Founder of sex tech company Raspberry Dream Labs is predicting a cyber sex boom after COVID-19

By Alma Fabiani

Published Mar 26, 2021 at 09:30 AM

Reading time: 2 minutes

16176

Speaking to Business Insider, Angelina Aleksandrovich, CEO, founder and creative director of the avant-garde sex tech company Raspberry Dream Labs predicted a post-pandemic age where cyber sex experiences and technologies such as sex simulators and VR sex games will see a huge surge in demand. The ‘new normal’ will be sex tech-related, and here’s the crucial part Raspberry Dream Labs will play in it.

During the COVID-19 pandemic, everything changed, including our relationship with intimacy. As we put our real-life interactions on hold, we first turned to novel apps to entertain ourselves, only to grow tired of Houseparty pretty quickly. As Clubhouse replaced it, we also started wondering about how different the world of dating will be when we finally get to meet people face to face again. But what about our current love life—what about our current sex life?

For those of us who didn’t manage to grab that last-minute-someone to spend lockdown with—and for those who just didn’t want to—sex in the past year has been pretty one-sided and technology-reliant. We saw sex tech rise to stardom like never before, and for good reasons. In comes Raspberry Dream Labs!

Voir cette publication sur Instagram

Une publication partagée par Raspberry Dream Labs (@rd_labs)

During lockdown, Aleksandrovich’s company has been busy building a rig and software where people who are apart can still enjoy intimacy. “The time is so ripe for it,” she told Business Insider. As a transhumanist specialising in creative storytelling through Extended Reality (XR) technologies with a background in sculpture and performance art, it’s safe to say that the creative director knows what she’s talking about.

Back in university, Aleksandrovich grew the world’s first VR headset out of mushroom mycelium and created her first 360° film about the process. Since then, she has worked with many global brands, including Nike, Samsung, Adidas, SXSW, Dove, and many others on a variety of award-winning high-profile productions where she designed and directed interactive and multi-sensory technology activations.

In 2019, she founded Raspberry Dream Labs, a collective of artists and engineers creating innovative multi-sensory solutions for cyber sex “to combine my technical and production expertise with one of my greatest passions: human sexuality,” her website reads. As a part of this, she also curates and moderates bi-monthly events named UNSENSORED talks and speaks publicly on the themes of sex, technology, XR and intimacy in the digital age. Her latest one? ‘Are we ready for sex robots?’

In the post-pandemic future envisioned by Raspberry Dream Labs, some people will remain reserved about meeting new potential partners in person, for obvious reasons. With the help of immersive visuals, sounds, and even scents, the collective’s rig is meant to give users who are far apart a new sense of intimacy. “It also places haptic pulses on their bodies, giving them the sense of being touched. It’s still a prototype but eventually, users will be able to wear the rig and enter the company’s virtual platform, Raspberry Dream Land, to meet others,” Business Insider reports.

And for those of you who are still sceptical about the rig’s potential to change the norm, Raspberry Dream Labs already demoed the experience recently, hosting a week-long event that celebrated sexuality, identity, gender, body, technology and futurism. It included talks given by artists and sex-tech proponents, who attempted to demystify cyber sex, said its founder.

Now, the company is getting prepared to publicly launch its safe and uncensored ‘Dream Land’. On there, users will be able to “meet in the virtual world, go on the dates, attend events that would be censored elsewhere online, get playful and build meaningful connections over the distance,” explains Aleksandrovich.

For now, people who are interested in being a part of the platform’s launch can register their email address to be the first ones notified. And Raspberry Dream Labs is not the only company looking to elevate remote intimacy; more and more VR sex tech companies are releasing inexpensive products that are accessible to most customers, leading many who were previously reluctant to start considering these options as worthy ones.

Keep On Reading

By Abby Amoakuh

Stormzy faces backlash from fans after partnering with McDonald’s and deleting pro-Palestinian post

By Charlie Sawyer

Calls for Gisèle Pelicot to be named TIME Magazine’s Person of the Year after Trump takes title

By Charlie Sawyer

Penn Badgley praised for opening up about fatherhood and raising sons on Call Her Daddy

By Fatou Ferraro Mboup

Is the Ask for Angela scheme a fraud? New shocking investigation exposes dangerous failings

By Abby Amoakuh

The White Lotus star Sam Nivola speaks out about gay incest scene amid calls for boycott

By Fatou Ferraro Mboup

Ready for an early career break? The microretirement trend is Gen Z’s new way of escaping job stress

By Abby Amoakuh

Loki actor reveals he’s now homeless following horrific physical and emotional abuse at home

By Fatou Ferraro Mboup

Lucy Letby supporters under fire for hosting birthday celebration for killer in London pub

By Fatou Ferraro Mboup

Could you go an entire year without spending money? Unpacking TikTok’s No Buy 2025 movement

By Abby Amoakuh

Julia Fox reveals her ex-husband secretly baptised her son and warns women of loser fathers

By Charlie Sawyer

A plea for help: Everything you need to know about Wendy Williams’ conservatorship

By Abby Amoakuh

Tiktoker gets slammed by dermatologists for promoting dangerous caveman skincare regime

By Abby Amoakuh

Gisèle Pelicot trial prompts French politicians to incorporate consent in rape law after years of resistence

By Charlie Sawyer

Who is Tash Peterson, the controversial vegan activist who just lost a $200,000 defamation case?

By Fatou Ferraro Mboup

FBI investigators uncover shocking evidence related to racist text messages to minorities

By Lucy Skoulding

The US death penalty under Donald Trump: Why executions are on the rise again

By Charlie Sawyer

Here’s why Coca Cola is the most boycotted brand on the planet

By Fatou Ferraro Mboup

What is the mermaid eating parties conspiracy theory, and why are TikTokers now obsessed with it?

By Abby Amoakuh

Pregnant women in the US more likely to die from murder than complications, cancer, or accidents

By Charlie Sawyer

Madison Beer opens up about reconnecting with the person who leaked her explicit photos as a teen