It's the ultimate in wearable tech. Google Glass lets you see the future, and Galaxy Gear lets you put the future on your wrist. But the Ambrosia Vibe lets you fuck the future.
Developed by Denver-based Orgasmatronics Inc., the strap-on Ambrosia Vibe promises to be the first-ever bionic strap-on dildo, a deceptively simple device that responds to touch and feeling, giving both strapper and strapee a stimulating response. And the company's Indiegogo campaign attracted a crowd eager to get their hands — and other parts — on the gadget.
"What is a bionic strap-on?" asks the founder of Orgasmatronics, a scientist who wishes to be known simply as Dr. Xtreme. "A lot of people who use strap-on dildos have sex in a way where they really treat it as an extension of their body. Already, right now. Without any augmentation. What we've done is augmented the strap-on dildo so that it becomes a little bit more like a body part that has feeling." A pressure-sensing tube inside the dildo communicates with a bullet vibrator at the base, creating a sensation that responds to variations in rhythm and force.
A physicist with a Ph.D. in physics from Yale, Dr. Xtreme is using his technological know-how combined with feedback from Denver's kinky community to develop new and exciting ways of getting people off. "The way the company got started is, it's a hobby turned into a business," he explains. "I was a research physicist at NIST [the National Institute of Standards and Technology] in Boulder, and I was playing around with making sex-toy stuff. Once I started playing around with it, I said, 'All right, if I'm going to play around with stuff, I want to make something people really enjoy — not just my wife or a couple of people, but everybody.'"
The company's first offering was the X1 Orgasmatron, a powerful black bulb that fits a number of attachments and brings the power of the Sybian — a giant, sit-down vibrator — to a handheld device. The toy was a hit, but the growing Orgasmatronics crew wanted to bring something revolutionary to the market. "I feel like the crowd-funding campaign is our coming out as a company. We weren't quite ready with [the X1]; it was very hard to explain," says Alexandra Ars, co-founder of Orgasmatronics. "But once we had this product, people were giving feedback without even seeing it."
"Yeah, they see 'bionic dildo' in the headline, and they say, 'Aaah! I want that!" he adds.
Though Denver is not quite the hotbed for the sex-positive industry that, say, San Francisco and Los Angeles are, "Denver has a fantastic kink community, a fantastic queer community, a fantastic polyamory community," Dr. Xtreme says. "There's just a whole bunch of different things going on that are all giving positive feedback. And without all of them, none of this would have happened."
"Not to mention that Denver is up-and-coming in all sorts of ways — tech, start-up companies. That whole thing is really a great atmosphere to be in," adds Ars.
The Ambrosia Vibe isn't just a toy; it's an augmentation that takes the concept of body hacking to a new extreme. "I liked how our reviewer put it," Ars says. "She's like, 'I've used a strap-on before, and it was more a psychological experience of pleasure, but this way it's a physical experience of pleasure as well.'"
It's a gender-equal device, too; with a bullet vibe strapped to the dildo and the control box switched on, there are all kinds of configurations to try. And uses for the Ambrosia won't stop there, Dr. Xtreme promises. Everything from a Bluetooth-controlled Ambrosia to a pressure-sensitive light-up dildo is in the works over at Orgasmatronics' labs in the Concoctory Hackerspace.
But for now, this Ambrosia is the star of the show. Orgasmatronics reached its funding goal last week and is ready to start producing the bionic dildo — and making Denver a bit sexier.
Westword's Bailey Geoghan joined the founder of Orgasmatronics at his laboratory to learn about the design process for the company's technologically advanced sex toys. Watch the video below.
