Wikipedia

Gynoid

For the type of body fat distribution, seeGynoid fat distribution.
"Fembot" redirects here. For other uses, seeFembot (disambiguation).Not to be confused withFemboy.

Agynoid,orfembot,is afemininehumanoid robot.Gynoids appear widely in science fiction films and arts. As more realistic humanoid robot design becomes technologically possible, they are also emerging in real-life robot design. Just like any other robot, the main parts of a gynoid include sensors, actuators and a control system.Sensors[1]are responsible for detecting the changes in the environment while theactuators,also called effectors, are motors and other components responsible for the movement and control of the robot. The control system instructs the robot on what to do so as to achieve the desired results.[2]

Vyommitra(Indian Space Research Organisation,2020)

Name

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A gynoid is anything that resembles or pertains to the female human form. Though the termandroidhas been used to refer to robotic humanoids regardless of apparentgender,the Greek prefix "andr-" refers tomanin the masculine sense.[3]

The termgynoidwas first used byIsaac Asimovin a 1979 editorial, as a theoretical female equivalent of the wordandroid.[4]

Other possible names for feminine robots exist. Theportmanteau"fembot" (feminine robot) was used as far back as 1959, in Fritz Leiber'sThe Silver Eggheads,applying specifically to non-sentient female sexbots.[5]It was popularized by the television seriesThe Bionic Womanin the episode "Kill Oscar" (1976)[6]and later used in theAustin Powersfilms,[7]among others. "Robotess" is the oldest female-specific term, originating in 1921 fromRossum's Universal Robots,the same source as the term "robot".

Feminine robots

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...the great majority of robots were either machine-like, male-like or child-like for the reasons that not only are virtually all roboticists male, but also that fembots posed greater technical difficulties. Not only did the servo motor and platform have to be 'interiorized' (naizō suru), but the body [of the fembot] needed to be slender, both extremely difficult undertakings.
—Tomotaka Takahashi,roboticist[8]

Examples of notable feminine robots include:

Researchers note the connection between the design of feminine robots and roboticists' assumptions about gendered appearance and labor. Fembots inJapan,for example, are designed with slenderness and grace in mind,[16]and they are employed to help to maintain traditional family structures and politics in a nation of population decline.[17]

People's reactions to fembots are also attributable to gender stereotypes. Research in this area is aimed at elucidating gender cues, clarifying which behaviors and aesthetics elicit a stronger gender-induced response.[18]

Sexualization

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See also:Sex robot
"Sweetheart", shown with its creator, Clayton Bailey; the feminine robot (also a functional coffee maker) created a controversy after it was displayed at theLawrence Hall of ScienceatUniversity of California, Berkeley.

Gynoids may be "eroticized", and some examples such as Aiko include sensitivity sensors in their breasts and genitals to facilitate sexual response.[19]The fetishization of gynoids in real life has been attributed to male desires for custom-made passive women and compared to life-sizesex dolls.[20]However, some science fiction works depict them asfemmes fatales,fighting the establishment or being rebellious.[21][22]

In 1983, a female robot named "Sweetheart" was removed from a display at theLawrence Hall of Science;the robot's breasts, perceived as an exaggerated feature, resulted in a petition being presented claiming it was insulting to women. The robot's creator,Clayton Bailey,a professor of art atCalifornia State University, Haywardcalled this "censorship" and "next tobook burning".[23]

In fiction

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See also:List of fictional gynoids

Artificial women have been a common trope in fiction and mythology since the writings of the ancient Greeks (see the myth ofPygmalion). Inscience fiction,female-appearance robots are oftenproduced for use as domestic servantsand sexual slaves, as seen in the filmWestworld,inPaul J. McAuley's novelFairyland(1995), and inLester del Rey's short story "Helen O'Loy"(1938),[24]and sometimes as warriors, killers, or laborers. The character of Annalee Call inAlien Resurrectionis a rare example of a non-sexualized gynoid. InXenosaga,arole-playing video game,the character "KOS-MOS"is a female armored android.[25]

The perfect woman

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Étienne Maurice Falconet:Pygmalion et Galatée(1763). Although not robotic,Galatea's inorganic origin has led to comparisons with gynoids.

A long tradition exists in literature of the construction of an artificial embodiment of a certain type of ideal woman, and fictional gynoids have been seen as an extension of this theme.[26]Examples includeHephaestusin theIliadwho created female servants of metal, andIlmarinenin theKalevalawho created an artificial wife.Pygmalion,fromOvid's account, is one of the earliest conceptualizations of constructions similar to gynoids in literary history.[26]In this myth a female statue is sculpted that is so beautiful that the creator falls in love with it, and after praying toAphrodite,the goddess takes pity on him and converts the statue into a real woman,Galatea,with whom Pygmalion has children.

TheMaschinenmensch( "machine-human" ), also called "Parody," "Futura," "Robotrix," or the "Maria impersonator," inFritz Lang'sMetropolisis the first example of gynoid in film: a femininely shaped robot is given skin so that she is not known to be a robot and successfully impersonates the imprisoned Maria and works convincingly as anexotic dancer.[26]

Fictional gynoids are often unique products made to fit a particular man's desire, as seen in the novelTomorrow's Eveand filmsThe Perfect Woman,The Stepford Wives,MannequinandWeird Science,[27]and the creators are often male "mad scientists"such as the charactersRotwanginMetropolis,TyrellinBlade Runner,and the husbands inThe Stepford Wives.[28]Gynoids have been described as the "ultimate geek fantasy: a metal-and-plastic woman of your own."[7]

The Bionic Womantelevision series popularized the wordfembot.These fembots were a line of powerful, lifelike gynoids with the faces of protagonistJaime Sommers's best friends.[29]They fought in two multi-part episodes of the series: "Kill Oscar" and "Fembots in Las Vegas," and despite the feminineprefix,there were also male versions, including some designed to impersonate particular individuals for the purpose of infiltration. While not trulyartificially intelligent,the fembots still had extremely sophisticated programming that allowed them to pass for human in most situations. The termfembotwas also used inBuffy the Vampire Slayer.[citation needed]

The 1987 science-fiction filmCherry 2000portrayed a gynoid character which was described by the male protagonist as his "perfect partner". The 1964 TV seriesMy Living Dollfeatures a robot, portrayed byJulie Newmar,who is similarly described. The filmHer(2013) depicts an Artificial Intelligence assistant called Samantha, whom the protagonist, Theodore, falls in love with until her intelligence surpasses human comprehension and she leaves to fulfil her higher purpose.

More recently, the 2015 science-fiction filmEx Machinafeatured a genius inventor experimenting with gynoids in an effort to create the perfect companion.

Gender

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Fiction about gynoids or female cyborgs reinforceessentialistideas offemininity,according to Margret Grebowicz.[30]Such essentialist ideas may present as sexual or gender stereotypes. Among the few non-eroticized fictional gynoids includeRosie the Robot MaidfromThe Jetsons.However, she still has some stereotypical feminine qualities, such as amatronlyshape and a predisposition to cry.[31]

Exaggeratedly feminine fembots with guns in their breasts, from the filmAustin Powers: International Man of Mystery

The stereotypical role of wifedom has also been explored through use of gynoids. InThe Stepford Wives,husbands are shown as desiring to restrict the independence of their wives, and obedient and stereotypical spouses are preferred. The husbands' technological method of obtaining this "perfect wife" is through the murder of their human wives and replacement with gynoid substitutes that are compliant and housework obsessed, resulting in a "picture-postcard" perfect suburban society. This has been seen as an allegory of male chauvinism of the period, by representing marriage as a master-slave relationship, and an attempt at raising feminist consciousness during the era ofsecond wave feminism.[28]

In a parody of the fembots fromThe Bionic Woman,attractive, blonde fembots in alluring baby-doll nightgowns were used as a lure for the fictional agentAustin Powersin the movieAustin Powers: International Man of Mystery.The film's sequels hadcameo appearancesof characters revealed as fembots.

Jack Halberstamwrites that these gynoids inform the viewer that femaleness does not indicate naturalness, and their exaggerated femininity and sexuality is used in a similar way to the title character's exaggerated masculinity, lampooning stereotypes.[32]

Sex objects

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Some argue that gynoids have often been portrayed as sexual objects. Female cyborgs have been similarly used in fiction, in which natural bodies are modified to become objects of fantasy.[26]The female robot in visual media has been described as "the most visible linkage of technology and sex" bySteven Heller.[33]

Feminist critic Patricia Melzer writes inAlien Constructions: Science Fiction and Feminist Thoughtthat gynoids inRichard Calder'sDead Girlsare inextricably linked to men's lust, and are mainly designed as sex objects, having no use beyond "pleasing men's violent sexual desires."[34] The gynoid character Eve from the filmEve of Destructionhas been described as "a literal sex bomb," with her subservience to patriarchal authority and a bomb in place of reproductive organs.[27]In the 1949 filmThe Perfect Woman,the titular robot, Olga, is described as having "no sex," but Steve Chibnall writes in his essay "Alien Women" inBritish Science Fiction Cinemathat it is clear from her fetishistic underwear that she is produced as a toy for men, with an "implicit fantasy of a fully compliant sex machine."[35]In the filmWestworld,female robots actually engaged in intercourse with human men as part of the make-believe vacation world human customers paid to attend.

Sexual interest in gynoids and fembots has been attributed to fetishisation of technology, and compared tosadomasochismin that it reorganizes the social risk of sex. The depiction of female robots minimizes the threat felt by men from female sexuality and allow the "erasure of any social interference in the spectator's erotic enjoyment of the image."[36]Gynoid fantasies are produced and collected by online communities centered around chat rooms and web site galleries.[37]

Isaac Asimovwrites that his robots were generally sexually neutral and that giving the majority masculine names was not an attempt to comment on gender. He first wrote about female-appearing robots at the request of editorJudy-Lynn del Rey.[38][39]Asimov's short story "Feminine Intuition" (1969) is an early example that showed gynoids as being as capable and versatile as male robots, with no sexual connotations.[40]Early models in "Feminine Intuition" were "female caricatures," used to highlight their human creators' reactions to the idea of female robots. Later models lost obviously feminine features, but retained "an air of femininity."[41]

Criticisms

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Critics have commented on the problematic nature ofassigning a genderto an artificial object with no consciousness of its own, based purely on its appearance or sound.[42]It has also been argued that our innovation should part from this essentialising notion of a woman and focus on the purpose of creating robots, without making them explicitly male or female.[43]Indeed, very few robots are explicitly male; it is the contrast with the female robot that makes the neutral one male (the principle of themale default).[44]Critics have also noticed how the creation of gynoids is associated with service roles, while androids or systems with male voices are employed in positions of leadership.[45]

See also

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References

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  1. ^University, Carnegie Mellon.Sensors for Mobile Robots(PDF).
  2. ^"Extending the Application of Robotics to Humanoids in Air Transportation for Effective Supply Chain Management - SIPMM Publications".publication.sipmm.edu.sg.2017-06-15.Retrieved2023-02-24.
  3. ^Liddell, Henry George; Scott, Robert (1940)."ἄνδρεσι [andresi]".A Greek-English Lexicon.Oxford: Clarendon Press – via perseus.tufts.edu.
  4. ^"gynoid".Historical Dictionary of Science Fiction.Retrieved18 May2021.
  5. ^Leiber, Fritz (1961).The Silver Eggheads.New York: Ballantine PBO.
  6. ^Wosk, Julie (2015).My Fair Ladies: Female Robots, Androids, and Other Artificial Eves.Rutgers Univ. Press. pp. 114–115.
  7. ^abWallace, Julia (16 December 2008)."Return of the Bodacious 'Bots".Popular Science.
  8. ^Takahashi, Tomotaka (2006).Robotto no tensei.Media Factory, Inc. p. 194.
  9. ^"I'm your guide".Science.312(5779): 1449. 9 June 2006.doi:10.1126/science.312.5779.1449d.S2CID220087882.
  10. ^Newitz, Annalee (10 August 2006)."The Fembot Mystique".Popular Science.
  11. ^"Lifelike walking female robot".BBC News.16 March 2009.
  12. ^"First Chinese 'beauty' robot destined for Sichuan".China Daily.4 August 2006.
  13. ^"1st beauty robot in China".Sina.8 August 2006.
  14. ^"'Some people feel threatened': face to face with Ai-Da the robot artist ".The Guardian.18 May 2021.Retrieved2021-06-03.
  15. ^Davies, Caroline."'Mind-blowing': Ai-Da becomes first robot to paint like an artist ".The Guardian.Retrieved4 April2022.
  16. ^Robertson, Jennifer (June 2010). "Gendering Humanoid Robots: Robo-Sexism in Japan".Body & Society.16(2): 1–36.doi:10.1177/1357034X10364767.S2CID144100334.
  17. ^Robertson, Jennifer (September 2007). "ROBO SAPIENS JAPANICUS Humanoid Robots and the Posthuman Family".Critical Asian Studies.39(3): 369–98.doi:10.1080/14672710701527378.S2CID145141775.
  18. ^Carpenter, J.; Davis, J.; Erwin-Stewart, N.; Lee, T.; Bransford, J.; Vye, N. (March 2009). "Gender representation in humanoid robots for domestic use".International Journal of Social Robotics.1(3).Springer Netherlands:261–265.doi:10.1007/s12369-009-0016-4.S2CID31454883.
  19. ^"Frequently Asked Question(s)".Project Aiko.
  20. ^Stratton, Jon (2001).The desirable body: cultural fetishism and the erotics of consumption.US: University of Illinois Press. p. 21.ISBN978-0-252-06951-2.The automaton becomes both a philosophical toy and sexual fetish; I extend the meaning of gynoid to include non-mechanical models of women such life-size dolls
  21. ^Rose, Steve (15 January 2015)."Ex Machina and sci-fi's obsession with sexy female robots".The Guardian.ISSN0261-3077.Retrieved29 May2023.
  22. ^Davis, Nicola (13 January 2015)."Living dolls: sci-fi's fascination with artificial women".The Observer.Retrieved29 May2023.(interview with Julie Wosk)
  23. ^"Too serious for Professor Bailey".New Scientist vol 100 November 3, 1983, Page 352.3 November 1983.[permanent dead link]
  24. ^Dinello, Daniel (2005).Technophobia!: Science Fiction Visions of Posthuman Technology.University of Texas Press. p. 77.ISBN978-0-292-70986-7.
  25. ^Xenosaga Episode I Bradygames Official Strategy Guide.p. 20.
  26. ^abcdMelzer (2006),p.202.
  27. ^abStratton, Jon (2001).The desirable body: cultural fetishism and the erotics of consumption.US: University of Illinois Press. p. 230.ISBN978-0-252-06951-2.
  28. ^abDinello, Daniel (2005).Technophobia!: Science Fiction Visions of Posthuman Technology.University of Texas Press. p. 78.ISBN978-0-292-70986-7.
  29. ^Browne, Ray B. (1984).Forbidden Fruits: Taboos and Tabooism in Culture.Popular Press.ISBN9780879722555.
  30. ^Grebowicz, Margret; L. Timmel Duchamp; Nicola Griffith; Terry Bisson (2007).SciFi in the mind's eye: reading science through science fiction.Open Court. p. xviii.ISBN978-0-8126-9630-1.
  31. ^Rudman, Laurie A.; Peter Glick; Susan T. Fiske (2008).The Social Psychology of Gender: How Power and Intimacy Shape Gender Relations.Guilford Press. p.178.ISBN978-1-59385-825-4.
  32. ^Halberstam, Judith (2005).In a Queer Time and Place: Transgender Bodies, Subcultural Lives.NYU Press. p. 144.ISBN978-0-8147-3585-5.
  33. ^Heller, Steven (2000).Sex appeal: the art of allure in graphic and advertising design.Allworth Press. p. 155.ISBN978-1-58115-048-3.
  34. ^Melzer (2006),p.204.
  35. ^Hunter, I. Q. (4 January 2002).British Science Fiction Cinema.Routledge. p. 58.ISBN978-1-134-70277-0.
  36. ^Foster, Thomas (2005).The souls of cyberfolk: posthumanism as vernacular theory.U of Minnesota Press. p. 103.ISBN978-0-8166-3406-4.Gynoids are frames that enable us to desire differently, by accommodating libidinal-investments in male lack.
  37. ^Foster, Thomas (2005).The souls of cyberfolk: posthumanism as vernacular theory.U of Minnesota Press. p. 103.ISBN978-0-8166-3406-4.
  38. ^Asimov (1976).The Bicentennial man and other stories.Doubleday. p.5.ISBN978-0-385-12198-9.
  39. ^Asimov, Isaac (1994).I. Asimov: a memoir.Doubleday. p.320.ISBN978-0-385-41701-3.
  40. ^Asimov, Isaac (1995).Gold: the final science-fiction-collection.HarperPrism. p.172.ISBN978-0-06-105206-4.
  41. ^Asimov (1976).The Bicentennial man and other stories.Doubleday. p.15.ISBN978-0-385-12198-9.
  42. ^Lewis, Tanya (20 February 2015)."Rise of the Fembots: Why Artificial Intelligence Is Often Female".LiveScience.Retrieved2020-12-11.
  43. ^Zuin, Lidia (2017-07-01)."A brief history of men who build female robots".Medium.Retrieved2020-12-11.
  44. ^Perez, Caroline Criado (2019-03-07).Invisible Women: Exposing Data Bias in a World Designed for Men.Random House.ISBN978-1-4735-4829-9.
  45. ^Hern, Alex (2019-03-04)."Adios, Alexa: why must our robot assistants be female?".The Guardian.Retrieved2020-12-11.

Sources

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Further reading

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  • Stratton, Jon (2001).The desirable body: cultural fetishism and the erotics of consumption.US: University of Illinois Press.ISBN978-0-252-06951-2.
  • Foster, Thomas (2005).The souls of cyberfolk: posthumanism as vernacular theory.U of Minnesota Press.ISBN978-0-8166-3406-4.
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