Rubbot

Rubbot is a design project started, in early 2006, by a group of independent product designers based in San Francisco. The goal of the project is to create the best male sex toy possible, by empowering and utilizing an active on-line community to contribute to the design by participating in polls and discussions on the Rubbot website [http://www.rubbot.com rubbot.com | The Male Sex Toy ] ] .

Traditional product development cycles acquire user feedback at junctures where new insightscite web| first=Jack| last= Gordon| url=http://www.thewisemarketer.com/features/read.asp?id=82| title= "How consumer insight makes or breaks a new brand"| publisher="The Wise Marketer"| date=November, 2005] are often difficult to incorporate. For example, it can be too early in cycle where participants in focus groups are frequently required to formulate opinions based on two dimensional drawings and marketing descriptions. Or conversely, it can be too late in the cycle where it is impractical to implement major changes into the design. The Rubbot project is a case study in integrating continuous input from potential users.

Product

The parameters of Rubbot, as a product, are that it is attractive, affordable, compact, hands-free and reliable. Essentially, the goal is to combine high design with strong functionality.

Technology

In order to generate the hands-free feature, a crankshaft with weights moving in a reciprocating motion move the device back and forth. This has been dubbed the "inch worm concept" and the developers have a patent pending on the design.

In response to high demand from their on-line community, teledildonics will be used to control the behavior of the device, both actively and automatically, through a variety of computer applications.

Reviews and Criticism

Rubbot is described as "the most discreet male sex toy of the bunch" in Gizmodo's top 10 gadgets for "Global Orgasm 2007"cite web| first=Benny| last= Goldman| url=http://gizmodo.com/336881/10-gadgets-you-need-for-global-orgasm-2007| title= "Global Orgasm 2007"| publisher="Gizmodo"| date=December 21, 2007] .

An article on Fleshbot.com states, "As far as we're concerned, a male sex toy we don't have to use one of our hands to fiddle with couldn't come a minute too soon"cite web| url=http://fleshbot.com/sex/sex-toys/the-rubbot-hands-free-masturbation-is-almost-here-315566.php| title= "Hands Free Masturbation Is (Almost) Here"| publisher="Fleshbot"| date=October 26, 2007] .

Teledildonics experts at Slashdong recognize the community design effort and write, "Right now, they're looking for all sorts of ideas. Would you use it? What would you have control it?"cite web| url=http://www.slashdong.org/archives/2007/10/rubbot-mmmmm-donuts.php| title= "Mmmmm, donuts"| publisher="Slashdong"| date=October 25, 2007] .

The french website, Sexactu, reviews the hands-free inch worm concept and asks, "is this the future of the masturbation?"cite web| url=http://www.sexactu.com/2007/11/05/la-masturbation-bientot-accessible-aux-flemmasses/| title= "Masturbation soon accessible to the penguins"| publisher="Sexactu"| date=November 5, 2007] .

References

External links

* [http://www.rubbot.com/the-lab/ Rubbot design lab]
* [http://www.rubbot.com/toy-talk/ Rubbot general discussion blog]
* [http://designcollective.org/ Design Collective LLC homepage]