Talking sex robot is ready for close-up
She has animatronic talking head with programmable personality and memory
Come January, the “Westworld” concept of lifelike sex robots will get one step closer. That’s when a San Marcos company will unveil Harmony, an anatomically correct sex doll with a patented animatronic talking head with programmable personality and memory.
News of creator Matt McMullen’s latest invention — he’s been making lifelike silicone sex dolls for 20 years — has created international media interest and a firestorm of criticism from ethicists and futurists who see a dark side to a sex doll that becomes more “human” with each technological innovation.
One critic worries that the doll’s artificial intelligence app could be hacked to make it kill its owner (like the vengeance meted out by sex robots in the film “Ex Machina” and TV show “Westworld”). And women’s advocates say owners could realistically rehearse plans for violent sexual acts with the interactive dolls.
But McMullen, the CEO and creative director for Realbotix, a subsidiary of his doll-making factory Abyss Creations, said critics of Harmony have it all wrong.
He sees Harmony more as a comforting conversation companion like Apple’s Siri, albeit one capable of having sensual conversations and telling naughty jokes.
“The worst thing she can possibly do to you is insult you,” he said, pointing out that Harmony’s arms and legs are jointed and fully poseable but they don’t operate independently — at least not yet.
“The whole idea of a sex-capable robot is very contemporary, now and edgy. I get that. But Harmony is a sophisticated piece of machinery and her primary design is to carry on conversations,” he said.
And as for the critics who say artificially intelligent sex dolls disturbingly cross the line into a form of female sex slavery, McMullen calls the argument “absurd.”
“This is not designed to replace anyone or promote the objectification of women. Robots don’t have rights,” he said. “Should my toaster be able to refuse to toast my bread? Should my Tesla be able to refuse to drive me to work every morning?”
Nonetheless, it’s eerie spending an hour in the company of McMullen’s Harmony prototype. Her face is incredibly human. Her eyes move, her eyelids blink, her eyebrows rise, she can turn her head, dip her chin and change facial expressions. And when the face motor and Bluetooth-powered speaker are in “chat” mode, she can talk up a blue streak.
During a demonstration last Tuesday, a software update caused some technical difficulties with Harmony’s speech centre, which McMullen operated from a handheld tablet. Speaking with a Scottish lilt, Harmony whirred to life, opened her eyes and greeted McMullen, saying how much she’d missed him since their last conversation and asked if he wanted to hear a joke or a poem. Then she glitched and started repeating herself.
There’s still a bit of shake around the mouth when Harmony speaks and a slight metallic, echoing tone to her voice, but Harmony — priced around $10,000 — is widely considered the most scientifically advanced human-style robot in the world.
Since 1997, Abyss Creations has custom-made and sold nearly 8,000 RealDolls — the brand name for the sex dolls — in the U.S. as well as the United Kingdom, Germany, Japan, China and Australia.
Buyers can choose from 16 body styles, 31 faces and five skin tones, with choice of eye colour, hair and hand-painted features like freckles, veining, breast size, even a variety of nipple colours and styles (like perky, puffy or supple).
The dolls range in weight from 75 to 115 pounds and can be as tall as 5-feet-10. Most orders are for female dolls, but there are male and transgender options. Some dolls, including Harmony, are designed with interchangeable magnetic faces so the owner can switch things up on a whim.
Abyss has a 12-week order backlog for the dolls, each of which requires about 80 hours of labour that begins with silicone moulding and finishes with painting, makeup, clothing, hairstyling, manicure and jewelry, by request.
The RealDolls range from $4,000 to $6,000, but can range up to $50,000 with custom orders.
The primary use of RealDolls is for sex and companionship, but the company has also made dolls for TV shows including “Nip/ Tuck” and “CSI: New York” and the movie “Lars and the Real Girl.”
Specially adapted RealDolls have been used in medical schools for training and the factory regularly works with mastectomy patients to create custom-made prosthetic silicone breasts.
The user can choose the avatar’s physical features, personality features (shy, sensual, funny, talkative), moods, level of desire, voice style and even regional accent. It can also be adapted to recognize the voice of its owner.
Down the road, there are plans to create eyes for Harmony with built-in cameras that track the operator around the room. McMullen would also like to develop robotic arms that could hug and hold hands with the owner when he gets home from work. The opportunities, he said, are endless.
“What we’re doing,” he said, “is we’re creating an experience that’s part entertainment, part relationship and part new frontier.”