It might sound like the plot of a 1980s sci-fi film - but sex robots may actually be the biggest tech trend of 2016.
Sex robots predicted to be the 'biggest trend of 2016'
Sex Dolls/ Robots may actually be the biggest tech trend of 2016.
In an exclusive report carried out by Mirror UK, it was discovered that sex dolls and sex robots are not only becoming more popular but people are having intimate relations with them and falling in love with them too.
Dr Helen Driscoll, a leading authority on the psychology of sex and relationships, said 'sex tech' was already advancing at a fast pace.
Dr Driscoll, from the University of Sunderland says that robotic, interactive, motion-sensing technology is likely to become more and more central to the sex industry in the next few years
Robophilia may be alien now, but could be normal in the near future as attitudes evolve with technology.
Artificial intelligence researcher David Levy from the University of Maastricht told LiveScience that people could be marrying robots - and consummating their vows - by 2050.
Although it might not appeal at first, he said, "once you have a story like 'I had sex with a robot, and it was great!' appear someplace like Cosmo magazine, I'd expect many people to jump on the bandwagon."
In his PhD thesis, Intimate Relationships with Artificial Partners, Levy stated that the more human-like robots become in terms of personality, function and appearance, the more likely they are to form romantic partners for real people.
"It may sound a little weird, but it isn't."
Dr. Kathleen Richardson, a senior research fellow at De Montfort University in Leicester, has called the development of sex 'bots a "disturbing" trend that needs to be stopped.
"Sex robots seem to be a growing focus in the robotics industry and the models that they draw on - how they will look, what roles they would play - are very disturbing indeed," she said.
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