Humanoid robots are creepy enough clad (often scantily) in clothes and wigs. Just imagine what they look like on the factory assembly line. European Pressphoto Agency (EPA) photographer Aleksandar Plavevski took one for…
Humanoid robots are creepy enough clad (often scantily) in clothes and wigs. Just imagine what they look like on the factory assembly line.
European Pressphoto Agency (EPA) photographer Aleksandar Plavevski took one for the team when he visited the Shenzhen Atall Intelligent Robot Technology factory for a recent photo essay .
One of China’s leading sources of artificially intelligent bots, Shenzhen Atall (referred to as AI-Tech) is best known for its top-selling sex doll, Emma.
The $3,100 mannequin isn’t all AI-Tech can do: Shenzhen Atall also makes educational cyborgs, commercial servicing machines, and guardianship robots for the elderly.
But it’s the mute, made-up sex toys—with their soft, elastic skin and body sensors—that make the biggest splash.
Plavevski’s behind-the-scenes photos chronicle the sex-bot revolution from factory to showroom floor.
The images are often unsettling and uncomfortable (and certainly NSFW), perhaps because human-esque bodies are hanging naked from hooks like carcasses in a butcher shop window.
The electronic skull of an AI sex doll robot (via Aleksandar Plavevski/EPA)
A man assembles the stainless steel skeleton for a sex doll (via Aleksandar Plavevski/EPA)
Workers assemble dolls in the factory in Dongguan, China (via Aleksandar Plavevski/EPA)
Most of AI-Tech’s clients hail from Europe and the United States; folks in the Middle East are also craving faux intimacy, but importing sex dolls into the region is strictly prohibited. Similarly, customs clearances in Brazil, Chile, Argentina, Russia, and the Philippines makes international shipping difficult.
Unsurprisingly, female androids are the most popular; sales of male sex robots are nine times lower than their big-boobed counterparts, according to Plavevski. The market is still in its infancy, though, and rapid changes mean increased interest in silicone penises and six-pack abs—particularly in Korea and Thailand.
Shenzhen Atall also sells child-sized sex bots, primarily to customers in North America.
A worker paints makeup onto dolls’ faces (via Aleksandar Plavevski/EPA)
I always feel like somebody’s watching me (via Aleksandar Plavevski/EPA)
Heads of the “smart” sex dolls on display (via Aleksandar Plavevski/EPA)
Dolls’ bodies hang to dry (via Aleksandar Plavevski/EPA)
One customer, identified as Chen, is a busy pharmaceutical salesman with no time for a girlfriend. Besides, “Chinese girls all want to talk about marriage after the second date,” and he’s not interested in that now, Plavevski said.
Instead, Chen’s robot takes care of his needs, without wanting a ring or children. Really, she doesn’t want for much, considering her minimal communication skills.
“Cleaning the robot can be a chore because its skin is very fragile and gets dirty easily,” Chen told the photographer, presumably in between shots of plastic procreation.
Customer Chen interacts with his companion in the privacy of his home (via Aleksandar Plavevski/EPA)
For more, read Everything You Always Wanted to Know About Sex Robots (But Were Afraid to Ask) .
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