Flutterby™!: Next Gen Sex Toys

by:Dan Lyke started: 2004-06-03 23:31:53.5012+02 updated: 2004-06-03 23:31:53.5012+02

I first thought about collaborative sex toys, then in linking to a review of the PlayStation 2 game Rez I had my interest rekindled. This is a Wiki entry for thinking out loud about the ideas and notions I have for a next generation series of adult sexy and erotic toys.

by:Dan Lyke started: 2004-06-03 23:33:04.692135+02 updated: 2004-06-03 23:33:04.692135+02

The vibrating panties we have are just a bullet vibe in a panty, it seems like The Butterfly is a preferred device because it spreads out the vibration a bit. An IR sensor or two there on the mons could give heart rate and probably a reasonable benchmark for blood flow differences.

Something inserted vaginally could measure contraction, and might be able to measure some relative wetness (I'm not sure of the insulation properties of a platinum cured silicone, but say half a volt to a volt at a few mA over a few inches shouldn't really be felt and is probably really easy to read resistance with). Problem with integrating those sensors is that a lot of people like to cover their toys with condoms for ease of cleaning, and that's going to have an effect on both an IR type sensor and a conduction sensor, although given the moderate transparency of latex it's probably something that could be calibrated out of an IR sensor.

I'm not sure of bulk, but it seems like if this is a "go out to dinner and go dancing" kind of thing there may be some way to measure physical leg movement without getting too much larger. Mike will have to pipe in with what can be easily applied in terms of electrodes and muscle stimulation voltage measurements, op amps, accurate bandpass filters and subtle noise are beyond me right now.

I don't have a large sample of the physiologies involved, and my sampling has been over a long enough period of time that differences aren't as specific in my memory as they should be for product design, so I'm not sure where all the moving bits should be. Vibrator motors are easy, but it'd be nice to have a stroking motion, or something that can pulse slowly internally. That's a little more current draw and some more complex parts.

by:Dan Lyke started: 2004-06-03 23:33:39.425395+02 updated: 2004-06-03 23:33:39.425395+02

I like a vibrator under the scrotum, and that's easy. Accomodating different sizes, shapes, and the problem of those sizes and shapes changing dramatically elsewhere is a problem. It'd be hard to put something that's always under the frenulum, for instance.

I was kind of thinking a soft (ie: silicone) codpiece sort of attachment that would cup under the testicles and hold the penis roughly upright, allowing for erection, and maybe have the ability to position the moving parts in that upright section.

by:Dan Lyke started: 2004-06-03 23:33:53.120443+02 updated: 2004-06-03 23:33:53.120443+02

Even if you're not into anal stimulation, it's hard to ignore that there's a lot of muscle motion back there that's probably pretty easy to sense, and that without conscious control the sphincter muscle and the PC muscles tend to have some parallel motion is hard to ignore.

by:Dan Lyke started: 2004-06-03 23:34:18.660574+02 updated: 2004-06-03 23:34:18.660574+02

This one's going to require some experimentation. I'm figuring there are two parts, what you choose to broadcast from a unit, and what another unit chooses to interpret how. I'm thinking something like a MIDI (Musical Instrument Digital Interface) protocol, where a change of state sends a 3 word message consisting of a person identifier, a sensor, and a sensitivity/level value.

Devices could tune to a given person identifier (or not), and then apply sensor and state change information to a given input. I have no idea how to make the user interface for this work.

I'm thinking right now that the current requirements should be such that the whole thing could be run off a few (3? 4?) AA batteries with the circuits and some sort of interface in a box about the size of a pack of cigarettes.

I've talked about using IR (as in a TV remote control) before, but low power RF, either 433MHz AM chips (ca $7 for a xmit/recv pair) or ZigBee ($5-7 per device, possibly higher software complexity), might be as cheap and not have the problem of a tablecloth getting in the way. Unfortunately it also doesn't offer the "put your hand over the sensor" method of culling stray signals.

I'm also not sure about the effects of such transmitters close to the skin.

by:Dan Lyke started: 2004-06-03 23:34:40.316652+02 updated: 2004-06-03 23:34:40.316652+02

One motion that's been suggested is something that has a "crooking" motion like a finger, make it up with a cast (or machined, for prototypes) knuckle-like skeleton with integrated extension and contraction cables. I haven't played with Nitinol wire, so I don't know if that's a power-effective way to drive this, but it's probably something that can be run with a stall or stepper motor to prevent overcurrent.

A lot of the problem is coming up with devices that are soft, flexible and comfortable. There are a bunch of motions that could be accomplished with huge exoskeletons, but except for a few people being wired up like Frankenstein's monster isn't exactly a turn-on.

If I can learn a little more about the TENS stuff I might be cool with that, but right now it kinda scares me, and I think it'd be tough to turn into a commercial product. In general the "right" way to do this seems to involve equipment that, when it's developed into a retail product is sold for thousands of dollars and generally involves convincing a company rep that you have a legitimate medical interest, and the normal way to do this involves taking some speaker wires and sticking them into some saline soaked earplug foam...

by:Dan Lyke started: 2004-06-03 23:36:32.673878+02 updated: 2004-06-03 23:36:32.673878+02

Not even thinking about it yet. In fact, as I look at building this stuff, I'm realizing that I want to be able to build it in small parts so I don't have to consider how much it'll cost in the end. Platinum cured silicone is expensive. Electrodes are expensive. Even the rubber stretch sensors I bought yesterday came to about $100 for two 10cm and one 50cm sensor (each of which starts at that length and has a working stretch of approximately 100%).

Any place that can use vibrators, stall motors or stepper motors makes the drive circuitry that much cheaper and easier (especially pager/cell phone vibrator motors, which often draw < 50mA), but steppers are inefficient for size and current use, and stall motors are inefficient for size, and you don't want to have to have a backpack of lead-acid batteries to make this thing run for an evening out. But even standard bullet vibes should be really easy to drive.

It'd also be foolish to rule out standard RC servos. I'd consider devices like the Merlin linear actuators but I'm a little concerned about air pressure near mucus membranes.