Advisor: Martin Schied, Weimar, 2016
Sex machines are one of the oldest attempts to connect technology and pleasure. The interconnectedness of sex, technology and communication are crucial factors of culture and are constantly changing. Many people have reached an intimate relationship with their sex doll. Human-robot love and soon after that human-robot marriage are not considered impossible fictions anymore.
The Sex Addicted robot is a speculative interactive artifact that reverses the human-robot relationship. It is dominant in its relationship with the human. It constantly and randomly seeks sex, decides on when to have sex, and how to be satisfied. It can send texts to its partners to call them home as soon as they can. It is not about human pleasure anymore. It is about the robot’s pleasure.
A 3D printed sex toy benefits from 12 capacitive sensors which represent different spots of the dildo from bottom to top. An audio player on the electronic part allows the portable sex toy to give commands anytime it wants.
The device’s “brain” is a trained neural network which analyzes hand gestures on it and reacts accordingly. It states whether it likes the touch sensation or not. It sometimes asks for different actions, slower or faster, in specific spots.
The Sex Addicted Robot uses sexuality to critique the human-technology relationship beyond sexuality in the contemporary world. This idea stems from the notion that technology is supposed to make life easier but it becomes a problem itself. Rather, the user needs to fix the problem instead of using the technology for his/her benefit.