Nothing Between Their Legs: New Realbotix Artificial Companions Aren’t Sexbots
Don’t worry; the original RealDoll will still produce fully functional ones
Chaste as a Barbie doll, Realbotix’s Aria lacks any below-the-belt equipment but still garnered a lot of attention despite her reveal amid numerous high-tech pleasure products at the recent Consumer Electronics Show (CES).
A company spokesman told Futurism, “Aria does not have genitalia. She is not anatomically correct and has a hard shell body. And is not meant for sex.”
AI-equipped and capable of lifelike facial expressions, Aria’s not merely a single, unique product but signals an entirely new direction for the long-established artificial companion manufacturer. The same spokesperson said, “Realbotix no longer produces sex products.”
Though likely coming as a shock to the sexbot community, the company’s focus has changed. As Aria herself told CNET, “Realbotix robots, including me, focus on social intelligence, customizability, and realistic human features, designed specifically for companionship and intimacy. ”
Abyss Creations will remain a subsidiary, continuing to design and sell its high-end, anatomically correct, RealDoll products.
Who owns who—and what it means
Originally founded by Matt McMullen in 1996, Abyss Creations quickly established itself as one of the world’s premier sexdoll manufacturers, a reputation further enhanced in 2015 when work began on its Realdollx artificial intelligence system, supported by its current smartphone app.
Realbotix’s Chief Operating Officer (COO), McMullen, described the development of AI-assisted artificial companions to KPBS, saying:
“It’s not the technology that’s to be feared as it is the intent behind it. And for us, where really a lot of our focus is on people who would benefit from having a presence in their life, who can’t find the way to bond with another human being for whatever reason they choose not to, and I think these dolls fill that void for some people.”
RECOMMENDED READ: State of the Sexbot Market: The World’s Best Sex Robot and AI Sex Doll Companies [UPDATED]
The company’s direction changed early last year when Tokens.com a Canadian crypto enterprise co-founded by Andrew Kiguel purchased Simulacra, Abyss Creations’ parent company, for 16 million in stocks.
Explaining the decision to shift the Realdollx division away from sex to Forbes, Kiguel said, “Ties to the adult industry make it hard to finance and some robot customers are sensitive to being attached to the companion dolls.”
Who buys what and why?
Kiguel’s statement may scratch more than a few heads, particularly in light of the rapidly growing, sex-equipped artificial companion marketplace, not to mention the rapidly increasing iDollator community.
In the same Futurism article, one X (formerly Twitter) user mocked Realbotix’s neither-fish-nor-fowl approach, “They made this weird thing that looks like Chucky and moves like It’s a Small World After All presumably for people who would bang it, but they can’t bang it lol.”
Realbotix seems to accept Aria might be challenging to market, adding, “We agree, she wouldn’t be the right appearance for a hospital, but maybe a concierge at a casino.”
Bringing up what may, or rather should, be a quite obvious question: why bother building anything, let alone an extremely expensive robot, with such a potentially narrow market? On top of this, Realbotix will be directly competing against tech giants without adult entertainment backgrounds.
Not out of desire but of concern?
It could be argued Kiguel’s Realbotix de-sexualization isn’t so much a move towards mainstreaming artificial companions as it is about trying to avoid dealing with anything sex-related.
Though Realdoll will continue manufacturing premium-quality, optionally AI-equipped products, Kiguel’s statement about the challenges of financing a company with adult entertainment connections could also lie in Token.com’s budgetary issues.
Specifically, its 2021 almost two-and-a-half million dollar purchase of overly-inflated Decentraland virtual property.
Whatever Token.com’s reasoning, playing it safe and attempting to recoup its losses by keeping Realbotix genitalia-free or a sexuality-based company is financially and personally uncomfortable, McMullen’s dream of producing artificial companions will continue.
Speaking to KPBS, he put a very human, wonderfully supportive face on the community, adding:
I think there’s a lot of misconceptions about the people that buy and own these dolls. I think they are wonderful, often very kind, down-to-earth people that you just wouldn’t expect that to be sort of stereotype of a doll owner. But really they are just amazing people in general, the ones that I have met have been friends of mine for years.
Image Sources: RealDoll, Depositphotos
