In case you needed a reminder that “lonely men with lots of disposable income” is a great target demographic for your products, well here you go: The New York Times just profiled a company that has sold more than 5,000 “customizable, life-size” sex dolls, which range in price from $5,000 to $10,000.
But the story doesn’t stop there (although perhaps it should).
The company, called RealDoll, is working on a project, called Realbotix, which will take its lifelike dolls and turn them into fully-fledged sex robots. To make this happen, Matt McMullen, creator of RealDoll, has recruited a small team of engineers from Hanson Robotics, a lab that “produces shockingly lifelike humanoid robots.”
According to The Times:
Mr. McMullen is first focusing on developing convincing artificial intelligence, and a robotic head that can blink and open and close its mouth. He’s also working to integrate other emerging technologies, like a mobile app that acts like a virtual assistant and companion, and virtual reality headsets that can be used separately or in tandem with the physical doll.
So we may have failed to invent flying cars, or find a cure for cancer. But virtual reality porn and sex robots are almost here. You can sleep easy.