RealDoll CEO Will Keynote Controversial ‘Love and Sex with Robots’ Conference

M. Christian
2 Min Read

The yearly symposium is headed to the United States.

Feeling isolated in your love of sex robots? Then it’s time to plan a trip to Missoula, Montana, so you can gather with like-minded folks.

On December 13 to 14, the University of Montana will host the 4th International Congress On Love & Sex With Robots. The annual symposium attracts academics and industry professional from around the world who want to share their work and discuss potential issues, ideas, and innovations.

Co-chaired by Adrian Cheok and David Levy, this year’s topics include Robot Emotions, Robot Personalities, Teledildonics, Clone Robots, Intelligent Electronic Sex Hardware Gender Approaches, and Roboethics.

Meet Matt McMullen

This year the keynote speaker will be Matt McMullen, the creator of the famous RealDoll silicone sex doll line. McMullen and his Realbotix initiative have received significant media coverage since announcing the project to build a highly realistic robotic love doll.

In April, Realbotix realized its first goal of selling a state-of-the-art talking robot head that can be attached to silicone sex doll bodies. Called RealDoll X, the system retails for $8,000 to $10,000 and features impressive artificial intelligence that mirrors human-like responses.

The project is also developing a full-body robotic sex doll and has mentioned plans to potentially create male and transgender versions.

Past controversy

In previous years, the congress on “Love and Sex with Robots” has faced significant challenges and controversy. The second event, originally scheduled for 2015, was delayed by a year and relocated to the United Kingdom after Malaysia, the original host country, threatened to have the organizers arrested.

Subsequently, bomb threats from Muslim extremists forced organizers of the third congress held in 2017 in London to make a last-minute and secret venue change

Image sources: Realbotix

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M.Christian (they/them) loves nothing better than exploring the intersections of sex and technology—and speculating on the future of both. A highly regarded erotica writer they have six novels,12 collections, 100+ short stories, and 25 anthologies as an editor to their name. Their non-fiction regularly appears in many sites, but they're most proud of being a regular contributor to Future of Sex. Of their erotic fiction, Tristan Taormino said that “M.Christian is a literary stylist of the highest caliber: smart, funny, frightening, sexy—there's nothing [they] can't write about… and brilliantly.” Reflecting their unique ability to sympathetically and convincingly write for a range of genders and sexual orientations, their stories have appeared in multiple editions of Best American Erotica, Best Gay Erotica, Best Lesbian Erotica, The Mammoth Books of Erotica, and others. Their collection of gay erotic fiction, Dirty Words, was a finalist for the Lambda Literary Award. While a majority of their stories have been collected into books like Dirty Words, their fondness for combining sex and science fiction is clearly evident in collections that include Rude Mechanicals, Technorotica, Better Than The Real Thing, Skin Effect Effect, Bachelor Machine, and Hard Drive: The Best Sci-Fi Erotica of M.Christian. As a novelist, M.Christian’s versatility is on full display with Running Dry, The Very Bloody Marys, Brushes, Painted Doll; and the somewhat controversial queer BDSM/horror/thrillers Finger's Breadth, and Me2. M.Christian has worked on the industry’s production side as an Associate Publisher for Renaissance E Books and as a Publisher for Digital Parchment Services. The latter dedicated to celebrating the works of science-fiction legends such as William Rotsler, Jerome Bixby, Jody Scott, Arthur Byron Cover, Ernest Hogan, and James Van Hise. Covering topics like BDSM safety, sexual education, senior sexuality concerns, queer and gender issues, plus reviewing a variety of sex tech products, M.Christian’s non-fiction has appeared on sites like Kinkly, Tickle.Life, Sexpert, Queer Majority, Sex for Every Body, and—of course—their ongoing work for Future of Sex. If there’s anything M.Christian enjoys more than writing, it’s teaching. A featured presenter, sometimes with their friend Ralph Greco Jr, at national sex and BDSM events, they have lectured on kink play (with an emphasis on safety), polyamory, boosting sexual creativity, and erotica writing--for beginners or those wanting to go pro. M.Christian is a cohost on two popular sex-education podcasts: Love’s Outer Limits with Dr. Amy Marsh and Licking Non-Vanilla with Ralph Greco, Jr.
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