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Sex over distance using affordable consumer teledildonic robots

99 points| frixionme | 12 years ago |motherboard.vice.com | reply

95 comments

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[+] flycaliguy|12 years ago|reply
Let's face it, being a senior citizen in 25+ years is going to be amazing. I can't wait to retire and just have Viagra fuelled cyber VR sex all day. Take a drag of my e-cig after and sent some bitcoins to my grand kids.
[+] ChrisNorstrom|12 years ago|reply
That's fine for you but... I'm horrified at what your grand kids will have access to.
[+] tzs|12 years ago|reply
> from a sex tech company called FriXion

Nice name. It has an obvious connection to the product, and if you want to give out pens with the name on them you don't have to pay for custom printing [1]!

[1] http://www.pilotpen.us/Brands/FriXion.aspx

[+] ISL|12 years ago|reply
Ha!

Interesting to see if Pilot would choose to pursue a trademark-infringement case. "Yes, your honor, we think our writing implements can be reasonably confused with a sex robot."

[+] notahacker|12 years ago|reply
It's also the name of a British boy band, which raises interesting marketing possibilities :)
[+] h4pless|12 years ago|reply
I wonder if the use of this technology by a paid webcam model on a client would constitute prostitution.

Or what the social ramifications would be of having an omegle/chat-roulette style chat system where people could have sex with anonymous strangers over the internet at a moment's notice without any fear of pregnancy or sexually transmitted disease.

[+] philwelch|12 years ago|reply
Well, "sex". This is probably nowhere near the real thing.
[+] amirmc|12 years ago|reply
Some items from the video that were not mentioned in the article: One to many interactions, Record and replay experiences, Pre-recorded games/videos.

Of course, none of the above should really be a surprise but they still caught me off-guard.

[+] frixionme|12 years ago|reply
Possibilities really open up with the telemetry translation api -- realizing that the telemetry is digital, and only has to be encoded once to be read for any purpose for any supported device is huge. We expect to be very busy for a long time fleshing out all the applications we have in mind. One that we're working on is using a users webcam to monitor heart rate (similar to the xbox one + kinect) and use that information to create a soft vibration that pulses in their partners device in time, so when one gets "excited" the other can feel the haptic feedback and vice versa simultaneously..

This is some real scifi stuff we're doing and it's very exciting

[+] nsxwolf|12 years ago|reply
So Justin Bieber could have sex with all his Twitter followers simultaneously.

Fascinating.

[+] Nursie|12 years ago|reply
Now you can have sex without even touching another human being!

Yeah, this is one activity I think I've going to stick to the old meatspace/wetware paradigm for, sorry guys.

OTOH I'm sure it's a fun device to work on :)

[+] GuiA|12 years ago|reply
I'm not sure how dismissing your post is meant to be- but many people in long distance relationships would love having such a product.
[+] peterwwillis|12 years ago|reply
Lots of people who have sexual partners in meatspace still use toys, quite a lot actually. There's no comparing a regular human phallus to a fucksaw, or a hitachi, or a sybian.
[+] frixionme|12 years ago|reply
What we've invented here is a new channel for intimacy that falls somewhere between a webcam chat and being in the same room -- it's a big deal!
[+] salient|12 years ago|reply
This is actually just one of the reasons why I'm not that worried about overpopulation on Earth.
[+] XorNot|12 years ago|reply
Sex by touching other human beings is a pretty risky enterprise when you get right down to it.
[+] cool-RR|12 years ago|reply
Look at me, I have a girlfriend.
[+] ksherlock|12 years ago|reply
Too bad the NSA will be collecting all the metadata.
[+] puller|12 years ago|reply
People already volunteer who they're having sex with on Facebook
[+] eaurouge|12 years ago|reply
Telemetry translation API? Seriously? You're recording 3D motion inputs, transmitting over UDP and playing back on a Novint Falcon. State of the art is much more advanced than that.
[+] frixionme|12 years ago|reply
Our work with the Falcon is just one device (and we're very proud of that, it's a big deal!) The ttapi is a universal language for haptics to connect any device to any other where functionality overlaps. This way new devices can be developed by third parties that can innovate independently and still see an immediate market and userbase. The ttapi is used for games, video, and other software to interact with the user through these devices as well. It's a critical aspect of the potential of the frixion platform.
[+] surrealize|12 years ago|reply
THX1138, from 1971, depicting a dystopian future:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Njfm7HKNSmM

Note the machine! You can't see exactly what it's doing, but you can see the way it's moving :)

[+] frixionme|12 years ago|reply
It's been so confusing that nobody has stepped up to make it happen. In reality, this area of haptics is a patent and licensing mine field and these tightly controlled properties have stifled innovation until now.

In choosing this problem to "solve" much of the effort has been put into overcoming these bureaucratic obstacles to be able to bring a useful platform to market that isn't just gimmicky vibrators. We're super proud of our accomplishments not just with the robots, but to be able to make this a marketable and useful platform that can democratize remote intimacy to the advantage of everyone.

The distopian conversation is an interesting one, and it's been a constant banter here -- but for now what we're doing is trying to bring people closer, not isolate them. This is a tool, a supplement -- not a replacement for real sex. Also, I love that we have to say REAL SEX now to differentiate.

[+] 001sky|12 years ago|reply
Teledildonic

^^This is a Word?

[+] aviraldg|12 years ago|reply
Yes, and coined by none other than Ted Nelson.
[+] basyt|12 years ago|reply
Hey, Oxford Dictionary here is your word for 2014.

I feel sad for people who think mechanized dildos bots are a good enough substitute for sex.

I hope I never get that jaded - or desperate :)

[+] loceng|12 years ago|reply
If we keep saying teledildonic is will be!
[+] joshguthrie|12 years ago|reply
Where's the API for this? I want to build the first VSAAS (Virtual Sex As A Service).
[+] frixionme|12 years ago|reply
Unfortunately the API wont be released for third party development until next year, likely well into the beta period. But stay tuned! Right now we're working with various vendors that are trying to get their devices supported ahead of time.
[+] recuter|12 years ago|reply
This reminds me too much of one: http://archer.wikia.com/wiki/Doctor_Krieger

John Carmack will really need to outdo himself to make the technology for this sort of thing actually viable and not just easy "what will those pervy nerds think of next" news fodder. We are many multiple decades out. I'm speaking strictly as a person who actually had sex mind you.

[+] frixionme|12 years ago|reply
Nothing but respect for fellow robot sex pioneers ;)
[+] arianvanp|12 years ago|reply
Sex over wire. this is brilliant. There are gonna be a lot of no-nodders, but trust me, this is going to be a thing in the future.