High-Tech Sex? Porn Flirts With the Cutting Edge
LAS VEGAS, Jan. 8, 2010— -- The porn industry peddles a product as old as Adam and Eve, and it's always found the most cutting edge ways to do it.
It's no accident that each year as the Consumer Electronics Show winds down in Las Vegas, the Adult Entertainment Expo heats up. Bespectacled techies cross paths with corseted porn stars selling high-tech sex toys and tools of all shapes and sizes.
Some say technology revolutions like the VHS format, video chatting and the digital delivery of content got a boost from the tech-savvy purveyors and fans of adult fantasy, but the fruits of the tech-adult marriage take a variety of forms.
Every year, scattered between the many booths showcasing porn perennials -- XXX movies, traditional accessories and attire -- are a few vendors that take technology to a whole new, sometimes head-scratching, level. And there's no subject or function too taboo or outrageous. Here are a few examples:
Douglas Hines is an electrical engineer and computer scientist who formerly worked on artificial intelligence at AT&T Bell Laboratories. But you won't find him pitching gadgets at CES.
Instead, he's manning a booth at the AEE where he's unveiling his latest creation: Roxxxy, the latest "sex robot" from the company Truecompanion.com.
Hines combined his background with the expertise of 18 artists and engineers from three countries to create a robot designed to "deliver the best in robot sex."
The project cost between $500,000 and $1 million and took about 2½ years to create, Hines said.
"It's really a labor of love," said Hines. He declined to release the robot's retail price until Saturday, which is the day Roxxxy officially goes on sale.
Customers interested in a Roxxxy companion can ask the company to customize the robot for their personal preferences. To create a robot that looks and acts like an ideal mate, customers fill out a questionnaire to give engineers clues about the robot's personality.
Though the prototype robot is modeled after a Caucasian fine arts student and is 5 feet 7 inches tall and 120 pounds, customers can choose hair color, eye color and other features, Hines said.
But even though Roxxxy is "always on," her attraction isn't supposed to be about only sex.
According to True Companion's Web site, she "can carry on a discussion and expresses her love to you and be your loving friend. She can talk to you, listen to you and feel your touch."
