cost of fembots:when will the price come down?

[amazonophile]

As is always the case with new technology the current price of robots(of course fembots) and even the so called RealDoll is astronomomical. I would like to buy a fembot someday but right now I am getting massive sticker shock over the retail price. When do you all think the prices will drop to a more reasonable level?

[WilloWisp]

Likely, the cost of a humanoid robot will stay within the range of the cost of a car, due to the relative complexity of manufacturing. It's easy for some of us to think of a fembot as simply a computer with a very aesthetically designed chassis, but the fact of the matter is that a realistic 'droid would require incredibly sophisticated engineering at almost every level.

Quoting specific prices will become meaningless as the world economy continues to fluctuate, so I'll put this into relative terms:

Imagine a loaf of bread costs 1 credit. An entry-level computer (not state-of-the-art, but no so horribly out of date as to be useless) would probably cost about 250 credits. A mid-range compact car would probably cost about 6,000 credits.

In such an economy, I would expect an entry level droid to cost a minimum of 1,500 credits, and that's probably going to be a heavily discounted model. I don't expect age to diminish the value of a droid very quickly either, although there would doubtless be some parts which would (for both personal and health reasons) need to be replaced between owners. You might be able to cobble together a droid piecemeal from scavenged parts for around 500 credits, if parts are standardized, if end-user maintenance is feasible, if you've got the tools and equipment, and if you're okay with a droid who has mismatched limbs.

[amazonophile]

Likely, the cost of a humanoid robot will stay within the range of the cost of a car, due to the relative complexity of manufacturing. It's easy for some of us to think of a fembot as simply a computer with a very aesthetically designed chassis, but the fact of the matter is that a realistic 'droid would require incredibly sophisticated engineering at almost every level.


In such an economy, I would expect an entry level droid to cost a minimum of 1,500 credits, and that's probably going to be a heavily discounted model. I don't expect age to diminish the value of a droid very quickly either, although there would doubtless be some parts which would (for both personal and health reasons) need to be replaced between owners. You might be able to cobble together a droid piecemeal from scavenged parts for around 500 credits, if parts are standardized, if end-user maintenance is feasible, if you've got the tools and equipment, and if you're okay with a droid who has mismatched limbs.

I guess when people buy robots it they will not be paid for in cash but on mortgage. The only way I will be able to pay for a robot is if I mortgage it. Hopefully the interest rate will not be too high. BTW will people haggle over the price of a robot in much the same way you negotiate over the price of a car with the dealer?

[xodar]

BTW will people haggle over the price of a robot in much the same way you negotiate over the price of a car with the dealer?

I'd guess the price will be pretty much set, like the price of an appliance. This is one of those things people want rather than need, so they will be willing to pay what's demanded.

[Ciepher]

I suppose you could always rent!

[xodar]

I suppose you could always rent!

That's a likely possibility, but it will bring in health inspectors and reglations they enforce.
But I'd also be leery of borrowing one or buying it from some questionable individual.

[Ciepher]

You'd assume so, but in Japan there are currently sex doll rental services that let you use the doll in your home for 5,000 yen an hour. There are also hotels where you can rent a room with a resident sex doll. And these ones don't even move!

http://mdn.mainichi.jp/culture/waiwai/a ... 6000c.html

Sounds a bit yucky to me, I'd worry about hygiene if I were the customer. But I imagine if they're thoroughly disinfected after each customer, it might not be dangerous.

I can imagine a 'fembot hotel' in the future, where a fembot is rented with the room to take care of the guest. Could make for a few interesting scenarios.

[xodar]

I guess you'd best use a condom even at the botbrothel. As is the case with real women you don't know who's stuck what where right before you.

[petey]

My first instinct is to say they'll plummet in price after they're first introduced just like any other electronic gizmo (remember how much Flat panel TVs cost just a few years ago?). In other words, we're going to get screwed by being early adopters.

Of course, I can assume the first bots are going to be more like an autonomous actroid. Unrealistic voice. On the wrong side of the uncanny valley. Slow-moving. Not much AI to speak of. But they'd be autonomous and able to perform the proper... maneuvers.

So those will go down in price but the bots at the top of the line -- better in all the ways the first models suck -- will stay at roughly the same price. Fortunately, it means you might see a market in used bots as a result. They'd be more like cars in this respect than Washers/Dryers.

So to answer your question, I'd bet a group of college roommates could afford to buy one of the early bots, as a third owner, about 10 years after they were introduced.

Then again, you may see these things being built in small batches rather than on an industrial scale... so I may need to revisit this.

[nybble]

In other words, we're going to get screwed by being early adopters.

But isn't that the point?

[rabiator]

Like Petey said, I guess the first ones will be extremely expensive, playthings for the rich. Once the early adopters have been properly fleeced, I'd expect prices to match the sum of comparable devices in other areas.

Our fembot could be a combination of

$6500 Realdoll
+$5000 mechanical chassis underneath the silicone. Wild guess here, taking a small motorcycle as comparison
+$2000 on-board computer, talking the better laptops as reference.
----------
=$13500, just as an educated guess.

Again, I go with Petey's guess about their abilities. Models that can walk and navigate your apartment on their own might actually be the better ones, cheap ones only being able to make typical "maneuvers" on all fours or on their back...