Musings of a Mechatronic Mistress: The Peculiar Purpose of Tiffany the Sex Robot

The session opens with filmmaker Jasmin Hagendorfer explaining how she came to make a documentary about sex robots. She runs a feminist porn film festival and an annual conference on sex and technology in Vienna. A European Union project on ethical guidelines for sex robots invited her to make the film, but she rejected a standard documentary style and built the piece around Tiffany, a self-aware robot who interviews the experts herself.

She notes that only two or three commercially available sex robots exist, and that they are expensive, heavy and limited in movement, so much of the debate concerns products that barely exist yet. She says her aim was a positive, humorous take rather than the harsh framing common in other films on the subject. Audience questions covered whether sex machines and sex robots differ in their gendered design, how companion-style chatbots might be added to dolls, and how generative AI tools restrict explicit content.

She closes by saying the film will tour festivals and later appear on an EU streaming platform. Her stated goal is for viewers to leave with more knowledge and a fresh way of thinking about intimacy and technology.