It's a sex robot, but not as you know it: exploring the frontiers of erotic technology

Sex tech isn ’t all just ‘realistic’ robots and wifi-enabled marital aids.Girl on the Net reports from the innovative and surreal Goldsmith ’s sex tech hack showcaseIn an old church somewhere in South London, senior computing lecturer Dr Kate Devlin lies down on top of a sleeping bag and submits to a hug from a robot. But it doesn ’t look how you’d imagine a robot to look: it has no face, no hands, and none of the porny characteristicscommon to sex robots we see in the mainstream media. It ’s a pile of plastic inflatable tubes on top of a sleeping bag, which wrap around you and pulse with air – squeezing and hugging whoever has been brave enough to lie down and try it. In my opinion it’s one of the sexiest things to come out of theGoldsmith ’s sex tech hack.Although only in its second year, the sex tech hack has already managed to throw out ideas that radically challenge the way we think about sex and tech. Broadly, the products we ’re used to seeing on sale offer a recognisable upgrade to our current sex toys – vibrators that connect over the internet to allow long-distance play, or sex robots which are basically sex dolls plus a simple Siri-style AI. But at the sex tech hack, the participants’ vision of the future is a ltogether more unusual: exploring the edges of sensual pleasure, and taking a new look at how we communicate intimately.Continue reading...
Source: Guardian Unlimited Science - Category: Science Authors: Tags: Science Sex Technology Life and style Psychology Artificial intelligence (AI) Robots Source Type: news