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The First Robot in History to Become a Webcam Model


Ten years ago, an artist named Giles Walker created a robotic performance using disturbing and provocative automatons. In the centre of the room was a sex bot with a video surveillance camera as a head whirling around doing an erotic pole dance. Walker stated that he had designed this creation to explore voyeurism. Now he and his robot are in the sex industry.

Walker’s creation attracted a lot of media interest last January at the CES (Computer Electronics Show) in Las Vegas. A video was shared on social networks (visible below). The funny and disturbing subject of curiosity has created a real craze for the robot and its AI and the video has been viewed more than 11 million times.

Cardi-Bot, the name of the robot, currently works as an occasional cam girl. Clients can talk with the robot, give it tips, and request certain actions through the chat interface. But any emotional connection is entirely impossible.

We are very pleased to announce that “Cardi-Bot”, the first sexual robot able to interact with the internet, is available all over the world and will help people experience their wildest fantasies, said the employer of the robot used as webcam model.

Development work is underway and the erotic dancer will soon be able to respond to more detailed instructions and to have more intelligent conversation. It should also be compatible with remote-controlled sex toys, which will enable users to be even more intimate with Cardi.

As for him, Walker does not seem particularly proud of what his creation has become. He talked about renting his robots for performances, saying:

I didn’t build them to get into the sex industry. This isn’t about sex – it’s about voyeurism. I was inadvertently dragged into this industry, but I’m not complaining. It pays the bills. I guess in a way I’m a robotic pimp.

This new phenomenon creates a lot of questions: Will we witness the proliferation of robots in the sex industry in the future? Will more than life-like robot women equipped with artificial intelligence replace strippers, cam girls or prostitutes some day? Will we flirt with AI in the decades to come through chat and webcam?

The current trend doesn’t indicate that people are in any hurry to have casual sex with robots. It seems that, apart from mere curiosity, people simply want to connect with another being. And this is not possible with a robot for the moment, but the development of artificial intelligence may change this in the near future.