Let's embrace the technosexuals

by Cody Kitaura


The Japanese have a 4-foot-3-inch robot who can conduct an orchestra, and we have a lawn mower.

They have silicone-skinned “Actroids,” life-like robots whose chests rise and fall as if they were breathing, and who can hold a conversation with a human. And we have a hockey-puck-shaped vacuum cleaner.

They have an agile robot who can play the violin, and we … well, you get the idea.

The Japanese, the world's leaders in robots (more than half of the robots in the world reside in the island nation), have a much different role in mind for their mechanical creations. They want them to provide care and companionship for the nation's rapidly aging population, while here in the United States we want robots to clean our houses and check our sewer pipes for leaks.

In the technology-embracing East, robots conjure up warm memories of animated heroes and friendly companions. Here, they remind us of Hollywood's visions of once-loyal servants on a rampage and time-traveling killing machines.

So we tend to shy away from anything besides utilitarian hunks of metal and plastic – it's not that the United States couldn't make a violin-playing, conversation-holding robot – it's that we're afraid to.

“Deep in its heart, America finds the idea of technology with personalities to be ... spooky,” Asian culture columnist Jeff Yang wrote in the San Francisco Chronicle in 2005. “After all, the notion of objects with minds of their own runs counter to deeply ingrained Judeo-Christian values – creating devices that can move and think without human intervention veers a little too close to playing God.”

There is, however, a movement that feels otherwise.

All across the Internet, there are groups of people who dream about the perfect sexual encounter with a robot. Some fantasize about being transformed into cyborgs, some digitally manipulate images of celebrities to add in exposed circuitry and wiring, and some hunt carefully for robotic references and appearances in movies and television.

These “technosexuals” – members of the robot fetish community – first began to gather online in the newsgroup alt.sex.fetish.robots. The community later became known as ASFR in homage to the original group. They congregate online to share stories and finds, and to discuss preferences.

Here in the land of political correctness, we're taught not to have knee-jerk reactions to people who might be a little different. But it's likely that most technosexual conversation wouldn't exactly fit in around the water cooler; the robot fetish is still relatively unknown, and most fetishes are laughed off or ridiculed – in public, at least. So technosexuals keep to themselves.

“The common joke among Technos is that each and every last one of them at one point thought they were the ‘only one,’ ” technosexual expert Edward Gore writes.

But if we want true American robots to compete with the incredible innovations from the Land of the Rising Sun, we will have to embrace our country's most powerful technology incubator: the sex industry. By embracing and not shunning technosexuals, sex can do for robotics what it did for home video, streaming online video and pay-per-view TV: drive innovation.

Author and artificial intelligence expert David Levy agrees.

“When we create robots that are specifically invented with sexuality in mind, the level of interest and the desire to use them will, I believe, be beyond the wildest dreams of product designers and manufacturers,” he told About.com in 2007.

“I think that sexuality will be far more than an early testing ground for robots,” he said. “It will not only be the most popular use of robots amongst adults, it will also create huge social change.”

The demand is already there. Sex doll manufacturer Matt McMullen is experimenting with adding motorized, thrusting hips to his high-end RealDolls, which retail at prices starting at $6,500 and feature realistic looks and silicone skin.

There's no telling what innovations could come out of openly embracing technosexuals and allowing robot fetishes to go mainstream. More capable, smarter and more realistic robots could not only find uses in the bedroom, but in security, companionship, healthcare and other places Hollywood (or Japan) hasn't even imagined yet.

So let's embrace the technosexuals. I need a robot to write columns for me, and it's not going to invent itself.