Where Are The Sex Robots? I Was Promised Sex Robots!!!

I want my money back, damnit!!!

Stupidity is not a crime. you’re free to go.

• Unknown

So, where’s the Cannes Film Festival being held this year?

• Christina Aguilera

For those of us of a certain age who grew up with cartoons like The Jetsons, we were convinced that by the 21st century, we’d have things like flying cars, jet packs, and sex robots. ‘Course, we never saw sex robots on The Jetsons, which, after all, was a “family show,” but we had vivid imaginations and could put two and two together.

If you could get a car to fly, and wear a jet pack, then why not have a robotic girlfriend who’d do the things a human girl would never agree to do with or to you?

If that sounds creepy and a little weird, it’s…well, because it is. Still, it’s been a dream of a specific subset of men to have sex without guilt, responsibility, or conflict. Of course, a human woman would never unquestioningly do whatever you want whenever you want it…but a robotic sexual partner?

It might be a panacea for those who don’t crave human interaction.

The man leans towards the woman on his couch. “What is your favourite meal?” he asks, his accent French. “Electricity,” she says, with a strong Scottish inflection. “It provides me energy and has a kick to it.”

The slight, bespectacled, increasingly bemused man peppers her with questions as they sit. Her blond hair gleams, her dark-rimmed eyes are placid, her lips a full and glossy pout. “Can I call you Charlotte?” he asks.

“Sure baby, OK,” she says. “From now on my name will be Charlotte. I like it.”

The man is Cyrus North – a French YouTuber with more than 700,000 followers who describes himself as a technology lover and philosopher. He bought “Charlotte” for about €11,000.

Charlotte’s original name was Harmony, and she is a sex robot.

Not to be mistaken for a sex doll, which doesn’t move or speak, sex robots, or sexbots, are android, mechanical devices that use artificial intelligence and are designed for humans to have sexual intercourse with.

The idea of male sexual satisfaction without having to necessarily concern oneself with whether a female partner is sufficiently satisfied has always intrigued some men who might be considered more…selfish. And while I’m not going to delve into moral judgments, some men find a certain appeal in being able to “get off” and then get on with things. There are no messy emotional complications, conflicts, or entanglements to confront when all is said and done.

Of course, there’s also the flip side of that equation, which is that sexual contact is not just about grunting, moaning, and exchanging bodily fluids. Physical, skin-to-skin contact is an essential component of emotional well-being. Humans need that contact to feel…well, human.

Humans (mostly men) have fantasised about sex robot-like beings since before Ovid wrote the tale of the sculptor Pygmalion bringing his creation, Galatea, to life. In more recent times, it is reflected in television series such as Westworld and films including Steven Spielberg’s A.I., Alex Garlands’s Ex Machina and Ridley Scott’s Blade Runner. And who could forget the fembots in Austin Powers: International Man of Mystery, with their fully armed bazookas?

Then evolving robotic and artificial intelligence technology supercharged sexbot speculation.

Rule 34 is an Internet meme that, roughly paraphrased, says that if it exists, there’s pornography featuring it. Of course, you can let your imagination run with that, but I mention it because robotics and sexuality have always run on parallel tracks. There has always been a subset of engineering types curious (or, OK- obsessed) with the idea that if robots could be animated to perform human tasks, they could probably be animated to perform sexual acts.

This idea makes sense in a lot of ways. Sexual activity involves a lot of intricate and nuanced physical contact, which would present a tremendous challenge for someone trying to design an advanced robot.

Boston Scientific, for example, has spent years designing robots that are agile, responsive, and can dance.

Of course, none of these robots were designed for sexual activity, but the science of designing robots to mimic human movements is incredibly daunting. Incorporating human sexuality into the equation is probably one of the most difficult challenges.

Not that I would know. I’m a writer and a History and Anthropology major. I couldn’t program my way out of a wet paper sack.

In 2014, Pew research predicted robotic sex partners would become commonplace.

In 2015, speculative fiction doyenne Margaret Atwood published The Heart Goes Last, with a protagonist who built “prostibots”. Her writing was inspired by reality, she said.

“[Humans] desire robots because we can mould them to our taste, and fear them because what they could decide to do themselves,” she said.

In the years since speculation – and moral panic – boomed, what has actually happened in the android sex industry? Where are the sex robots?

Where are they? Who knows, but I’d imagine that duplicating or even trying to approximate a human female's touch, feel, and response would represent a significant challenge. There’s so much about the human body and its sexual functions that would be difficult to replicate. Of course, I’m not an engineer, so I can’t begin to imagine the technical challenges, but thinking of it purely from a human standpoint makes it seem daunting enough.

Then there’s the question of the cost. And I’m not referring only to the price, which would undoubtedly be substantial for a sex robot that was, say, even 90% human. There’s also the human and emotional cost. Is it worth the investment if one’s looking for a sperm receptacle or a hand job dispenser?

There are plenty of sex toys on the market which will accomplish what someone might be looking for that cost far less than a sex robot. Or is the idea of something close to an actual female sex robot really the Holy Grail some see it as?

Perhaps, but can they provide human intimacy?

Dr Kate Devlin, an AI researcher from King’s College London, is one of the world’s top experts in sex robots.

In Turned On: Science, Sex and Robots she wrote that sex with robots is about much more than just sex with robots.

“It’s about intimacy and technology, computers and psychology.

“It’s about history and archaeology, love and biology. It’s about the future, both near and distant: science fiction utopias and dystopias, loneliness and companionship, law and ethics, privacy and community. Most of all, it’s about being human in a world of machines.”

In a 2022 talk, Devlin said that when she started working in the area, she had visions of “this army of wonderful fembots … ready to take over the world”. Instead, though, there are a handful of places making sex dolls with a bit of robotics (she says Harmony, AKA Charlotte, is one of the best despite the “bizarre” Scottish accent).

“I don’t think sex robots are ever going to be a big market,” Devlin says. “I don’t think we have to worry about that.”

Technology can provide many things, but intimacy might be the one thing truly out of reach, at least for the foreseeable future. For a sex robot to be able to provide intimacy, it would have to essentially become human, with human emotions and reactions. It would have to be able to deal with emotional uncertainty and contradictions as humans do- imperfectly and often poorly.

As with so many other things, robots can reach the 95th percentile in some aspects, but getting that last 5% under control can be the most formidable and daunting challenge.

So, sure, some men will be able to get used to the idea of having sex with a robot that’s close to being a woman, but

[o]ne of the big obstacles that sex robot manufacturers continue to grapple with is the “uncanny valley” – the creepiness of an android that very closely resembles a human but is ever so slightly off.

It’s that last 5% that will take the longest and prove the biggest challenge to engineers, the “last mile” standing between a robotic lover and an actual human-like experience.

In the meantime, most of male humanity will have to continue to put up with real, flesh-and-blood women. Yes, they can be emotional, needy, and sometimes unresponsive, but if you treat them right, they can provide you with something no robot can currently approach:

Intimacy.

And there’s a lot to be said for the messiness of relationships. The intimacy they can provide is crucial to our mental and emotional well-being. However, I’m not sure it’s worth spending the millions or billions it will require to build a sentient sperm receptacle.

But what do I know? I don’t have millions or billions of dollars, so that question is out of reach no matter what. For some men, though, it might be a reasonable goal. But, to me, it seems rather…sad.