Cartoon History of Sex Robots

It’s been 10 years since Roxxxy the “world’s first sex robot” was created. “She can’t vacuum, she can’t cook but she can do almost anything else if you know what I mean,” said Roxxxy’s creator Douglas Hines.

In 2012 our very own blog contributor Dr Michelle Stella Mars collaborated with the author of Sex Robots: The Future of Desire where they tried to envision the future and what Amsterdam's red-light district would look like in 2050 with robotic sex workers. Fast forward to 2017 and Matt McMullen, the creator behind RealDoll, revealed Harmony who not only had AI for communication but also sensors in her body which responded to movement and touch. The same year the world’s first sex doll brothel opened in Barcelona and promised that your experience would remain confidential between you and your sex doll. And with consent taking centre stage of conversations around sex in 2018 there emerged a sex robot who could refuse sex if she felt abused or disrespected.

The forerunner to sex robots were of course sex dolls and history tells us they have been around since the 17th century. The history is quite fascinating and we loved this well researched, informative cartoon depiction by sex nerd Noah Sterling with illustrations by Jon Herzog. 

You might also like to check out the video produced for a series called Robotica where Matt McMullen, the creator of arguably the most popular sex doll RealDoll, talks about bringing “Harmony” to life.