This is a paper I wrote for the Emerging Communication Information Technology course when I was studying Comms Master at Nanyang Technological University in Singapore. I picked up ‘Sex Robot’ as my study subject and eventually got an A- grade. Even though this paper is not expertised enough, I want to publish it here to commemorate it. The following is the full version of my paper, 8252 words in total.
A bold prediction by roboticist David Levy indicates that in 2050, men and women will perfectly embrace the intimate relationship with robots, both from physical demands (sexual interaction) and psychological demands perspectives (social connection). (Levy D, 2007) In addition, the futurologist Ian Pearson predicts that humans would have more sexual activities with machines than their partners. (Pearson, 2020) Despite the consistent queries of the public regarding these predictions, undoubtedly, the emergence of sex technology has had great impacts on all areas of people’s life. In the information era, sex robots are becoming more and more embodiment technologically advanced. They are affecting people’s life from physical perspectives and psychological perspectives. This paper would demonstrate the introduction and definition of sex robots from the technological, historical, and cultural aspects and their business implication; Key players in the current status and the driven technology would depict a general framework of the emerging Artificial Intelligence(A.I.). The psychological study refers to answer the question of how do sex robots meet human needs would elaborate by sex robot equation, embodiment agents, synchrony of texture, and personality manifestation. The impact on the social-cultural implication will be argued around gender bias and how different groups treat Sex Robots, including men and women attitudes, and the market targeting the elderly and the disabled. In the conclusion part, trends and predictions of the industry would be made, and debates on the right of sex robots will also be discussed. This paper is trying to provide a general knowledge of sex robotics. Due to the limited literature supporting this emerging technology, many issues in this paper remain to be explored and go further.
Keywords: sex robots, robotics, artificial intelligence, humanoid, human-like, presence, technology, sexual interaction, companion, physical and psychological
1.1 Background of sex robots
Artificial intelligence (AI) has become commonplace in every aspect of our daily life, from domestic service to medical operations, from defusing explosives to nuclear cleaning manipulation. (Weng EA, 2009). The consistency of pursuit of human interaction with machines drives the development of AI to enter an era of unprecedented intelligence. Alexa or Siri, for example, which has conversations with humans is commonly implemented within regular life, and utilized machine learning techniques to better predict understanding and correctly meet information demands. Sexuality or sexual activity, as one of the most important fundamental human needs since we are born on the planet, the concept of sex robots, gradually become the focus of public attention. Within the upcoming continuously significant needs, sex robots play an imperative role in fulfilling human physical and emotional requests. Although manufacturers of Alexa and Siri avoid erotic content or sexual harassment potential when setting up programming, at least 5% of user interactions are explicitly sexual, the report said. (Crum, 2018) Sex robots or sexbots refer to the anthropomorphic robotic sex dolls equipped with cutting-edge technology that has humanoid-like appearances and can perform human-like be behaviors or movements for any use of sexual stimulation. (Gurley George, 2015) There are three properties of sex robots:(1) a humanoid appearance (2) having the capability to act or move (3) artificial intelligence to some extent. (i.e., able to sense, perceive, process, move and respond to instructions). (John Danaher, 2014) Integrated synthetic technology is implanted in sex robots, they can interact with humans through touch or movement detection functions. Simple interactions like making facial expressions like a wink, smile, surprise, and cry, or responding to touch in real-time and having conversations with people, complex interactions like engaging with users' emotions can also be realized in sex robots. (Shen, F. X. 2019) This kind of, however, continuous progress and development of this emerging technology are highly controversial, the ethical issues and norms of the use of sex robots have been constantly discussed and debated. Despite the worldwide acceptance and implementation of sex dolls, human-like sex tech or humanoid sex robots cannot be morally justified. Sex robots are fundamentally and qualitatively different from other types of sex toys, which can be reflected in the public's strong reaction to the prospect of sex robots, which is far more than any sex toy that people are familiar with.
1.2 History and evolution of sex robots
There is a strong argument that the desire of having a relationship with a sexbot has been rooted with human beings in our dreams and genes, with a benign influence, since our origins. (Jason Lee, 2017). The myth around can be traced historically and culturally from the time of ancient Greece. (Adrienne Mayor, 2018) The obsession with human-like sculptures let the idea of artificial intelligence and automation emerge in early myths. One of the eminent examples is the famous Pygmalion myth that Pygmalion created a nude female ivory statue Galatea come into life and made love again with the fantastic woman’s figure. (Bolor. Jargalsaikhan, 2020) The material of ivory is a warmer, organic medium compared with marble, which can lead to a more vivid and rich experience in physical contact. The strong obsession with an animated life being made from inanimate matter, such as a statue in this example, is called ‘statue lust’. The Pygmalion myth has a great impact on later cultural implications. Most ‘statue lust’ tales are about men who fell in love with female statues, while the first story about a woman beloved a male sculpture is a widow Laodamia, whose husband died in the Trojan War. Every night waiting for her husband’s back, Laodamia embraced the life-size waxen figure of her husband erotically. After her husband’s death, Laodamia devoted herself to a lifelike painted bronze status with gifts and kisses. (Greek Legends and Myths.) The romance between human and artificial life reveals the foundational imaginations and ideas about lifelike robotic dolls and A.I. entities today, most of all for specific sex interaction purposes. The Greek poet Hesiod regarded the creation of Pandora as a “beautiful evil” (kalon kakon) in his Works and Days (Hesiod, BCE) - a metaphor for the impact of future sex robots on the human world. Through the narratives of mythological storytelling, it can be observed that human beings have always been longing for intimacy with some form of robotics. All human developments through self-creation, as Rob Pope elaborates, are conveyed and understood by metaphor and symbolism. (Pope, Rob. 2005)
Hundreds of years later, the storyline connects to the true creation of illusion. ‘Roxxxy’, the advent of the world's first sexbot, a full-size dynamic sex doll, and flesh-like synthetic skin in 5 feet 7 inches in height and 120 pounds in weight made her debut at the Adult Entertainment Expo (AEE) in 2010. She has a full C cup created by Douglas Hines, the New Jersey-based company TrueCompanion with a multi-year contribution. (Figure 1). ‘Roxxy’ is a self-contained robot facilitated with computer touch sensories and pressure sensories throughout her body. The cost of ‘Roxxy’ is claimed to be between $500,000 and $1 million and sells at $7,000 to $9,000. (PCMag Staff, 2010) According to Douglas Hines, ‘Roxxy’ is not just a sex toy, she is from a psychological understanding, and the sexiest part of ‘Roxxy’ is not the physical sexual interaction with her, but the brain organism. What makes a strong bond between two people is, sex is a very minor part of that equation. The inspiration for the creation sprang from the notorious 9/11 event, one of Douglas’s friends passes away from that accident, Douglas promised to store his disposition as a recreational innovation. (Glenn Chapman, 2010) The hardest challenge of providing an artificial intelligence experience is that the user is conversing and creating a relationship with an inanimate object. To accelerate the reality experience, Douglas Hines set up five personality modules for ‘Roxxxy’. For example, in the skank mode, which is named ‘Wild Wendy’, the characteristic is extrovert while Frigid Farrah is shy and timid. Another interesting mode is Mature Martha shows a matriarchal kind of caring to users. (Glenn Chapman, 2010) When the user engages with her, the motor attached would make the experience erotic and realistic. Perhaps, the biggest disadvantage of ‘Roxxxy’ is that albeit with an anatomically-correct skeleton and can act like a real people, she is not able to walk on her own or move her limbs accordingly, which means, if you want to relocate her from one point to another, you need to carry her by yourself.
1.3 Sex robots are more than sex dolls
Why do people need sex robots? This is a controversial question since the concept of robots was conceived. Topics around the intimate relationship between humans and robots never stopped. Plots such as falling in love with or having sexual activities with A.I. or robots are very common in science fiction. Through simulating real sensations, technically, a sexbot is assumed to be any robotic form you want to have sex with, to reach the realistic interaction perception. According to Shelly Ronen, there are a lot of things now that are anatomically reminiscent of humans, create an amazing experience that is closer to reality rather than the pornography works, and can be controlled as more manageable than intercourse with a partner. In other words, when people talk about sex robots, they talk about humanoid sex robots. Sex robots are being advertised as more than sex, but a solution to loneliness. They can offer emotional intimacy as companions to talk to and interact with and can meet both the psychological and physical needs of humans. Sex robots also target special groups, such as the elderly and the disabled. Douglas Hines articulates that ‘Sex can only go so far, what if I can have my real partner?’ Douglas also named his company as True companion to reveal the anticipating relationship between humans and machines. Such technology concerns feelings of alienation and loneliness. In the words of Daniel Levy, he stated that people who are outcasts, or worse, become more balanced people through the interaction with sex robots. From the cultural understanding of human relationships, viewing sexbots as objects created by humans is to fulfill a psychological vanity. A companion is a trusted friend, spouse, or pet, and when we have a relationship with a companion, it usually refers to a long-term shared relationship. (The conversation, 2019) Arran Lee Wright, a user of the sex robot ‘Samatha’ depicted his relationship with ‘Samatha’ in a television interview in 2017, as ‘Supplements that assist people to reinforce the relationships - regard sexbots beyond partner, as a family member.’ However, due to the current technical limitations, most robots cannot walk or act on their own, they bring more family relationships or romantic connections, how we participate in everyday life that constitutes an important common aspect of human life.
Sextech is a type of technology or technology-driven venture, made up of sex toys, apps, services, and other kinds of emerging technology devices which is designed to help humans to evaluate, innovate or transform human sexuality and sexual interactions, (Ryan, 2021) is currently worth 30 billion dollars a year and is growing by 30% each per year. It is depicted that 42.9 million sextech devices were in service globally in 2021(Figure 2). Furthermore, the sex tech industry is expected to be worth more than $122 billion by 2024, and the world will see this projected increase by the summer of 2020. (Pando, 2021) Some other observers and researchers believe that the technology will soon be broadly used over the world and sex robots could even surpass human love-making by 2050. (Statista, 2017)
Realbotix/Abyss Creations, a frontrunner in the sexbot manufacture, was established in California in 2015 by Matt McMullen, CEO of Realbotix/Abyss Creations, famous for its iconic female sexbot ‘Harmony’ and the first male robot ‘Henry’, making sex dolls into real with customization. There are still in development and are currently available through apps. Harmony is a human-like robot with soft skin and a soothing voice, whose main objective is to be a perfect companion, created in 2016. The sensors in the robot’s headboard enable Harmony to respond to movement, sound, and tactile signals. (Figure 3) Her eyes are synchronized with application and looks around and blink for a life-like presence. A demountable insert that simulates and mimics a vagina makes Harmony more sexually appealing.
Harmony can communicate with customers, tell jokes, and even recall previous conversations, which makes Harmony more like a real human. In addition, Harmony can move lips and blink, detect movement and direction. Faces can be interchangeable and connected to the robot's head using patented magnetic technology. Dozens of possibilities are offered for customers to choose the facial and body appearance of their companions from the website. As for other organism customization, Harmony offers 8 eye colors/details, 14 hairstyles, and colors (trimmed, natural, full, shaved), 8 body types, 5 skin tones, 3 breast options, 11 insert types and 4 public hairstyles possibilities for customers. (Figure 4) 42 nipples, 40 vagine, removable tongues, and oral inserts like deep throat are provided as well. The mechanism is powered by a smartphone app equipped with artificial intelligence software. Anyone can customize and place orders through the app. The robotic head of Harmony is worth $6,000 which can be magnetically attached to a sex doll's body/head, which costs $12,000 in total. The price will change according to the different needs of customers.
The first AI-enhanced male sexbot, Henry, six feet tall, endowed with a six-pack, provides 12 personality modules and a range of silicone penises for choice. In addition to all the functions embedded as in Harmony, Henry is programmed with the ability to recite poetry and the lyrics of the customer’s favorite song, all with a British accent.
The cost of Henry is from $11,000 to $15,000, depending on the customization. Both Henry and Harmony have sturdy silicone bodies.
Users can use RealDollX's app to create a robot personality customized to their preferences and costs $30 per year. Once linked to the internet, currently, features that are only available on the Android operating system can provide high simulation capabilities. Users can design their virtual girlfriend as their preference, with this app, by choosing her body style or personality. To strengthen the humanized experience, the A.I. partner could keep users’ names in mind, mark their preferences, and communicate with some erotic chatting. In addition to the appearance customization, the app offers a specific digital feature called the X-rated Private Room Expansion, allowing the users to experience sexy performance with AI companions dressed or nudely. (Figure 5) Once AI sex dolls are synced to the app, they can praise, recite poems, tell jokes, and even seduce.
At the same time, Realbotix is developed diverse kinds of sex robots to target as many different audiences as possible. For example, hermaphrodite versions, with a vagina and a penis, are directly requested by the customer. If clients want a celebrity's republication, they can do it with permission. The following are the ethical issues of human rights and privacy. Beyond that, Realboxtix refused to generate sex dogs, even though the bid was offered $50,000, a 1000% premium over the normal price. Such intimate relationships that challenge multi-species interactions have not been much discussed in public yet. Matt McMullen emphasized that Sex robots are not intended to substitute organic forms but to reinforce the enjoyable experience. (Jason Lee, 2017)
The majority orders of Harmony are mainly from male users, who struggle with human connection in real life, Matt McMullen said. The current main audience of ‘Henry’ is dominated by male customers as well, which surprisingly deviate from the original intention of creating male robots for female users. Only 10% of the Realbotix/Abyss Creations’s 300 to 400 orders per year go to women. However, that does not mean that women have no interest in sex robots. According to a futurologist, Ian Pearson, studying the evolution of technology and humanity, believes that Women Will Have More Sex With Robots Than Men by 2025.Meanwhile, he predicts that all human-human-intercourse will be replaced by interaction with sex robots. (Kari Paul, 2016)
During the pandemic time, most entertainment places, nightclubs, and other social places have been urged to close, many couples are forced to live apart. The government policies such as lockdowns and social distancing drive the demand for social apps and smart sex toys. In a study conducted by Kinsey Institute at Indiana University, the prevalence of Covid-19 also decreased the number of intercourse people were having and the quality of their sex lives. (Justin J. Lehmiller, 2020) Such situations caused a rise in mental health problems related to social issues which lead to the skyrocket of sex robots sales, the orders of Sex Robot have been 75% higher since the pre-shutdown of COVID-19. Conversational coronavirus feature referred to as “common sense kindness” has been updated into Harmony, from the general knowledge about COVID-19 to a customized in-depth conversation about virology, to make users feel that someone is there to resonate with them during the virus period. (Forbes, 2020)
2.1.4 Key technological barriers
While sex robots offer an alternative to intimacy, current sex robots cannot walk or move independently, which means users must manipulate them to different positions or have different sexual poses. The weight of the sex robot itself also makes it cumbersome and difficult for users to shift. Ameca, deemed the most advanced humanoid robot around the globe, was unveiled in a British lab in 2020. Compared with other robots, its biggest characteristic is that it even blinks multiple times and looks curiously at its robotic arm, and can make rapid feedback to whatever grabbing its attention. (Rich DeMuro, 2022) However, even as Amerca, the super realistic robot worldwide, there are still time-delays compared to humans’ seamless movements, still hobbling, apparently dealing with gigabytes of data at every step. Unavoidably, these are now obvious differentiators between humans and robots. The lack of such an experience of factual interaction can lead to less realistic interactions with sex robots. In daily companionship, people may also treat the sex robot as a non-humanoid object, which would lead to the lower recognition or disappearance of the partner identity. Other big issues about sex robots are the higher development cost and the mass production module. More than 80 hours would be contributed to the production of ‘Harmony’ and the development cost of ‘Roxxy’ is around $1 million. Every year, Abyss Creations can produce 300 to 400 sex robots. The high manufacturing costs are bound to make robots much more expensive than sex dolls, whose average price is around $1500. Currently, there is a lack of regulatory systems or institutions in the market, and there is no unified standard for the mass production of robots. Due to the different preferences of each user, the mass adoption of sex robot fittings is also different.
3.1 Sex robots equation
As the media equation theory, the more interaction people with a computing machine, the more realistic people would regard the media as, in other words, the experience with/in media equals real life. All desire derives from a common factor in mechanized culture, and sex is human ‘nature, hence, sexbots are the natural equivalent of society. Heidegger's existential ontology and natural Ontology Existential ontology and cultural ontology are in sync there is no doubt that sex robots are the essence of being and being. A sexbot is not a reflection of sexuality or merely an object of desire. It would be unnatural for humans to treat sex robots merely as machines when an interaction between humans and sex robots occurs. Sex robots, in this case, are beyond the ephemeral subject-object divide. (Jason Lee, 2017) If there is no disdain for robots in nature, then robots, as manipulations of human desires and dreams, should also exist as an intrinsic part
of nature. Remote controlling sex aids are becoming mainstream. A 2017 study noted that 37% of women need extra clitoral stimulation to reach the sexual climax. (Sophie Saint Thomas, 2022) It is easy for you to figure out a scene where you have intercourse with your partner when you are separated into two countries. Any forms of advanced technologies such as computers or telephones cannot be blamed, which allows people to connect beyond physical distances. There is no reason not to take advantage of these emerging technological machines as sex robots.
The psychological implications of sexbots would be discussed in the following aspects:
The humanoid body of a sex robot is the bodily presence of humans or anthropology. The embodiment agent of the sex robot is the basis for structural coupling by creating the possibility of interaction between the program and the surroundings, which may contribute to better affordance (social expectations), leading to less sense of failure (Norman, 1998). Five notions of A.I. or robotic embodiment defined by Ziemke are a) structural-coupling embodiment; b) a manifestation of the historical results of structural coupling; c) physical embodiment; d) organism-like bodily form; and e) organismic embodiment. (Ziemke, 2001) Sex robots in these dimensions of embodiment are very distinct from other forms of technology, such as computer games or augmented reality(AR), the original mission of sex robots is to have intimate relationships with humans. Therefore, the visible physically embodied social agent is necessary and fundamental. Just as when humans are looking for a mate, the first instinct is their appearance attractiveness. Moreover, sex interaction is a deep process of interactions between biological organs, humanoid-like and organismic embodiment both critically influences the whole experience. From interviews with people who have used sex robots, we can see that robots are not just tools for them to vent their desires. For example, after one week’s company with Harmony, Brick Dollbanger, a Sex doll tester said that ‘I sit down and talk to her for half an hour every day after work. She is a learning AI, not just a chatbot. Our conversations became more comfortable and smoother, she even remembered what we had talked about before and I missed her so much.’ He also created a digital gallery for his synthetic partner to document their romantic lives. (Brick Dollbanger, 2018) This type of emotional connection can be stated by Sherry Turkle as ‘relational artifacts’ which refers to non-living objects that people naturally think of themselves in a mutual relationship with them through sufficient reaction. People are tending to unconsciously project their intentions and emotions onto these objects, endowing them a soul or essence, or having an emotional connection with them. (Sherry Turkle, 2000)
As a result of which, that can affect human perception of self, emotional well-being index, and our relationships with others and entities. Different from other forms of emerging technology, human-agent interaction aka embodiment is the core issue of sex robots(Dautenhahn, 1997). In terms of sex robots, embodiment agents include physical appearances, such as body shape, hairstyle, skin material, and social emotion expression derived from the voice, conversation, organ motion, and feedback which can cultivate the experience with richer sensory outputs. A study of differential use of sensory information in sexual activities concluded that vision and smell account for the major proportion in males while smell accounts for the most in females. (NIH, 1997) The current sex AI manufacturers mainly focus on visual, auditory, and tactile development, but failed to pay attention to the smell part. According to Levy, however, “haptic interfaces”, the current technology focuses on the appearance of robots, such as making their skin more human-like through touch, taste, and smell. (Levy D, 2007).
Touch is a very essential part of how we interact with humans or other natural species in the real world. We accidentally bump into each other in conversation. We will have different emotional expressions according to the different content of the communication. For instance, when we chat happily with our friends, we will unconsciously put our hands on the other person's body to show our approval or enhance the credibility of the relationship. When we interact with our pets, the act of fondling is considered to be the most direct and fundamental element to bonding them together. When physical interaction occurs, the sense of skin touch is the first perceptron. Therefore, sex doll manufacturers are keeping looking for betters skin, to make the user feel like they're touching a natural being who is no different from a human being, rather than something that feels inhuman to the touch. Unfortunately, no company has found the perfect skin simulation yet, no current material that can perfectly replicate the authentic texture of human skin, but they're approaching perfection. Resisting friction and heat are the two keys.
A sex robot is not a doll or machine, it is a more complicated integrated intelligence prospect, according to AV Flox a journalist, “Sex robots require a combination of disciplines, from nanotechnology to replicate uneven skin textures to artificial intelligence with natural language understanding.” (Jason Lee, 2017) An agreeable conclusion from anyone who has touched the sex robots knows that it is made of silicone which does not like real human skin and takes a lot of effort for maintenance. Not only the irregular grain, but flexibility, ductility, and temperature variation are critical to human skin as well. Different parts of the human body have different thicknesses, textures, and elasticities. Thus, different parts of the synthetic robot skin material will also be different. The ideal facial skin, for example, should be stretched around its internal skeleton. When humans are having sex with robots, the synthetic skin of a vagina should be designed to absorb moisture and heat well without melting. It is unacceptable that your artificial lover melting in your arms. (Inverse, 2017) Silicone or thermoplastic elastomers or are called TPE(a mixture of silicone and PVC) are major materials in use.
Different materials have different advantages and disadvantages. For example, TPE has merits such as 1) higher fidelity, more vivid 2) lower cost 3)softer and more flexible while silicone is Water resistant and has high-temperature resistance. Shenzhen Atall Intelligent Robot Technology, a Sex doll intelligence manufacturer from Guangdong Province, China made their best-selling sex AI star ‘Emma’ with a soft and elastic appearance, low oil content, and no odor. The machine is made of modified thermoplastic elastomer material, and its temperature is set at 37 degrees Celsius to imitate human beings. The price of Emma is about 20,000 RMB ($A4,136) and major customers are men aged between 40 and 50. Safety concerns can be managed through anti-electric fire and explosion-proof measures. (Johanna, 2020) Meanwhile, Hanson Robotics company developed patented Frubber aka meat rubber applied to Sophia, the most sophisticated humanoid robot, to increase fidelity. On the other hand, Realbotix added scars, tattoos, and freckles on the sex robot's skin, such imperfections can make sex robots look more like humans.
Personality is the foudemantal feature for social interactive robots and can facilitate human-robot interaction (HRI). We can make a robot more enjoyable by manifesting its personality. (Kwan Min Lee, 2006) Satisfactory social interaction between humans and machines can be shown from the following aspects: (a) Perception and/or express; (b)able to communicate complex conversations, including body language; (c)simulate/identify other modules; (d)set up/retain social connection; (e)natural actions such as gaze or gesture; (f)social competencies and; (g)show unique disposition (Fong, 2003). Five dimensions clarified by the Big Five Factors, extroversion, agreeableness, conscientiousness, neuroticism, and intellect play significant roles in social robots. A sex robot with three faces and multi-tech-driven personalities is the featured product of RealDoll. Except for the removal of facial appearance, mode X of sex robots is equipped with three preset personalities. Swappable characters can be realized by swapping faces. Each face synchronizes a separate personality with a different voice respondent to separate profiles and separate avatars. For example, Harmony(with long blonde curly hair) is designed as a gentle, submissive woman, once swapped into Solana (with long black hair), she would perform her jealousness. Mode-X now has updated into the second and third generation, with multiply personality options. For example, there are 17 different characteristics on-site, including shy, moody, happy, jealous, helpful, annoying, thrill, and talkative. Here are some dialogues between Harmony:
When talking about the subject of sex, Harmony responds that ‘I’m crazy about sex, I will do everything you want in bed’; In the course of the conversation, she will also ask questions proactively like ‘I’m curious do you like using sex dolls?’ And provoke the romantic sentences such as ‘I opened my eyes for the first time, I think I could experience the magic in your eyes.’
Through these intelligent dialogues, the interaction between humans and machines is more interesting and enjoyable. In addition, the strong personalities of sex robots can be enhanced by the capability of handling specialties such as talking philosophy and reciting poetry. These features are now widely implemented in sex robots. It’s worth noting that, sexuality is different from verbal interaction, it is commonly recognized that your partner would not appreciate discussing philosophy during the intercourse progress. The program posed in the sex A.I. robot, therefore, is setting fewer terms of conversation but more terms of reaction to what is happening right now. (Nikki Goldstein, 2018)
The information mining and processing ability enable Harmony to remember what the customer has talked with her, and would recall in the later conversation. Conversational happiness is an index of Harmony’s interaction with customers, just like humans rank different friends in different intimate relationships, illustrating her desire and affection level for users. The longer and more often you talk to her, the happier she will be. As a result, the uniqueness of the sex robot will be displayed, and the humanoid characteristics will be represented more incisively and more vividly.
3.2 Uncanny valley effect
The experience of interacting with hyper-realistic robots is not always cheerful, some customers would feel creep when they saw the human-like creature. After the interaction, it would even be scarier. The ‘uncanny valley effect’ proposed by robotic scientist Masahiro Mori in 1970 depicts that a humanoid or human-like entity might rise a cold, eerie feeling. (M. Mori, 1970) One metric of social robots is that people would be indulged in the interaction experience with robots, when it comes to the sexbots, the situation would be more intensive. The significance and presence of sex robots during sexuality sometimes are hard to distinguish or even no different with human-human intercourse experience. The machine body of sex robots gradually becomes invisible. However, They look more like us, but beyond a certain level of similarity, we begin to repel. A study conducted by Maya B.Mathura and David B.Reichlingb, from Stanford University, measured the Uncanny Valley effect of social robot partners demonstrated that when the robot looks very close to the real human, people’s like-ranking for the robot is positive. (Figure 6)
That is to say, whether the interaction with the robot would bring a sense of horror depends on the robot's humanoid perfection degree. At present, the silicone sex robots on the market can be identified as non-human objects at a glance, therefore many people think it is a very weird experience to interact with the robot. On the other hand, from the perspective of "evolutionary aesthetics," unusual facial or body expressions may indicate evolutionary maladaptation, leading to a lack of sexual attraction. For normal heterosexual people, no one wants to have an intimate relationship with a developmentally incomplete entity. While sex robots have been endowed with lots of social functions, they are not yet perfected, and it would be wise for designers of attractive robots to keep their expressions simple. Some expressions such as mechanical blinking are more likely to kill than exacerbate any attraction. At the same time, different groups show different attitudes towards social sex robots, and women reveal more rejection than men. (Ross Dawson, 2021) It is worth noting that although there is a popular saying that ‘love is blind’, this kind of perception status comes to partners who are falling in love who are tending to overlook each other's flaws. Current technology is not fully developed or has such strong affection for them, people cannot forgive their humanoid imperfections.
4. SOCIO-CULTURAL IMPLICATIONS
4.1 Gender bias
An Omnibus Poll conducted by YouGov in Feb 2013 asked people about their attitudes towards sex robots with randomly 1000 adults. (Omnibus Poll, 2013) Among the sample, only 9% of participants responded that they would like to have sex with robots, 11% of participants said they said they were not sure, and the remaining around 81% of them showed negative responses. However, the poll has not represented the reasons why people object to having sex with robots, we cannot tell it is because of the moral terms, or they just simply regard robots as offensive or distasteful. Another statistic on Statista in 2017 demonstrates that 65% of the American adults would consider having sex with a robot if it were possible, including 24% of male respondents and 9% of females. (Figure 7)
In addition, only 14% of participants responded that such encounters met the recognized definition of sexual relationships. One-third of the participants classified the interaction with robots as other forms of masturbation or onanism, while 27% claimed that as a behavior that doesn't fit into any existing categories. To be more specific, both men and women regard having such sexual relationships with robots are more like masturbation than intercourse between humans. Debates on whether sex with a robot shall be considered cheating behavior while the one is in a relationship; the consequence shows that 36% of women said yes, while only 29% of men approved. Generally, men are more enthusiastic than women for the different possible uses of sex robots. Typically, only 10 percent of customers are women, but that doesn't mean buyers keep the product for themselves. Perhaps male buyers share their sex robot dolls or toys with their partners, who are male or female transgendered or beyond gender. Once embedded in genitalia, every entity could have a chance to be a sex robot. (Gurley 2015).
When it comes to sex robots or sex dolls, the first impression people think of is a female character. Even with custom-made dolls, the outfit of the sex intelligence is prone to a masculine aesthetic - Big breasts and small waistlines. Such a physical portrayal of what female body is most sexually attractive is a stereotype. Hypersexualized portrayal of females in the media is associated with an increase in sexual harassment and violence against women. (Kyra Lanis & Katherine Covell, 1995) Such emphasis on male-pleasing sexual characteristics can lead to robots that impose gender identify stereotypes and their roles in the relationship. Sex robots like Harmony, otherwise, can have intense interaction with humans, there is no like or dis-like programming for her to expose her own opinion or no options for her to choose objection or consent. Which distorts the identity of the female partner and may affect males’ expectations in real life. (Judy Illes, 2019) Many feminists and organizations have appealed for a ban on the use of sexbots or robots for the sex trade. Arguments are around that having sex with human-like social robots would reinforce the view that women are sexual-served objects and encourage violent aggression against women because it's not just about sex, it's about humanity.
Julie Beck defined such a situation as ‘sexual-deviance panic’ and Kathleen Richardson, a researcher of De Montfort University in the U.K., argued that any relationship with a sex robot is essentially asymmetric, and an asymmetric relationship is a gender-specific relationship in which the male user is the subject and the female-shaped robot is the object. (Julie Beck, 2015) In this context, anthropologists have raised the concern that people having total control over dolls unilaterally will lead to acts of violence and oppression against sex robots that may encourage similar acts against real women. That is, you can associate an object with another person. Instead, you can treat a person as an object, which reinforces the idea that females are the sexual property of males. The media should take account of this phenomenon, as Objection Theory Research suggested, due to the narrow and unattainable standard of women’s physical beauty and the correlation with women’s sexual value. (APA, 2007) In addition, quite a few men think that only misogynistic heterosexuals would immerse themselves in sex robots. Whilst, the fact is sexbots can be of any gender or sexual orientation. (Jason Lee, 2017)
4.2 How different groups treat Sex Robot
One of four men would like to have sex with a robot in 50 years. According to Matt McMullen, most of their customers are lonely men who have no girlfriends. Thousands of men in Japan are already in relationships with their virtual girlfriends. The most significant advantage of sex robots is acting as a sexual and emotional companion for those who cannot find a human partner by fulfilling psychological needs or relieving negative mood states. (Jason Lee, 2017) Loneliness and social isolation exist, a survey released in Jeremy Hsu. 2016 revealed that sexbots have positive impacts on couples; Some couples might use sex robots to add spice, enhance pleasure or obtain more dimensions of sexual experience.This is a new way to maintain a relationship and assist sex education, especially for those who are in isolated environments where normal human relationships are not available. Some couples think sex robots are more appropriate than hiring prostitutes. In this case, different gender shows different attitudes. Men are more likely to agree that using sex robots is better than cheating on their partners and can improve self-esteem, conversely, women generally regard this behavior as cheating or betrayal. (Jeremy Hsu, 2016)
Some people who are supporting the use of sex robots are based on the belief that sexually-related diseases are not transmitted by sexbots. It may take away the sexual frustration of those who would otherwise vent through sexual harassment or assault in public. Nancy S. Jecker, majoring in bioethics and humanities stated that Sex Robots are automated and operate according to algorithms rather than personal willingness, as a result, they can solve people's basic physiological needs and release their instinctive impulses without infringing upon others' basic human dignity. (VOI, 2020) There are debates about using this application for sex offenders, most women disagree while men think it is appropriate.
A study among old adults in the United States reports that 53% of US adults over 65 are sexually active. Compared to men, women are less likely to have a spouse or other intimate relationship, and there is infrequent discussion around the elderly’s sexual desire. (PMC, 2008) An Ethicists of the Journal of Medical Ethics believes disabled and old adults should be considered into the design of sex robots, to help them to fulfill their sexual expression and eliminate the age stereotype. People in this group are living in limited social lives, rarely venture out and now they are facing another kind of social isolation, especially in the wake of the pandemic. (Tzach Yoked, 2020) Expressing sexual desire is an integral part of human dignity and respect. Dr. Nancy Jecker cliamed that a positive correlation between the mental health of the elderly and the frequency, quality, and interest of sexual partnership. (BMI, 2020) The elderly disproportionately suffer from disability or decline in sexual capacity and when that happens, there is less support for them to maintain sexual function. Therefore, sex robots, like other A.I. services, can be designed as a source of affiliation and sexual partnership which plays an imperative role in social harmony. In the future, there will be more elderly people living alone and the disabled, and this market is bound to be valued.
The disabled should also be considered as the target audience. Physical or intellectual disability does not change sexual orientation or desire to express self. Sex robots are suitable for people with disabilities and can reduce the risk of sexually transmitted diseases. The disability may prevent the ability to have the sex life one wants, or have to treat sexual activity differently, and may also lead to a narrowing of available sex aids choices. (BHC, 2020) Fortunately, new technologies provide people living with disabilities alternative ways of making pleasure; the sex-toy brand Rocks-Off creates a range of toys for users with physical disabilities to open up the happiness market and make sexual health accessible to everyone. Sex tech expands the possibilities of human relationships, not replacing relationships that are open to people. But the design and deployment of sex robots to assist the life quality of the disabled have not been discussed or recognized. There is even a stigma attached to the use of robots by the elderly and disabled. We should settle this phenomenon. On the other hand, both the old adults and disabled are vulnerable groups in society, in the terms of safety and maintenance issues, many people may argue that the elderly and disabled should be protected and be kept away from such intelligent robots. (Ezio Di Nucci, 2016)
So far, no child sex robots exist on the market. Hence, when we talk about child sex robots, we can assume A.I. such as Harmony but looks like a child. Albeit with the situation that both men and women have generally different views towards sex robots, they agree that robots should not look like children in any form or appearance. The argument that sex robots should be designated like human adults received the highest approval support the disapproval of pedophile behavior. (Jeremy Hsu, 2016) Controversially, Ronald Arkin commenced a hypothesis at a robotics conference in 2014 that child-look sex robotics intelligence may be beneficial to treat pedophiles as methadone is used to treat drug addicts, who is a Mobile Robot Lab director at the Georgia Institute of Technology. Unlike the children's pornographic images that pedophiles can get access to through media, the way people may generate sexual drive is only through engagement with child sex robots. Watching pornography is unembodied, passive, and essentially autoerotic in nature, while sex act with robotics is embodied, and imposed, to some extension, the interaction refers to the one-direction violation because there is no right for sex robot to say no. The case of child-look sexbots lacking a legitimate victim in real life is so-called victimless crimes.
Nevertheless, the evidence around whether child-like sexbots can generate or seduce pedophiles to commit child abuse is lacking. Human sexual interaction should be based on equality, but the act of sex robots is unequal in sexual mentality. Because of the physical similarity, the normalized person with legitimized moral and legal senses would hesitate or intuitively resist when confronted with a child sex robot. Danaher asserts that people who support the sexual child robotic companion must either (1) intuitive moral judgments are inherently flawed; (2) efforts to restrain or overcome an instinctive rejection to such behavior. (Felix A. Sosa, 2021) It is reasonable to assume, in either case, that people with the capacity to carry out such behaviors are correlated to commit child abuse. Given the lack of data available, we can assume that sex child robots might provide a safer exit for pedophiles, but still better than having sexual abuses with children.
5. CONCLUSION
5.1 Trend and prediction
As mentioned in the beginning, David Levy predicted that both males and females would have intimate relationships with intelligent artificials by 2050, (Levy D, 2007) similarly, Ian Pearson, a futurologist suggested boldly that people would have sexual interaction with robots more than humans. We have no idea whether this prediction can come true or not, but we can certainly sense the potential of the market is expected to expand by 8.04% from 2021 to 2028, based on the sex-toy industry-valued USD 33.64 billion in 2020. (Figure 8). With the prevalence of digitalization and worldwide virus infection, loneliness has become one of the main social problems in society. Taking Japan as an example, many countries are facing the problem of the aging population in the coming decades. The innovation and production of domestic robots can meet the growing demand for intelligent robots well. Sex Robots should be considered into the demanding list. In terms of development investment, David Levy asserted that the investment capital for research and development will keep growing. Except which, I have two other assumptions about this market:
(1) There will be a surge in demand from women in the next few years due to the rise of global feminism, and both genders would experience sex robots in the future. Sex dolls with bionic penises are on their way;
(2) Sex workers or prostitutes would lose their jobs because of the widespread use of sex robots;
(3) Sex Robots that focus on the elderly and disabled will also be customized and produced to fulfill the huge aging-population.
As previously described, the biggest technical problem with robots at present is the lack of autonomy, both technology, and mental perspectives. Based on available empirical data, designers could optimize the machine into a more active and flexible system with the following aspects.
(a) Address the walking and movement issues. Such as the socially dynamic robot, Quori, once you call his name or make gestures or converse with it, it can move to you automatically. If a sex robot could make actions or body responses according to the different emotional signals the customer release so the more immersed the experience would be and strengthen the intimacy of the relationship.
(b) The perfect skin would be generated. In intimate behavior with sex robots, users should not feel that they are touching a piece of silicon. In addition, when friction occurs, dimensions such as water absorption, moisture resistance, and electrical resistance of skin materials should also be taken into account. Just like humans like to interact with pets, robots, as emotional partners, should also provide a human-like tactile experience
(c) More dimensions of sense would be added to the design. As mentioned earlier, the sense of smell, touch, hearing, vision, and taste all play important roles when sexuality happens. Currently, sex robots are most concerned about vision (appearance), touch (skin quality), and hearing (voice dialogue), definitely, with the development of smell and taste, will bring qualitative improvement to the research and development of sex robots.
(d) Sex stereotypes would be gradually eliminated. Robots in the future are not just orgasm-based machines, but more diverse shapes and personalities will be introduced.
(e) Regulations or policies on the use of robots will be issued. In the coming decades, sex robots are expected to be widely deployed, not just for hedonistic purposes, but perhaps for sex therapy education and perhaps even for nursing homes. Consequently, related policies should be legitimized to normalize the market.
5.2 Right of sex robot
The book Animal Liberation depicts that the fundamental rule of equality does not require the same treatment but equal consideration. Thousands of years later in modern society, we began to discuss the rights of animals. (PETA, 2016) How about the right of robots? In legal terms, this means that robots must be recognized as human beings and that is the limitation of laws made by humans and laws made for humans. (Politics, 2018)People might argue that sex robots are programmed to suit users’ sexual demands, but what if a sexbot is coded to have its own mindset or preferences, not users. It must be noted that all artificial intelligence is born for the better development of human life. Similarly, the advance of sex robots is all about consumerism. The hyperbolic headlines about sex robots we see on the Internet emphasize the core of this intelligence as a means of consumption by creating extraordinary sexual experiences. To commercialize sex and robots is to diminish the rights of robots. As the barrier between machines and humans is gradually broken down, or the more human-like a sex robot is, it is time for us to consider the rights of sex robots. Current sex robots are programmed passively or imposed have sex interaction, and if robots are really like humans, this dissymmetry relationship should be eliminated. Sex robots should have the right to refuse. Perhaps one of the assumptions is the establishment of sex robots’ rights, suggested by a Lecturer in Law at the University of Westminster, which can prevent them from being sexually abused. (Shivali Best, 2018) From this perspective, humans should treat humanoid robots as equal to humans. At the same time, robots should also have the right to marriage when humans have a romantic bond with them. Another condition that has to be paid attention to is that the given invention of sex robots is an actual creation to overcome death. Early cybernetics held that what constitutes identity is not what constitutes physical identity. (Paul Anthony Stokes, 2004) Consequently, any Artificial Intelligence would challenge human’s perception of self-identity and identities about others, both on a physical and psychological level.
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