International Congress on Love & Sex w/Robots

[Randy Eady]

The 4th Intern'l Love & Sex w/Robots Congress is set for Brussels, July 1st-2nd 2019 @ Université Libre de Bruxelles (ULB), in partnership w/CRIB (Interdisciplinary Bioethics Research Centre) – Centre de Recherche Interdisciplinaire en Bioéthique

​

Having been involved in the International Congress on Love and Sex with Robots (a platform for academics, industry pros & other subject matter experts to present/discuss their innovative work & ideas in an academic symposium) it's noteworthy to see TechNavio's industry analysis -- analysts that look @ major players & what the market looks like -- globally project the "sex tech" market to reach the $30 billion mark by 2022.  Much of that is the high volume increase in internet sales & an increased use for therapeutic purposes.  

Elaborating on the Specialized Session @LSR 2018 -- that highlighted the contributions of women in the field of Robotics and Sex Robots, LSR 2019 will continue the dialogue on women inventors and pioneers in Love and Sex Robots with the keynote address:  “Sex Robots – Ethical Issues and Feminist Perspectives”.

This keynote advances the clear case of a CES'19 double standard that made Osè taboo, suggesting robotic sensuous female stimulation was immoral and profane.   Though citing the revoking of an award because it didn’t "fit into" an existing product category, according to the Consumer Technology Association, which runs CES. (Before its award was revoked, it was honored in the category of robotics.)  A large part of this confusion seems to be not what constitutes robotics, rather it's the difference between what's sensually-permissible & what's sexualized touch -- as it relates to physical contact often tainted with traces of unease and discomfort.

 

The device was also called "immoral" and "profane," according to statements CTA made to the press.

The Osè appears like, well, a gray robotic penis. Where a scrotum would be, the Osè  has a microrobotic bulge using biomimicry to stimulate a woman’s clitoris in the way a human mouth and tongue might. The "hands-free" device responds in real time to a woman’s body, and can supposedly adjust according to how she's customized her needs & wants.

Pretty nifty robotics, the point of which is to help women achieve a so-called blended orgasm, or an orgasm reached through a more nuanced and fulsome understanding of the internal and clitoral structure (as it's been scoped and  mapped merely less than a score of years ago).  

Sex researchers note the long delay in understanding this anatomical information is, in the main, due to far fewer studies into female pleasure.  This also relates to a bias on prioritizing women’s sexual health in terms of reproduction within an "acceptable procreative zone” helping define the consumer electronics space.  In 2018, for example, CES awarded the groundbreaking Willow breast pump with an innovation award in the wearables category.  What's more, this year's showroom floor was replete with innovations in breast pumps, breast massagers, fertility gadgets, and an entire section for "baby tech."