Live data from Hacker News

Sex over distance using affordable consumer teledildonic robots

motherboard.vice.com

41–50 of 105 posts

Re: Sex over distance using affordable consumer teledildonic robots

#41
post #35

Earlier quoted context omitted.

What we've invented here is a new channel for intimacy that falls somewhere between a webcam chat and being in the same room -- it's a big deal!

The idea's been around for decades. I am impressed if you're actually going to bring it to market though, that will be novel. I think most exploration of this space has either been entirely hypothetical or just prototyped and then abandoned. --edit-- wondering why the downvote? This is factual. If you want to downvote my negative opinions then go ahead, but this stuff has been showcased multiple times over the last 2…

I'd say where everyone else failed was a concentration on porn, toys, and gimmicks. The leap here is the application of robotics, which really solved all of the problems that held the technology side of this back.

Now we're just up against society and challenging a traditionally "organic" space of someones life with artificial augmentations -- which some are excited for, but others are very defensive and scared, or just satisfied with their live-in partner that never spends the night away.

This is a transition period, and our approach is meant to provide the killer app for these devices as well as aggregate the demand for user to user haptic experiences. With this approach we are attempting to incentivise third parties to further innovate and provide new more exciting opportunities to connect over distance in the future knowing that they would immediately have an eager engaged community to appreciate their contributions.

Re: Sex over distance using affordable consumer teledildonic robots

#42

I'm sure that the technology behind this can be used for something more useful.

The technology we're using is taken from remote presence machines used for things like remote surgeries. The machines are really just tracking a point in 3d space on both sides and matching it. For medical use, you can imagine the robot arm tracking the edge of a doctors scapel to the micron accuracy -- what we have here is a consumer grade robot for It's a 3D force feedback mouse essentially, you can use it for manipulating and creating 3D models and feel their texture, edges, material, weight, etc.

Re: Sex over distance using affordable consumer teledildonic robots

#46

Telemetry translation API? Seriously? You're recording 3D motion inputs, transmitting over UDP and playing back on a Novint Falcon. State of the art is much more advanced than that.

Our work with the Falcon is just one device (and we're very proud of that, it's a big deal!) The ttapi is a universal language for haptics to connect any device to any other where functionality overlaps. This way new devices can be developed by third parties that can innovate independently and still see an immediate market and userbase. The ttapi is used for games, video, and other software to interact with the user through these devices as well. It's a critical aspect of the potential of the frixion platform.

Re: Sex over distance using affordable consumer teledildonic robots

#47
I wonder if the use of this technology by a paid webcam model on a client would constitute prostitution.

Or what the social ramifications would be of having an omegle/chat-roulette style chat system where people could have sex with anonymous strangers over the internet at a moment's notice without any fear of pregnancy or sexually transmitted disease.

Re: Sex over distance using affordable consumer teledildonic robots

#48
post #47

I wonder if the use of this technology by a paid webcam model on a client would constitute prostitution. Or what the social ramifications would be of having an omegle/chat-roulette style chat system where people could have sex with anonymous strangers over the internet at a moment's notice without any fear of pregnancy or sexually transmitted disease.

Legally it's not prostitution, the laws would have to change to cover what we have here. However, there are some places (such as in the south pacific/se asia) that consider any pornography or webcam sex criminal regardless of robotic augmentation.

A virtual glory hole is a day one feature actually! To randomly connect two users with complimentary devices and the option to reveal themselves if they both choose to do so. You can imagine sex between game avatars as well, never knowing who's actually on the other side because all you can see is the in-game world but the robot telemetry is real from another person.

Your notes about pregnancy and std's are important, no threat of violence or stalking either. It's a very safe form of sex -- and we may be able to debate what actually constitutes "sex" but this is for sure not masturbation anymore.

Re: Sex over distance using affordable consumer teledildonic robots

#49
post #36

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Intimacy is the name of the game, forget the dildos and fleshlights -- these robots "mirror" each other one to one in both motion and resistance. just using your hands you can push back and forth on each other and it's a very intimate feeling of being connected physically.

I appreciate this may work for some folks, but it's never going to replace having limbs wrapped around each other and collapsing in a sweaty heap afterwards. And sure, this is opening up a entirely new avenue on top of phone/cyber/webcam sex that wasn't available before, and marks a massive step forward in what's available when people are geographically separate.

At some point the robots will have limbs and sweat.

Re: Sex over distance using affordable consumer teledildonic robots

#50

Telemetry translation API? Seriously? You're recording 3D motion inputs, transmitting over UDP and playing back on a Novint Falcon. State of the art is much more advanced than that.

Our work with the Falcon is just one device (and we're very proud of that, it's a big deal!) The ttapi is a universal language for haptics to connect any device to any other where functionality overlaps. This way new devices can be developed by third parties that can innovate independently and still see an immediate market and userbase. The ttapi is used for games, video, and other software to interact with the user…

Are you doing force reflection with the Falcon? Doesn't seem like it from your videos. It sounds like I'm being dismissive but I think you're overhyping your tech, just a bit. What I see in your video is not cutting edge (yet), this is from my experience of reading papers and attending conferences on telemanipulation and haptics, and doing research in this area.
Post reply on HN