this post was submitted on 23 Feb 2025
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[โ€“] [email protected] 52 points 4 months ago (13 children)

Colloquially, the word "robot" always implies a certain amount of anthropomorphism. So no, I don't think a vibrator would count, as basically no vibrators on the market try to look human-like.

But that definitely is a weird difference between male and female sexuality - the sex toys women buy most are the very effective and utilitarian ones: Vibrator wands, Rabbits, Air pulse Vibrators etc.

While the most popular tools for men tend to focus on "realism"(?): Fleshlights, Sex Dolls, things like VR and POV porn. And I guess sex robots would fall into that category too in the future.

I can absolutely see the weirdness-factor of someone who is desperately trying to emulate a partner rather than just accept masturbation as a solo activity and optimize it from there ๐Ÿ˜ฌ

[โ€“] [email protected] 74 points 4 months ago (5 children)

A robot doesn't need to be anthropomorphic, an assembly line robot is still a robot. It does however need to be able to perform some actions autonomously, for which a vibrator hardly qualifies.

[โ€“] [email protected] 5 points 4 months ago (3 children)

An assembly line robot (like welding or material handling, I've worked with ABB, Fanuc, Motoman, Panasonic) are still called robot "arms" with the end portion often called the "wrist" so there is a degree of anthropomorphizing even if it's not the whole body. And they do resemble an arm, however with 6 axis motion the motion is more like from your hips to your wrist than shoulder to wrist.

[โ€“] [email protected] 5 points 4 months ago* (last edited 4 months ago)

Iirc, traffic lights are called robots in some African English dialects. Although it's more like one of those regional peculiarities.

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