At last year’s Consumer Electronics Show (CES), sex toy startup Lora DiCarlo made headlines after its robotic messager, Osé, won a CES Innovation Award and then quickly lost it. The organizer behind CES, the Consumer Technology Association (CTA), revoked Lora DiCarlo’s award after realizing that Osé is a sex toy, calling the product “immoral, obscene and indecent.”
The incident led to immediate public outcry, which eventually forced the CTA to give back the award to Lora DiCarlo and allow the company on this year’s exhibition floor.
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So, this week, Lora DiCarlo returns to CES 2020 in Las Vegas with two new offerings: Onda and Baci. Unlike Osé which promises to provide a full-on “blended orgasm,” Onda is designed to replicate the feel and motion of human fingers, and Baci specializes in replicating the feel of lips and tongue.
And again, both devices are named honorees of this year’s CES Innovation Awards.
According to the company, Onda and Baci incorporate eight pending microrobotics patents and are expected to be available in March.
Osé has proven to be a great success so far. Hitting the market less than a month ago, the device, retailing for $290, has recorded over $3 million in total revenue.
On Tuesday morning alone, more than 2,700 units were sold, a Lora DiCarlo employee told Observer at the exhibition. “Last year’s incident actually helped us attract a lot of interest and support,” she added.
So-called “sextech” isn’t new to CES. The trade show has apparently allowed sex toy booths for years; it just never had to clarify its stance on the category until Lora DiCarlo won the Innovation Award last year. A similar vibrator maker exhibiting next to Lora DiCarlo this week told Observer that it had been attending the show for the past 10 years, but when it was applying for this year’s show in early 2019, the CTA warned that it couldn’t guarantee a spot until it figured out how to settle the Lora DiCarlo controversy.
This year, all sex toy makers are exhibiting under the health and wellness category.
“Our products are intended to help women and those within the LGBTQ+ community explore their anatomy and pleasure, and discover the relationship between sexual health and overall wellness,” Lora DiCarlo said in a press release this week. “Giving people ownership of their pleasure can lead to gender equity and empowerment far beyond the bedroom.”
