Sex robot unveiled in Vegas

April 8th, 2010

FIJI Times ONLINE

LAS VEGAS – 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 January 10, 2010, 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.

The phrases that were demonstrated were prerecorded, but the robot will also be able to synthesize phrases out of prerecorded words and sounds, Hines said.

The laptop will receive updates over the Internet to expand the robot’s capabilities and vocabulary. Since Hines is a soccer fan, it can already discuss Manchester United, he said. It snores, too.

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.

A Japanese company, Honey Dolls, makes life-size sex dolls that can play recorded sounds, but Roxxxy’s sensors and speech capabilities appear to be more sophisticated.

Hines’ goals are certainly more far-reaching. An engineer, Hines said he was inspired to create the robot after a friend died in the Sept. 11, 2001, terror 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, Hines said.

“The sex robot thing is marketing – it’s really about making a companion,” 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.

Colbert Report – Roxxxy The Sex Robot

March 9th, 2010

Late Show with David Letterman – Sex Robot

March 5th, 2010

Jimmy Kimmel Live – Discusses Roxxxy TrueCompanion Sex Robot

March 5th, 2010

RoXXXy the Sexbot

March 5th, 2010


About TrueCompanion

Created in 2009, the world’s first sex robot is designed to be your ultimate companion.  Developed by Douglas Hines, an artificial intelligence engineer, Roxxxy has scientific artificial intelligence that allows her to interact with users.  She can talk and listen, carrying on a conversation with the user, and is able to feel a users touch.  Learn more at www.TrueCompanion.com

Robot sex doll

March 5th, 2010

World’s first sex robot The world’s first robot girlfriend – a life size rubber doll who can have sex with her owner and even talk about football – has been unveiled.

Dark-haired, negligee-clad ‘Roxxxy’ comes complete with artificial intelligence and flesh-like synthetic skin, reports the Daily Telegraph.

Standing 5ft 7ins tall, the doll comes with five “personalities”, and is “ready for action” her developers said.

Wild Wendy is outgoing and adventurous, Frigid Farrah is reserved and shy, there’s a young unnamed doll with a naive personality, Mature Martha is matriarchal and caring, while S & M Susan is geared for more adventurous types.

Coming with a laptop the doll, priced between £4,350 and £6,000, was unveiled at the AVN Adult Entertainment Expo in Las Vegas at the weekend.

Douglas Hines, the robot’s football loving inventor, said the real aim was to make the doll someone the owner can talk to and relate to.

“She can’t vacuum, she can’t cook but she can do almost anything else if you know what I mean,” the New Jersey-based artificial intelligence engineer said.

Mr Hines, from TrueCompanion, said the doll could carry out simple conversations and was designed to “know exactly what you like”. “Sex only goes so far, then you want to be able to talk to the person,” he said. “She knows exactly what you like. If you like Porsches, she likes Porsches. If you like soccer, she likes soccer.”

The sex robot is available in Europe and the United States and will eventually be available all over the world. A male version of the doll, dubbed Rocky, is also planned.

http://www.statbrain.com/www.utahraves.com/

Roxxxy the Sexbot

March 5th, 2010

True Companion’s Roxxxy the Sexbot – we just read off the cue cards here, folks — is a 120-pound, 5-foot, 7-inch mechanical with an anatomically-accurate mechanical skeleton hidden underneath real-feeling “flesh,” according to its maker.

“No matter how real she may feel, I can’t shake the thought that she’s a cross between Joan Jett and Karen O of the Yeah Yeah Yeahs, with a dash of Chrissy Hynde of the Pretenders thrown in for good measure,” says industry observer Brennon Slattery. Obviously she’s got your basic Rock Slut appeal.

Roxxxy debuted at the AVN Adult Entertainment Expo in Las Vegas, yet another event we were not invited to, and at the show, Slattery says, “had a laptop plugged into her back.” No, sorry, we don’t have any pictures. We’ve seen the pictures, and trust us, actually seeing the robot makes it all just that much more pathetic.

But you’ll be glad to know she’s also Wi-Fi capable, and “her little quirks, like the way she holds your hand, can be shared with other sexbot owners through the True Companion Web site.”

Roxxxy has attitude, Slattery reports, “with several personality types you can elicit at the touch of a button: “Frigid Farrah is reserved and a bit chilly; Wild Wendy lives up to her name; S&M Susan, well, you know; and Mature Martha has that experienced thing goin’ on.”

Owners can also change Roxxxy’s hair color, cup size, race, and other characteristics until they get that perfect creature, Slattery reports, adding in the key observation: “However, you cannot take away the cold, dead stare.”

Her creators claim the sex aspect is mere marketing, that Roxxxy is “all about companionship,” probably in much the same way Las Vegas claims it’s all about family entertainment, not gambling, and guys say they read Playboy for the articles.

Slattery says Roxxxy’s built with technology that allows her to carry out simple conversations, and we can believe she would certainly be a more sprightly conversationalist than the majority of live women the sort of men who would fancy Roxxxy are used to.

Douglas Hines, the robot’s inventor, insists that “She’s a companion. She has a personality. She hears you. She listens to you. She speaks. She feels your touch. She goes to sleep. We are trying to replicate a personality of a person.”

Prices will hover around $7,000 to $9,000, depending on “the level of customization,” Slattery says.

Roxxxy the sexy robot a world first, has personality and talks to you.

March 5th, 2010

Agence France-PresseJanuary 11, 2010

Roxxxy the sex robot had a coming out party on the weekend in Sin City.

In what is billed as a world first, a life-size robotic girlfriend complete with artificial intelligence and flesh-like synthetic skin was introduced to adoring fans at the AVN Adult Entertainment Expo.

“She can’t vacuum, she can’t cook but she can do almost anything else if you know what I mean,” TrueCompanion’s Douglas Hines said while introducing Roxxxy.

“She’s a companion. She has a personality. She hears you. She listens to you. She speaks. She feels your touch. She goes to sleep. We are trying to replicate a personality of a person.”

Roxxxy stands five feet, seven inches tall, weighs 120 pounds, “has a full C cup and is ready for action,” according to Hines, who was an artificial intelligence engineer at Bell Labs before starting TrueCompanion.

The anatomically correct robot has an articulated skeleton that can move like a person but can’t walk or independently move its limbs.

Robotic movement is built into “the three inputs” and a mechanical heart that powers a liquid cooling system.

Roxxxy comes with five personalities. Wild Wendy is outgoing and adventurous, while Frigid Farrah is reserved and shy.

There is a young naive personality along with a Mature Martha that Hines described as having a “matriarchal kind of caring.” S & M Susan is geared for more adventurous types.

Aspiring partners can customize Roxxxy features, including race, hair colour and breast size. A male sex robot named “Rocky” is in development.

People ordering the robots online at truecompanion.comdetail their tastes and interests much like online dating sites but, here, the information is used to get the mechanical girlfriend in synch with her mate.

“She knows exactly what you like,” Hines said of Roxxxy, noting that Rocky will also come with personalities.

“If you like Porsches, she likes Porsches. If you like soccer, she likes soccer.”

Roxxxy will chat with her flesh-and-blood mate, and touching her elicits comments that vary according to personalities.

She is wirelessly linked to the Internet for software updates, technical support and to send her man email messages.

People can customize “true companion” personalities and then share the programs with others online on the company’s website, according to Hines.

“Just think about wife or girlfriend swapping without actually giving the person to someone else,” Hines said. “You can share the personality online.”

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

“I had a friend who passed away in 9/11,” Hines said. “I promised myself I would create a program to store his personality, and that became the foundation for Roxxxy True Companion.”

Hines sees his creation not only as a recreational innovation but also as an outlet for the shy, people with sexual dysfunction, and those who want to experiment without risk.

Roxxxy versions are priced from $7,000 to $9,000 US, depending on features. The sex robot is available now in Europe and the U.S. and will eventually be available globally, Hines said.

TrueCompanion – About TrueCompanion

Created in 2009, the world’s first sex robot is designed to be your ultimate companion.  Developed by Douglas Hines, an artificial intelligence engineer, Roxxxy has scientific artificial intelligence that allows her to interact with users.  She can talk and listen, carrying on a conversation with the user, and is able to feel a users touch.  Learn more at www.TrueCompanion.com.

A decade of techno-sex: Look how far we’ve come

March 5th, 2010

By John Ozimek

(Some of the links in this story may be NSFW.)

If the last decade has seen major changes to legal and social attitudes towards sex and sexuality, a question that will have commentators engaged for some time to come is what role has been played in such change by technology.

Does technology lead the way, encouraging and enabling behaviours that would have had a previous generation blushing? Or does it merely follow on, reflecting trends that are already deeply embedded in society?

Nannying is definitely the order of the day – unless you have some “unnatural” predilection for being treated like a naughty schoolboy, in which case stop it this instant, young man.

Richard Longhurst of online sex toy purveyor Lovehoney is highly upbeat about what has been happening to the market, arguing that it is beginning to show “dangerous signs of maturity”.

Durex has transformed itself from boring contraceptive manufacturer into a sex lifestyle brand. Ann Summers has gone from 12 stores in 1997 to 120 today. Longhurt’s own organisation has gone from a standing start to shipping more than a thousand orders a day.

In other words, sex and sexual gismology is now mainstream as never before. Of course, when it comes to the mainstream, a great deal of everyday product is now manufactured in China.

However, the West – and Japan – continue to make waves when it comes to innovation. One notable feature of the adult trade is the appearance of “inventors” – often, men in their middle age, with degrees in engineering and a burning desire to resolve some issue of erotic ergonomics. Hence the “sqweel”, a new and frankly scary multi-tongued rotatory device and the we-vibe, which allegedly sets up “an erotic carrier wave” between clit and g-spot.

While women are now increasingly regular visitors to sex shops as purchasers of sexual gadgetry, men have benefited greatly from developments through the decade which, in turn, reflect a new approach to male eroticism. At base, most sex toys are about masturbation. A decade ago, the majority of male sex toys appeared to be designed as though such a purpose was quite incidental, with the primary focus being the creation of inflatable female shapes that fooled no one.

For those who really do like the idea of simulating sex with a partner who lies there and does nothing, it is now possible to up the erotic ante (and the price) by investing in some form of RealDoll. Even there, the technology is moving on apace, with German company First Androids announcing, late last year, the creation of a realistic sex android that has a pulse and appears to breathe.

Earlier this year, it was the turn of American inventor Douglas Hines, of True Companion, to introduce to the world Roxxxy, billed as the first sex doll with artificial intelligence. A pulse vs intelligence? It is reported that the manufacturers of the German doll have already received four million advance orders at just over £2,000 apiece.

For those unable to afford the four or even five-figure ticket for such items, it is now possible to purchase an anatomically correct blow-up sheep for a fraction of the price.

Sexpot turns Sexbot in Sin City

March 5th, 2010

By: SYLVIE BARAK

When in Vegas, it’s always nice to come across a friendly face, which is why TG Daily was delighted to find Roxxxy the sex robot at the Adult Entertainment Expo this weekend, slumped on a couch looking a little fatigued from all the action.

Apparently a first of its kind, Roxxxy is not just ye-run-of-the-mill blow up sex doll – oh no – she actually has personality, and can even answer back, thanks to having been created with Artificial Intelligence (AI).

The female five foot seven robot, which makers True Companion claim to be “anatomically consistent with a person” is apparently “always turned on and ready to talk or play,” with a feverishly pumping mechanical heart and a cooling system lest things get too hot to handle.

As well as having freakishly realistic feeling skin and a svelte 120 pound physique, Roxxxy can also hear you, speak to you, ‘feel’ your touch and “carry on a conversation.”

True Companion boasts that simply by touching Roxxxy, the sexbot will make reassuring and friendly remarks to her “mate” based on his pre-programmed likes and dislikes and kept up to date by a wireless internet connection which ensures software updates and tech support are beamed directly to her pretty little head.

Of course, she didn’t seem particularly talkative with us, but perhaps that was the result of a particularly long and grueling day of men groping at her realistic looking C cups.

True Companion also boasts that Roxxxy, who can’t walk or mechanically move her own limbs, can even “have an orgasm,” although we have a strong suspicion she might be faking it.

Like many women, Roxxxy comes with multiple personalities – five to be precise; reserved and shy Frigid Farrah, outgoing and adventurous Wild Wendy, mistress of pain and pleasure S&M Susan, barely 18 ‘Young’ and experienced teacher Mature Martha.

To customize their rubber lipped partner further, punters can also change the doll’s facial features, cup size, race and hair colour. And a male model – Rocky – is purportedly under development too, although we hope he does more than grunt like the Stallone character.

Roxxxy users can also “share” their loose limbed libido ladies with their friends, by swapping the personalities back and forth online. “You can let your friends use your girlfriends for an unlimited period of time or only for a few days (for example, only through Saturday night!)” says True Companion.

To get your paws on a Roxxxy gal, however, you’ll have to shell out between $7,000 – $9,000 depending on personal customisation, plus a monthly subscription fee.

The sexbot is currently heating up shelves in both Europe and the US, with True Companion noting she will be also become available in other parts of the world.