Otakuism and the Appeal of Sex Robots

Appel, Markus; Marker, Caroline; Mara, Martina

doi:10.3389/fpsyg.2019.00569

Cited by 34 publications

(35 citation statements)

References 42 publications

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“…As social machines become more human-like in appearance, functioning, and/or behavior, the potential for humans and machines to cooperatively generate meaning through interaction (Guzman, 2018) may include sexual interactions. Although there is currently limited empirical evidence outside of humans' attitudes and speculations (e.g., Scheutz & Arnold, 2017), it is hypothesized that the use of such machines as sexual partners could be a secure and low-risk alternative to human sexual contact (e.g., Appel et al, 2019). Similar to cybersex, these potentials may be especially important for individuals who are unable to engage in humanpartner relationships because of illness, recent loss of a partner, difficulties with sexual functioning, psychological issues, or disabilities (Coursey et al, 2019;Döring, 2017;Döring & Pöschl, 2018).…”

Section: Machines As Sexual Communication Partnersmentioning

confidence: 99%

Cybersex with human- and machine-cued partners: Gratifications, shortcomings, and tensions.

Banks¹,

Ouytsel²

2020

Technology, Mind, and Behavior

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From social-network spambots and forensic chatbots to dating simulation games, sexual communication with machines is not uncommon in contemporary culture-however, it remains effectively a black-box phenomenon. There is little empirical research examining how sexual human-machine communication (HMC-S) is experienced, whether it is impactful, or whether it may be similar or different to human-human sexual communication. Advancing our understanding of those questions is vital in understanding the potential for machine partners to foster the health and welfare benefits, as well as the potential to have negative impacts. This study takes a first step in considering experiential parity or divergence by experimentally investigating 271 people's cybersex experience with a chat partner that was visually and textually cued as a human or a machine. Multimethod analysis suggests there may be no difference in gratifications from sex chat with ostensible machine versus human partners; however, participants seem to experience tensions between the gratifications and shortcomings of cybersex with machine-cued partners.

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Section: Machines As Sexual Communication Partnersmentioning

confidence: 99%

Cybersex with human- and machine-cued partners: Gratifications, shortcomings, and tensions.

Banks¹,

Ouytsel²

2020

Technology, Mind, and Behavior

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“…So far, most of these robots are used in the industrial sector; however, other fields are quickly catching up. Robots are expected to play a key role in the retail industry [1], tourism and hospitality [2], nursing and healthcare [3], and even future sex work [4]. For example, delivery services are already experimenting with drones and driverless cars [5], social robots are used to reduce loneliness among elderly [6], and virtual automated assistants such as Alexa or Google Home conquer the private homes [7].…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Attitudes towards emergent autonomous robots in Austria and Germany

Gnambs

2019

Elektrotech. Inftech.

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Autonomous robotic systems are an indispensable component of work in many industries that are on the brink of entering many other areas of people's lives such as transportation or healthcare. Because attitudes towards new technologies shape consumers' decision to adopt these innovations, the present study examines the public opinion toward emergent robotic systems in Austria and Germany. The results showed that, in general, attitudes seemed rather positive in both countries. However, for Austria a rather ambivalent picture emerged: although Austrians exhibited the largest adoption rate of robotic technologies in Europe, at the same time they evaluated robots most unfavorably as compared to other European countries. Thus, experiences with robots seemed to have intensified potential downsides of automation that resulted in more concerns regarding the widespread use of robots. Einstellungen gegenüber Autonomen Robotern inÖsterreich und Deutschland. Autonome Roboter sind ein unverzichtbarer Teil der Arbeit in zahlreichen Industriezweigen und stehen kurz davor, auch andere Anwendungsfelder im Personenverkehr und Gesundheitswesen zu erobern. Da Einstellungen gegenüber neuen Technologien die Entscheidungen von Konsumenten beeinflussen, diese Neuerungen auch zu nutzen, untersucht die vorliegende Studie die öffentliche Meinung gegenüber neuen automatischen Systemen in Österreich und Deutschland. Die Ergebnisse zeigten im Allgemeinen eine eher positive Einstellung in beiden Ländern. Allerdings ergab sich in Österreich ein zwiespältiges Bild: Obwohl Österreicher die höchste Nutzungsrate von Robotertechnologien aufwiesen, hatten sie die negativsten Einstellungen. Es kann vermutet werden, dass zunehmende Erfahrungen mit Robotern auch die negativen Seiten von Automation verstärkten, was in skeptischere Einstellungen gegenüber einer verbreiteten Nutzung von Robotern mündet.

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“…Most empirical studies (8/12, 67%) are small web-based surveys on sex robot acceptance using convenience samples from the United States (N=261: [ 126 ], N=133: [ 130 ], N=100: [ 131 ], and N=198: [ 132 ]), Germany (N=263: [ 133 ]), Indonesia (N=380: [ 136 ]), and Malaysia (N=32: [ 127 ]). Their results show diverse rates of sex robot acceptance.…”

Section: Resultsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Design, Use, and Effects of Sex Dolls and Sex Robots: Scoping Review

Döring¹,

Mohseni²,

Walter³

2020

J Med Internet Res

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Background Although sex toys representing human body parts are widely accepted and normalized, human-like full-body sex dolls and sex robots have elicited highly controversial debates. Objective This systematic scoping review of the academic literature on sex dolls and sex robots, the first of its kind, aimed to examine the extent and type of existing academic knowledge and to identify research gaps against this backdrop. Methods A comprehensive multidisciplinary, multidatabase search strategy was used. All steps of literature search and selection, data charting, and synthesis followed the leading methodological guideline, the Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analyses extension for Scoping Reviews checklist. A total of 29 (17 peer reviewed) and 98 publications (32 peer reviewed) for sex dolls and sex robots, respectively, from 1993 to 2019 were included. Results According to the topics and methodologies, the sex doll and sex robot publications were divided into 5 and 6 groups, respectively. The majority of publications were theoretical papers. Thus far, no observational or experimental research exists that uses actual sex dolls or sex robots as stimulus material. Conclusions There is a need to improve the theoretical elaboration and the scope and depth of empirical research examining the sexual uses of human-like full-body material artifacts, particularly concerning not only risks but also opportunities for sexual and social well-being.

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Otakuism and the Appeal of Sex Robots

Cited by 34 publications

References 42 publications

Cybersex with human- and machine-cued partners: Gratifications, shortcomings, and tensions.

Cybersex with human- and machine-cued partners: Gratifications, shortcomings, and tensions.

Attitudes towards emergent autonomous robots in Austria and Germany

Design, Use, and Effects of Sex Dolls and Sex Robots: Scoping Review

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