Robot fetishism

Robot fetishism (also ASFR, technosexuality,^[1] robophilia and robosexuality) is a fetishistic attraction to humanoid robots; also to people acting like robots or people dressed in robot costumes. A less common fantasy involves transformation into a robot. In these ways, it is similar to agalmatophilia, which involves attraction to or transformation into statues or mannequins.^[1]

Robot fetishism can be viewed as a form of erotic

The first of these is simply a desire to have a ready-made android partner. This partner can be desired for sex, companionship, or any combination of the two. The main distinguishing feature of this fantasy is that the android is a completely artificial construct, often manufactured solely to fulfil the wishes of its owner. This type of fantasy or situation is referred to as "built".^[1][3][5]

The second type of fantasy prevalent within ASFR is referred to as "transformation". This involves a human who has been either willingly or unwillingly turned into an android. That person can be either oneself or one's partner, or both. It is usually the process of transformation (through whatever means it is achieved) that is the focus of this fantasy.^[1][3][5]

Many people in the ASFR community prefer either one or the other.

The aspects of this fetish that are most appreciated by members of the ASFR community are greatly varied. For some, things like robotic appearance, motion, or sound are important for arousal.^[2] For others, these are not, and a completely lifelike android that appears to be human is desired.^[4] This holds true for other aspects, such as sentience or self-awareness. The ability of the android to remove parts of its skin or other bodily appendages in order to reveal its circuitry is quite pleasing to some, but distasteful to others.^[4] There is a further divide between those who prefer an android to appear human-like and those who would prefer a more mechanical looking robot, i.e. with a metallic surface.

As realistic androids and humanoid robots do not currently exist in a form readily available to the consumer,

Some ASFRians do not use synthetic partners, and instead prefer human partners to participate in forms of fantasy play.[4]

In popular culture

• In the animated adult cartoon series
  Fry dates a robot which has been downloaded with Lucy Liu's image and personality. In this episode, as opposed to "Proposition Infinity
  ", Bender opposes robot-human relationships.
• In the game Atomic Heart, there are references to a robotic carnival being used as a robot brothel for the Soviet elite. The character CHAR-les also jokes about the main antagonist, Dmitry Sechenov, using the Twins for sexual intercourse, sparking a conversation between Sergey Nechayev, the player character, and CHAR-les over robosexuality.