goal of the company is still to take artificial personalities into the mainstream, beyond sex toys, he said.
In a 2007 book, "Love and Sex with Robots," British chess player and artificial intelligence expert David Levy argues that robots will become significant sexual partners for humans, answering needs that other people are unable or unwilling to satisfy.
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Watch Season 5 of BUFFY THE VAMPIRE SLAYER. Funniest appearance of a sex robot in the history of television.
Now, if Douglas can create a BUFFY BOT exactly like the one Spike had, he will become a gazillionaire in no time flat.
Someone at True Companion is obviously a HUGE fan of The Pretenders... its Chrissie Hynde with a face lift and botox.
If men do not care what goes through a Woman's mind at any time while boinking her, why then would he want a Robot that has a mind? If it Boinks well, and can keep its mouth shut, it may be a viable replacement for women.
Rasputin and Hairy, wow, have you guys thought about becoming a comedy duo...really. This stuff you're putting on this message board is hysterical...top drawer material. It's like Will Rogers and Mort Sahl all rolled up into one. Keep up the great work, I'm sore from laughing so hard.