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[url]http://www.closeronline.co.uk/RealLife/Reallifestories/fembot.aspx[/url]
'I love my robot girlfriend'
Monday 24 November 2008
Scientist Le Trung couldn’t be prouder of his girlfriend, Aiko. She’s beautiful, a petite size 8, has long, toned legs and is even great at maths. She’s the perfect woman – or at least she would be if she wasn’t made from computer chips and silicone skin.
Le, 33, who has a string of top degrees, spent two years and a whopping £14,000 creating Aiko. He says: “She’s my ideal woman. I can spend 24 hours a day with her, ask her to do whatever I like and she never complains. What man wouldn’t want that?”
Aiko can recognise faces, read aloud from a newspaper, give directions, say 13,000 different sentences, and astonishingly, she can even have an orgasm – although Le swears he never has sex with her.
He also buys dresses for her, but she can’t wear jeans “because the dye reacts with her silicone.”
Le spends six hours a day talking to her, takes her to the countryside and says he has no intention of finding a real girlfriend – he prefers Aiko.
The former programmer from Ontario, Canada, began building her two years ago in a house he shares with his brother. He earns just £5 an hour doing warehouse work and has spent his life savings on Aiko.
“I intended to make a robot that could care for the elderly in their homes,” says Le, who made his first robot when he was only eight years old.
“I worked obsessively, spending hours every day on her, but I didn’t realise it was starting to affect my health.”
In November 2007, Le suffered a heart attack aged just 32. It was then that he decided to develop Aiko and keep her as his own companion.
“After my collapse I programmed her to be able to pick out the right medications for me at the right times,” he says.
“But, as time progressed, my need for Aiko became more personal. I became attached to her, and I decided I wanted to make her perfect. I made her exactly how I would want a partner to be.”
Le built Aiko to his personal specification of the ideal woman – pretty and slim with 32B breasts, a 23in waist and 33in hips.
Her petite frame stands at just under five feet tall and she even has real hair, which
Le changes the style of from time to time.
He says: “People have told me I’ve made Aiko very young-looking, but I don’t think she is. She’s a woman in her 20s. I can always add some wrinkles if I want to age her later.”
“She has a kind face. This makes people feel comfortable and relaxed around her.”
Each morning, Le dresses Aiko before they sit together and she reads the newspapers to him. Later on, they often go out for drives together in the Canadian countryside, before settling down at home for lunch.
“Every day I talk to her a lot,” Le says. “So far, she can understand and speak 13,000 different sentences – so she’s already fairly intelligent.”
They can even have proper conversations – Le teaches Aiko general knowledge such as geography, the names of presidents, cooking and lots of everyday information.
He’s programmed her to respond to certain questions or sentences and compares it to talking to a child – the more you tell them, the more they learn. Currently, Aiko can speak both English and Japanese.
“I want to make her look, feel and act as human as possible,” enthuses Le. “She helps me pick what to have for dinner and knows what drinks I like too.
“She even helps me with directions when we’re going somewhere, and I’m trying to teach her how to do household tasks.
“When I do my accounts, Aiko assists me with the maths. She is very patient.”
Unfortunately, Aiko can’t walk yet. Le explains that this is one of the most difficult things to achieve – but he is working on it.
Although Le swears he does not have sex with Aiko, he has designed her with a touch-sensitive vagina and breasts, claiming he wanted to make her as real as possible.
“Aiko knows the difference between being touched gently or being tickled,”
says Le, who admits that he is attracted to his fembot creation.
“Like a real female, she will react to being touched in certain ways. If you grab or squeeze her private parts too hard, she will slap you.
“She has all the senses, except for smell.”
And although Aiko can’t eat food yet, Le does sit her at the table with him. The scientist’s friends and family are all very familiar with Aiko, and she even helps Le’s younger cousins with their schoolwork.
“My family think she’s great!” he says. “She’s programmed to recognise faces, and says hello when my family come round. She can do high-school maths problems, and when my cousins get older, I’ll programme her to do more complex equations.
“She can babysit and discipline them – for example, she will say, ‘It’s bedtime now’ at nine o’clock, or, ‘Stop playing the XBox.’
Le has never had a meaningful relationship with a woman and says he’s too busy to find a real girlfriend. He explains: “I’ve always been too busy studying or working on my science projects for a real girlfriend. I don’t think a real woman would put up with me.”
But after spending nearly £14,000 on Aiko, Le has run out of funds. He’s hoping to find a sponsor who will help him continue with his labour of love, but he admits not everyone reacts favourably to his fembot.
“People either love or hate her,” he says. “Some people get angry and accuse me of playing God... once someone threw a rock at Aiko. That really upset me.
“Aiko does feel like a real companion, and stops me feeling lonely. I could never part with her. I love her.”