Semi-rigid skeletons might be what we—and realistic sexbots—have been waiting for

A team of engineers at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) have recently developed what might be an important step towards someday enabling tomorrow’s synthetic companions to move and even feel more organically and much less mechanically.

Designed to work with what’s commonly referred to as soft robotics, which uses liquid or gas-filled artificial muscles rather than motors and gears, the new technology is designed to maximize their effectiveness.

Talking to MIT News, Ritu Raman described it as “Like a skeleton that people can now use to turn muscle actuation into multiple degrees of freedom of motion in a very predictable way.”

The Brit and Alex d’Arbeloff Career Development Professor in Engineering Design added, “We are giving roboticists a new set of rules to make powerful and precise muscle-powered robots that do interesting things.”

Small but big possibilities

While Raman and her team’s work is primarily on a lower scale—as in only a few inches across—the principle behind it might eventually lead to the creation of soft robotic, synthetic companions capable of accurately mimicking the natural fluidity of flesh-and-blood biology.

Using something akin to Raman’s micro-skeletons but far larger could also make soft robotics systems much more energy efficient, perhaps reducing the need for an external power supply or heavy, bulky internal batteries.

RECOMMENDED READ: Shape of Things to Come: The Exciting Future of Humanoid Sexbots

But the biggest appeal of these types of sexbots undoubtedly lies in soft engineering’s smoothness, both in how it acts and how it feels—especially when compared with robots equipped with unyielding internal components.

People like us—or not?

Some soft robots more closely resemble sea creatures like octopi, following their already natural hydraulically powered body structure, than four-legged terrestrial lifeforms.    

Developed through a process dubbed evolutionary robotics, the science isn’t so much about building machine after machine as it is allowing each subsequent prototype to get better and better, steadily improving its design and mechanisms towards achieving a set task like getting from point a to point b.

Scientists at the University of Cambridge have even gone a step forward, building what they refer to as a “mother robot” that, as their article puts it, “can design, build and test its own ‘children’, and then use the results to improve the performance of the next generation, without relying on computer simulation or human intervention.”

What does this have to do with lifelike synthetic companions? Using the same evolutionary approach, which gives them the freedom to make themselves more lifelike and realistic, might shave years or decades off their development.

In this way, tomorrow’s synthetic companions would have more in common with us than merely moving or feeling like we do, as they’d be using the same processes that also shaped our development.

To be or not to be—human

Here’s another question to ponder: do our synthetic companions need to resemble us? Certainly, there’s always going to be a lot that very closely resembles people like us, but why not expand our emotional and/or sexual possibilities by looking beyond the humanoid shape?

Imagine what it might be like to use soft robotics in conjunction with evolutionary robotics, this time to see what exciting new sexual devices or perhaps AI-equipped playmates emerge.

Maybe we’ll end up with something like a sensually pliant, erotically versatile octopus, each of its arms sporting a different vibrating, oscillating, pulsing appendage.

Perhaps we’d find ourselves frolicking with something akin to a dolphin-inspired merperson evolved specifically for underwater love-making?

Or what about looking up—way, way up? Could our solution to the problems of freefall sex lie in artificial assistants uniquely designed to keep us from floating apart or our banging heads on space station floors or ceilings just when things are getting good?

No more nuts, no more bolts

Soft robotics definitely seems like a much more preferable course than attempting—and too frequently failing—to use clunky motors, gears, and other less-natural mechanisms in an attempt to make robots appear and act realistically.

The only problem is that the technology remains relatively new, and it may take many years or even several decades for current research to go from small scale to the point where it can be used to give us super-lifelike synthetic companions.

But considering the sensual/sexual possibilities soft robotics might provide us in the future, I’d say it’s more than worth the wait.

Image Sources: Depositphotos

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A list of establishments where you can pay by the hour to romp with sexy synthetics.

Over the past couple of years, several sex doll brothels have popped up around the world—many of them in Europe. Some remain in business, charging clients half-hourly and hourly rates to spend time with dolls in private rooms. Yet public outcry has forced others to shutter their services.

Here we share details on the ones still in operation. We plan to continually update this article with new establishments offering synthetic beauties for hire. So if we’ve missed any, please let us know by emailing editor [at] futureofsex [dot] net.

Note that most of these love doll bordellos don’t share their addresses publically for security and privacy reasons. So you’ll need to contact them directly for address information, which they likely won’t give out until you make a booking.

Sex Doll and Sex Robot Brothels in Europe

Cybrothel—Berlin, Germany

Launched by a group of artists in 2019, Berlin’s Cybrothel is still going strong; offering all sorts of erotic activities with an array of provocative, virtual playmates including ones based on the popular Kokeshi model as well as more physical encounters with actual, bonafide sexbots.  

Beginning at around $350 for a Night Session, which includes a high-end sexbot playmate, also includes a private bath, a balcony view of the city, and the ability to watch adult videos on a massive HD screen.

Naughty Harbor Sex Doll Brothel—Prague, Czechia

This Prague sex doll brothel claims to combines teledildonics, virtual reality, and sex dolls for immersive and realistic experiences. An hour of pleasure with a sex doll will cost you $85. The company Naughty Harbor told FutureofSex.net it plans to add AI-powered sex robot heads in the not too distant future.

Aura Dolls Brothel—Toronto, Canada

Recently set up in a Toronto, Canada neighborhood, Aura Dolls Brothel has all the earmarks of becoming a successful, and quite popular establishment, due to its commitment to provide safe, satisfying, and pleasurable sexbot experiences. 

With all the clubs and establishments we’ve seen move to our RIP section, it’s refreshing to find a brothel willing to bravely step forward, taking the chance on a business model many people, and their governments, have yet to accept.

RIP: Shuttered brothels

The Dolly Parlour – Greenwich, South London, England

The Dolly Parlour, which was previously located in Greenwich, South London had opened in February 2018 but has since closed down.

Xdolls Brothel—Paris, France

Unfortunately, the once popular, Paris-based Xdolls club seems to be no longer in operation, despite French police officials having previously determined it wasn’t a brothel, per se, due to its “employees” not being human.

Lumidolls—Moscow, Russia; Barcelona, Spain; Nagoya, Japan; and Turin, Italy

Once a major step towards sexbot brothel acceptance, Lumidolls’ clubs in Moscow, Barcelona, Nagoya, and, as the New York Post reports, Turin, all appear to have closed.  Even the Lumidolls’ company site appears shuttered, meaning there’s no information available for when—or if—it might reopen any of its establishments.

Bordoll—Dortmund, Germany

Madam Evelyn Schwarz’s Bordoll club, which provided a number of well-maintained makes and models, has joined the sadly long list of sexbot brothels to have closed their doors.

Love Love Happiness—Shenzhen, China

Suspended somewhere between open and closed, Shenzhen’s Love Love Happiness brothel was put out of business by Chinese authorities, though its founder, Li Bo, remains hard at work trying to fight their ban.  We can only hope he succeeds as, by all accounts, his establishment was extremely popular–more than likely because of its very affordable rates.

Aura Dolls Brothel—Houston, Texas

A proposed sexbot club could be doomed before opening its doors for the first time–at least if Houston’s Mayor, Sylvester Turner, has anything to say about it.  

Speaking to USA Today, he made his opinion quite clear, “It’s not the sort of business that we advertise for, or we seek to attract. Or quite frankly, from my point of view, the sort of business that I want in the city of Houston.”

Supposedly a new location for the already-established Aura Dolls Brothel in Toronto Canada, the Houston brothel’s fate remains up in the air, though considering how much uproar it’s generated there’s a good chance Texans who want a high quality sexbot encounter will have to look elsewhere.

Kontakthof brothel—Vienna, Austria

While not exclusively a brothel for sex dolls, the most popular sex worker at Kontakthof was reportedly one. No longer in business, an hour with this synthetic beauty named Fanny used to cost 80€.

House of Dolls—Kamloops, Canada

An interesting service, not really a brothel per se as they operate more like an escort service. You pay for a night and they deliver the doll to you. They will even set it up and pick it up at the location of your choice.

Bella Dolls—Vancouver, Canada

Bella Dolls in Vancouver was scheduled to open on November 3, 2018. But it may have been offering services before then. Unlike other sex doll establishments, its business troubles seem to have nothing to do with sexual stigma. The City of Vancouver told The Vancouver Sun newspaper there are no laws against such businesses. However, Bella Dolls has yet to apply for a license to operate in the city.

The husband and wife who led this sex doll brothel in Vancouver also started House of Dolls in Kamloops. Dolls are rented for 350$ a night with a 500$ damage deposit.

KinkySDollS—Toronto, Canada

KinkySDollS says it launched its love doll service, which offers life-sized dolls for purchase or rent, in 2017. According to the company’s website, their dolls are “lubed warm and ready to play” when clients arrive for their private sessions. In addition, their website states that their mission includes: preventing human trafficking and reducing prostitution, helping those who have difficulties getting companionship, and reducing sex crimes.

Doll House—Viby J, Denmark

The Doll House brothel was located in the southwestern part of Aarhus, the second-biggest city in Denmark, in the Viby J district. Prices start at DKK 500 for 30 minutes and DKK 800 for one hour with one doll. You could upgrade your experience by adding more dolls into your session as well as by incorporating virtual reality with the HTC Vive headset available.

Scotland

Two days after opening, a sex doll brothel located in a small village southeast of Glasgow, Scotland, shut its doors. Complaints from unhappy neighbors poured in after the establishment received media coverage.

Unique Dolls—Helsinki, Finland

Russian sex doll company Unique Dolls opened a brothel in the Finnish Capital in November 2018. The establishment will feature four synthetic beauties named Candy, Jennifer, Nicky, and Crystal. Each of the four dolls has its own room at the brothel furnished with a sofa bed, table, and flat-screen TV. An hour with one of them costs €100. However, the establishment now appears to be shuttered, as its website is no longer live.

More love doll brothels?

Are we missing any other businesses that offer on-site rentals of love dolls? Let us know by emailing us at editor [at] futureofsex [dot] net.

Image sources: Kokeshi AI, Depositphotos

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Why buy when you can make your own artificial companion?

Picture a time when, instead of purchasing a ready-made, pre-assembled pleasure device, you’d have the option to design, print, and assemble a fully customized one, and not only that but at a fraction of the cost.

Originally used to describe free-to-use software back in the 1990s, open source has expanded to include schematics, recipes, medicine, and even fictional creations given freely by their creator(s) for anyone to use and modify free of charge.

Thanks to projects like the Robot Studio’s Humanoid Open Robot, the possibility of build-at-home sexbots may soon become a reality—and in doing so, could open up endless sexual and relationship possibilities.

A little bit of this

For the mechanically inclined, Robot Studio offered the chance to test out, what they described as an alternative to today’s highly publicized and highly expensive commercial versions, “If you’ve always dreamt of having your humanoid robot, that dream is within reach.”

Those selected received a comprehensive guide on assembling their current prototype, complete with downloadable software and links to any necessary hardware.  

Since it’s all open-source, it’s entirely—and easily—modifiable from minor adjustments to a thorough redesign. In addition, as its plans will be free not only to use but limitlessly share, others can offer ideas, solve potential problems, or pool resources.

The Robot Studio is just one example of what’s rapidly becoming an open-source robotics movement. The University of Melbourne’s Robotics Lab has its free-to-use software, as does the aptly named Open Robotics site.  

RECOMMENDED READING: Open Source Sex Tech: the DIY Edition

Users of social networking platforms like Reddit are also providing blueprints and software packages for anyone to use.

The developer of the controversial Scarlett Johansson-themed sexbot has even compiled a DIY guide, as are others working on make-your-own sextoys. 

But there’s a somewhat small problem with open-source robotics, as we’ll soon see but even money will probably not stand much in the way of a future where we’ll be able to make the lover of our dreams—without having to leave home.

A little bit of that

When describing their open-source project, The Robot Studio said that while its software and blueprints are free, the mechanical elements “Uses only 20k USD of components.”

Describing that much money as “only” may set many aback, but it’s also worth considering that these are off-the-shelf components, so it may be possible that as open-source robotics gains popularity, those prices may sharply decline.

When discussing customized synthetic companions, it’s possible we’d also see mass-produced elements, like a robot’s internal mechanisms, skeleton, and computer systems, that users would be able to customize however they want.

To do that, we’d need to bring another fascinating new technology into the mix: 3D printing. 

Once prohibitively expensive, additive manufacturing, as it’s also called, has gotten to where mid-range printers cost just  $300.  

Like most technologies, including robotics components, the technology will continue to not only reduce in price but become increasingly more sophisticated.

Making a friend

It’s time to put these pieces together to show how open-source robotics combined with 3D printing might make having an erotically playful, emotionally supportive companion as easy as inserting part A into slot B.

It all begins with buying the suitable components. For simplicity’s sake, let’s start by ordering its fully mobile, autonomous framework or—for those who are good-with-tools—everything separately.

Even our companion’s inner workings don’t have to be mass-produced; just as there are already small, independent manufacturers, there might be small, independent manufacturers who, for a reasonable fee, would put it all together for us.

Next is downloading and modifying the open-source files necessary to fabricate on a home 3D printer.

A bonus to an open-source, customizable artificial companion is, should something go wrong, there’ll probably be an online community to lend a hand.

A community that may also create a limitless number of bodies, faces, personalities, genitalia, and secondary sexual characteristics to try—made all the easier by our effortless-to-change standardized frame.

Making a lover

A study conducted by Harvard Business Review found that 55% of those polled considered “Politics/Turf wars/no alignment” to be the largest impediment to business innovation. 

Not the case with open-sourcing, where most involved are there to make things better, to push the outside of the proverbial envelope not because they’re getting paid to do it but because they want to.

Imagine tens of thousands of armchair innovators having fun making sexbots the best they can be—their myriad sexual and emotional needs fueling a monumental wave of innovative breakthroughs.

If all goes well, open-sourced sexbot technology could change the ending of John F. Kennedy’s famous quote, “One person can make a difference, and everyone should try”—to “everyone, working together, should.”

Image Sources: Depositphotos

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Sometimes the best present is the last

Inhumanly lithe, unnaturally poised, and uncannily elegant, something like a woman said, “Come in; I’ve heard a great deal about you.”

Hidden behind a declining-balance statement, concealed under a horizontal analysis breakdown, and carefully secreted within a long-term liability register was a single, eyebrow-raising expenditure to The Work Of Our Hand, Ltd, followed by a rental agreement for an apartment Knoft immediately realized was just a fifteen-minute walk or a five-minute AutoCab trip from his once alive now … not, father’s office. 

“I’m Olivia,” it said, politely insisting Knoft make himself comfortable, “my sincere apologies for having to meet under such, well, melancholic circumstances.”

“I’m sorry,” Knoft said, gazing down at the confusingly filigreed coffee table and his legs and feet restlessly quivering beneath it. “I don’t know how I feel about this, I mean, you and him.”

Slightly less than three hundred seconds earlier, Knoft was climbing out of a humanity-fragrant, uniformly scuffed, and obviously mistreated autonomous vehicle and into a subtly-scented, luxuriously polished, and immaculately maintained lobby—where a nearly silent elevator brought him to the fourteenth floor and several nervous steps to 1420.

Sliding a delicate porcelain hand towards him, then resting amiably warm fingers on his wrist, the synthetic softly said, “This must be difficult for you.” 

Difficult? Bellowed Knoft’s mind.  Difficult!? A scream tugged at his throat. Difficult!?  Here was the artificial, manufactured, sold, and bought product, a thing his father had given everything Knoft ever wanted, needed, and deserved.  

Why?  A breath in, the same eased out; internal storm ebbing, fingers steadily unclenching, legs steadying, all of it expressed by only a stiff nod and five sharply clipped words:

“Tell me about my father.”

#

Knoft left, closing the apartment door slowly, carefully behind him.  Mind chaotic, adrift in his private, unsettled universe, trying and failing to merge what it’d said with his unfeeling, unflinching, uncaring parent.

Less chaotic, only somewhat adrift, he returned a month later.  Pouring sweetly scented tea from an antique kettle, it took Knoft’s hand, peered into his eyes, and said, “Yes, we were lovers, but it was more than that.”

It spoke of Knoft’s father brushing its hair while it hummed, but never sang, a litany of 20th-century show tunes.  

It talked of him bringing bouquets of flowers, not purchased but carefully, thoughtfully plucked during his walk from his office to the synthetic’s apartment. 

Then it asked, and Knoft answered: confessing what it was like growing up with a man who was never there, even when they were in the same room with one another.  

Holding his hand and kissing his cheek, it told Knoft, “He wanted to tell you, he really did.  It was just so difficult for him.”

#

Calmer, more anchored, Knoft came back the following week.  Curled together on Olivia’s vast sofa, she—not it—said, “I wish I could have done more for him.”

She said his father would light dozens of candles, dim the lights, stretch out on the floor and laughingly try to divine deep, spiritual meanings from the shadowy forms dancing across the ceiling.

Knoft discussed his too-often frustrating career; how for every step forward, he felt pushed three, four, five, six steps back—and should he finally going to topple and fall; there’d be no one there to catch him.  

Knoft opened up about his relationships, how he invariably grew farther and farther from them, each seeming to speak an ever-increasingly foreign tongue—and how he, more than anything, wished someone, anyone had taught him how to be human.

Entwined in a lover’s knot, sweat cooling on Knoft’s brow, Olivia murmured in his ear, “I hear you, I understand you, I see, and care for all of you.”

#

Eagerly, passionately, Knoft was back the next day.  Mouths wetly affixed, arms woven together, breaths moanfully shared, bubbly laughter exchanged—that is until Olivia, with her undying grace, eternal patience, and unending care, gently but firmly withdrew from Knoft’s playful caresses.

Tea steeping, petits fours arranged, tea poured, petits fours offered, tea sipped, petits fours nibbled and formalities observed, returned, sitting near but not too near to Knoft she said, “What else do you want to know about your father?”

“I don’t want to talk about him.  Not anymore.  Can’t we simply enjoy each other’s company?” Knoft said, punctuated by a kiss to the tip of her nose. 

Olivia fixed her made-eye to his born-eye. “Yes, that’d be nice.  We’ve enjoyed such lovely times together, haven’t we?”

“Amazing, more than I could have ever hoped for.  With more to come–” he said, reaching out to her

“I’ve talked about your father.” Shoulders lowered, staring into her upturned palms, she continued, “and how he felt about me.  But I didn’t … I couldn’t explain why he needed me.”

“Do we have to talk about this now?” Knoft pleaded.

“I-I’m afraid we do.  I have to tell you.” No longer lithe, only somewhat poised, barely elegant, life fading, mechanisms failing.

“What—what is it?  What’s going on? Please tell me!” Knoft cried while furiously rubbing her barely warm, nearer-to-icy hand.

“Y-your father, it was too late for him; he’d held himself in for too long, too many years, scared of hurting people, hurting you. So he left you, e-escaped with me,” softly adding, “I did what I could to h-help him.”

Once bright, now clouded eyes spilled tears onto previously glowing, presently ashen cheeks.  “I tried, I-I really did.  But in the end, I could only make h-him comfortable.”

“Olivia!” Knoft cried, putting her chilly hands on his own tear-slick face, “What’s happening?”

A kiss, unexpected and—to Knoft’s growing sorrow—too quick and too shockingly frigid.  “Y-You should know, must know, h-h-he loved you”  

Pupils were dark and getting darker, she continued, “H-he’d want you to be happy, not be like him.  Not t-trapped by his own fears, unable to leave m-me.”

“Why, Olivia; why?” Knoft howled. “Stop—whatever you’re doing, please stop!”

“You’re f-father wouldn’t want t-this life … f-for you,” she wheezed as first her right then her left eyelid froze in place.

Knoft held her, chest aching, throat raw, eyes blinded with tears.  “Please don’t go.”

“It’s o-o-our gift to you,” Olivia said, her voice the faintest of whispers, “w-w-who we both loved so very much—f-for you to be f-free.”

Image Sources: M.Christian

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How total-body interactivity might lead to limitless erotic possibilities

When? Sooner than you think.  

What? A sensor-lined bodysuit, a hi-rez video headset, or maybe a circuitry-lined patch affixed to the back of your neck to link your mind to a sexually-customized artificial body–  

Where? –which could be anywhere from a few feet to thousands of miles away from your real body.

How? Flip a switch or tap a virtual icon, and no matter where your physical self is, you’ll instantly and completely feel like you and your artificial body are one and the same.

Explaining telepresence

While Marvin Minsky first coiled the word “telepresence” in a 1980 paper, he makes a point of citing Robert A. Heinlein’s 1948 science fiction short story, “Waldo,” for the idea of remotely operated technology so advanced the person using it would lose all sense of distance. 

What was once a speculative concept is now an everyday reality, with telepresence devices currently used for everything from handling radioactive waste to performing delicate microsurgery.

But, as the old saying goes, the best is yet to come, specifically how, in only a few short years, telepresence might completely transform human sexuality like nothing before or since.

Putting the pieces together

What’s especially exciting about fully immersive telepresence is how much of it is pretty much already here, with the rest perhaps right around the corner.

To be clear, I’m not talking about merely seeing or manipulating distant objects feeling you’re inhabiting, not your biological body but an artificial one which may or may not be specifically constructed for sexual pleasure: enhanced senses, modifiable genitalia, greater flexibility, you name it.

Scoff all you want, but the first part of the advanced telepresence equation — as in projecting your sense of awareness beyond your immediate location — is practically here, as in virtual reality, particularly when coupled with haptic, taste, and aromatic simulators like those we’ve covered previously,  

Surprisingly, even fabricating an artificial, sexually-customizable humanoid body for your consciousness to inhabit may not be that far off. 

For instance, tomorrow’s autonomous artificial companions would make perfect surrogate bodies, and systems like Apple’s Vision Pro’s multi-spectrum cameras and lidar scanners could be ideally suited for giving them, and the wearer, a sense of being there — wherever there might be.

Surrogates, the 2009, at best, mediocre science fiction thriller starring Bruce Willis, shows what total-body telepresence could be like. Just don’t pay too much attention to its doomsaying, anti-technology message.

Recent telepresence breakthrough

October of last year, South Korean researchers at Duksung Women’s University and Hanyang University broke new ground by developing a new approach to immersive telepresence.

Employing a motion capture rig and a virtual reality headset linked to a stereoscopic camera mounted to the head of a small, semi-ambulatory robot, the researchers discovered the person operating it felt as though they and the robot weren’t man and machine but a single being.

Scale that up a bit, and you can see why teleprescent sexuality could be one of those rare not if but when world-changing technological innovations. 

What happens once we put all these different pieces together? Well, starters, take a moment to consider who you are.  

Your synthetic body, your actual self

No, not the body you may have been born into, but your real self. Using telepresence, you could occupy any number of synthetic bodies as easily as you change your clothes — and, in the process, perhaps discover and live as the person you always knew you were.

Or maybe you’re merely curious to see, feel, and live as someone else? Fire up your telepresence rig, whether it’s a bodysuit, a pair of VR goggles, or by plugging in your cortical jack, and you’ll be able to try out an infinite number of different body types, sizes or genders as well as mix, match, or create brand new ones.

Some of those new bodies could even make you feel — no, be more than human. 

Want to dive into an active volcano, drop to the bottom of the Mariana Trench, or skydive from orbit? You could do it all while not burning, getting crushed, or smashing into the earth — all while your physical body is safe at home. 

There’s also no reason we couldn’t construct animalistic or wildly abstract new physical forms to inhabit, bodies allowing us to experience life not as someone but as something new.

Being anyone and everyone 

Though it might be easy, or at least tempting, to think of sexual telepresence as another sign of a looming technological apocalypse, there’s an equally good chance it’ll end up being less what humanity’s always wanted and more what we’ve always needed. Now more than ever.

Imagine being able to walk in someone else’s shoes but taken to an entirely new level: by granting everyone the opportunity to experience life, love, and sex as another person, telepresence could be our ticket to understanding those around us and, in the process, ourselves like never before.Image

Sources: Depositphotos

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