LOS ANGELES — While checking out the world premiere of the first-ever interactive masturbator created by Fleshlight and KIIROO at XBIZ 360, Vice reporter Peter Holslin spoke to supporters and skeptics of the future of teledildonics.
Created through a partnership between KIIROO and Fleshlight — “the world’s No. 1 male masturbator,” the KIIROO Onxy and Pearl is being called the most realistic cyberdildonic experience that the world has ever felt.
The KIIROO Onyx is an innovative male masturbator for men, and the KIIROO Pearl is the linking female masturbator that complements it. When one is used, the other replicates the feeling through movement. The Onyx male masturbator and the Pearl female vibrator connect via Bluetooth and Internet.
Holslin, however, points out that while the male user can get serviced remotely, the Onyx can’t control the Pearl vibe. Toon Timmermans, Kiiroo's co-founder and CEO, says upcoming software updates will change that, and “eventually do more.”
Brian Shuster, CEO of Utherverse Digital, says in five years time products like the Onyx will be made compatible with virtual-reality environments.
"You'll be holding hands. You'll kiss her on the cheek and she'll rub your shoulder. You'll be licking her vagina," Shuster tells Vice. "I don't want to do that on a Fleshlight. But when every sort of brush of the lips or lick of the tongue actually transmits the stimulation in both directions, of course— of course—people are going to do it. There's going to be consumer demand."
While Jimmyjane President Robert Rheaume says that the jury’s still out on teledildonics, Kyle "qDot" Machulis, a robotics and virtual-reality engineer who operates the teledildonics blog Slashdong, says that in general, the technology is too complicated and overpriced for the average consumer.
The article notes Je Joue’s failed 2007 release of a vibrator that came with its own programming language, as well as the heavy-duty A10 Cyclone.
“All of which points to perhaps the biggest challenge of high-tech sex toys,” Holslin said. “When you can get satisfaction from a more straightforward toy—like Hitachi's high-powered Magic Wand massager, first released way back in 1968 and still wildly popular today—you have to wonder whether it's worth the effort of using a complex, internet-connected device.”
To read the Vice article, click here.
