Many universities and countries—Japan especially—have been working in the field of robotics. More specifically they’ve been working on producing robots that mimic human expression and actions (see www.roboticspot.com/en/spot/vernot.shtml as an example). The penultimate (or nearly so) is the “Actroid” (see en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Actroid) that is a human size, robotic “doll” that can mimic human facial expressions. Now on a completely different, but related subject, there’ve been sex dolls. These aren’t the blow-up kind you find in adult book stores. These are the cast polymer, human-configured dolls running upwards of $1,300 or more (see www.realdoll.com and dir.salon.com/story/mwt/f...index.html). (BTW, they make them in “guy” shapes too.) There is, and always has been, a convergence between the two and having a real live sex robot—one that will look “right” (after all, a lot of the turn-on process is in the mind and the visual process), and will respond emotionally (and I guess there are “right” emotions too—like not saying, “Not tonight dear, I have a headache”) to enhance the sexual experience. This is, after all, a popular film and story theme.

OK, with that said, it’s time to …thrust… to the heart of this piece. With the possibility of achieving a real sex robot within our lifetime, and given that you do win the lottery to pay for it, what would YOU like to see in a sex robot? Would anatomical features—big boobs, a 12-inch dick, a heart-shaped ass, 6-pack abs, whatever—be important? If so, what? And if you would, why? Would emotional responses—walks on the beach, romantic dinners, serving you your pretzels and beer while kneeling naked before you, etc.—be just as important? If so, what and why again? Also with “moves”—that little ‘wiggle’ at orgasm(?), smells, the way they moan, getting nipple rings ‘just for you’—the woulds, whats, and whys. Finally, does it need to be a physical device or would some sort of virtual reality or cybersuit kind of thing work?

The reason I’m posing this topic is that there are a lot of folk working on such devices right now. They break out roughly into “geeks” and “marketers”. The “geeks” (and I’m proud to call myself one) know how to build such devices, but often they suffer from ‘their own idea of good features’-ism syndrome (read, they don’t get too many dates). Rent the movie “Weird Science” to see what I mean. The “marketers” on the other hand tend to think more of “…yes it’s a turkey, but if I pitch it just right, I can make a million on it.” So it’s probably a good time for a grassroots effort. At least we’ll be able to get OUR say before it gets dictated to us.

What I’m asking for right now is for free-form responses—short or long, brief or detailed, silly or serious. (Group dynamicists will recognize this as the brainstorming process.) This will then help me to formulate a more detailed, penetrating, in-depth Phase II survey that will focus on specific features. You can respond to this by either e-mailing me directly (at UncleAbdul@gmail.com – and all such communications will be held confidential unless otherwise authorized) or in this forum.

So, are you game?

Unc’