Goodbye Loneliness, Hello Sexbots! How Can Robots Transform Human Sex?

Will Sexbots Serve to Reduce Loneliness and Depression?

The 2020s: The Decade Of The Personal Robots

From R2-D2 in Star Wars to T-800 in The Terminator to Optimus Prime in Transformers on film, and from VICI in Small Wonder to CHEESE in Friends on television, we all have been exposed to the sci-fi world of how robots will interact with humans. But with recent tech advances, robots are literally coming to life more quickly than we expect. In fact, we believe that by the end of the 2020s robots will be as ubiquitous as cellphones today. Essentially, a decade from now, you could walk into a restaurant and be served by a robot waiter, be greeted by a robot receptionist at the hotel, be ticketed for jaywalking by a Robocop or walk into a hospital, a departmental store or even an office and be helped around by a robot helper!

Robots have been in space (human-controlled robotic arms), are used for military applications (unmanned drones) and are helping manage farms and livestock remotely. And this is not the end of the list–there are several more applications. For example, in healthcare alone, we have surgical robots (that assist with surgery), medical robots (that help with rehabilitation or training), telepresence robots (for doctors to attend to patients remotely) and several kinds of service robots including delivery and transportation robots for hospital use (carrying bed linen or other material). A detailed analysis of this landscape for the healthcare market is covered in Frost & Sullivan’s recent study, Global Care Assistance and Automation Robots Market.

Disruptive startups in the healthcare industry are also bringing us robots for personal use, with specific healthcare objectives in mind. Whether it is Catalia Health’s Mabu care assistance robot that helps patients stay on course with their medication and other healthcare needs, or the Robear patient transportation assistant robot that helps lift paralyzed or elderly patients from beds to wheelchairs and back, there are several such examples. But one particular category deserves a special mention, because it tackles another hidden, unmet need of the general population–that of social companionship, an example being the Intuition Robotics’ ElliQ robot.

Social Companionship And Loneliness

While technology closes the communication/distance gap, isolation and loneliness continue to spiral and are expected to become a global pandemic. The links between physical and mental health are well established. For example, those suffering from depression have a 1.6 times higher risk of developing diabetes or heart diseases. Loneliness is a growing problem the world over, from the U.S. to Australia. The percentage of U.S. adults who say they feel lonely has doubled from 20% in the 1980s to 40%. One-third of elderly (65+) Americans, and half of those over 85, live alone. Loneliness and suicide are linked: social isolation is the most common factor in men who attempt suicide.

Companionship for Sex

Our visions for the future have always included robots that perform domestic chores, while we humans relax. Somewhere along the way came the idea of having a robotic social companion who could perform household chores and could also connect with the user at not just an emotional level, but also at a sexual one.

It is well established that having orgasms helps to release neurotransmitters called endorphins, which in turn help to activate the pleasure centers of the brain, promoting generalized relaxation. On an emotional level, sex also means a feeling of closeness and bonding. In a related example, separation stress in babies can be quickly alleviated by reuniting them with their mothers, which is also known to result in the release of endorphins. This may apply to sex as well–it may help reduce separation stress, which may help people feel "less alone."

By some estimates, the sex tech industry is already worth $30 billion and growing. The logical next step towards the ever (in-) famous sex dolls is sex robots (fembots, yes, but also male robots!) The porn industry has a record of driving disruption–be it the widespread adoption of the internet, streaming videos or even the payment gateways to process online payments that the e-commerce industry relies on today. And it isn’t just men who will be interested: RealDolls, a manufacturer of sex dolls (and soon of robots) claims that 5% of their customers are women, while the remaining 95% are men.

Technological and manufacturing advances have responded to the demand for humanoid, life-size dolls to become available. Add in today’s evolution in artificial intelligence, voice recognition, facial recognition, motion sensing and animatronic tech, and you have the potential for a real-life robotic sex companion. Indeed, this is within reach–prototypes are already available, and commercial sale may begin as early as the end of this year.

Sex Robots in High Demand

There is a huge demand for sex robots, especially from existing sex doll users. But this raises the question–why the high demand? To search for the answer, we delved deeper to understand the types of users for these products, categorized by the reasons they seek comfort in robotic arms: the findings are summarized in Figure 1. The social misfits are those who already have a hard time forming human connections, or who for other reasons are typically outcast. Next on the scale (from "Need" to "Selfishness") are the bereaved and the elderly. Holding on to the memory of their loved one by creating a replica of the deceased partner, or using the robots for companionship, is the real need for this category. The long-distance couple is a potential category which may use such robots to stay intimate with one another, but this is more likely to happen in the future than now. Just a step away from truly selfish behavior is the category of the unhappy spouse who maintains a concurrent "relationship" with their inanimate lover. Finally, the selfish bachelors (understood here in a gender-neutral form) are those who prefer only non-human companions in order to avoid the inconvenience associated with human ones–ambitions, needs and annoying habits!

Robo-Companionship–More Than Sex?

The scandalized nature of the discussion revolving around sex robots may mask the true underlying need, the desire for companionship. For most, it is about filling an emotional void, created by either the inability to form new relationships (social misfits), by bereavement or by unfulfilling marital relationships. This is already exemplified in the growing use of sex dolls by Japanese men. A News.com.au article on the topic quotes a 43-year-old Japanese man with over 10 sex dolls as saying, “It’s more about connecting on an emotional level for me now.” The need for companionship is significant and rising, with the wish to have someone "waiting" at home, ready to listen to all issues without grumbling and to "love" unconditionally, becoming dominant. While in the past there were no such options, tech advances have made loving, talking (and artificially intelligent) inanimate robots available as a suitable alternative.

Some "selfish bachelors"-category users fantasize about a future involving an inanimate companion who would be always available at home and perhaps even cook and take care of all household chores for them–all with the sole objective of keeping them happy. Although this category may form a majority of the buyers for sex robots now, they and the smaller "long-distance couple" category will undoubtedly be a minority of the potential buyers for companion robots, simply because their expectations are very different.

Can You Buy A Sex Robot Now?

No, at least not yet. While there may be several sex doll manufacturers, there are only three manufacturers currently in the race to commercialize the world’s first sex robot:

While Harmony builds on over 20 years of Abyss Creations’ experience with sex dolls, it also carries artificial intelligence to learn more about its user, their likes and dislikes, and to hold voice conversations with them. It is expected to be priced at $15,000 a piece, and will probably be available by the end of this year. Roxxxy, on the other hand, aims at replicating personalities to create emotional connections with users. While users could add their own requirements to her personalities, it comes with five pre-programed personalities–Frigid Farrah (reserved, shy), Wild Wendy (outgoing and adventurous), S&M Susan (ready to provide your pain/pleasure fantasies), Young Yoko (barely 18 and waiting for you to teach her) and Mature Martha (very experienced and would like to teach you). It can be bought for a starting price of $9,995, but it is somewhat of a mystery when it will be available. Eva, on the other hand, is being promoted as the first robot with full body movement capabilities, and is priced lower than the others–between $8,000 to $10,000.

Weighing The Pros And Cons

Sex robots are undoubtedly an intriguing topic, but what really are their benefits, and do they outweigh the risks? A study by the Responsible Robotics organization does not seem to think so. The authors argue that the minority opinion that sexual robots could help prevent sexual crimes is a point of major disagreement. The same is the case for ending prostitution, which seems unlikely in their opinion. On the other hand, they believe that sexual relations with robots are more likely to increase social isolation in humans, as this may promote an inability to form human relationships, while prolonged use of sex robots may “desensitize users to intimacy and empathy,” emotions which are developed only through human interaction. The larger issue of course is how these robots further the stereotyping of women and perpetuate these myths.

Conversely, sex robots may have advantages in fulfilling sexual desires for singles as well as couples, in a safer manner, with the advantage of anonymity, as well as avoiding the risk of unwanted pregnancies and sexually transmitted diseases. In the long run, the role and use of these robots will change dramatically with the millennial generation, and it remains to be seen whether companionship and intimacy will continue to be important. The implications of this technology could have a cascading effect on related industries, such as online dating companies like Tinder, etc. It remains to be seen whether these industries will continue to flourish if sexbots fulfill their appropriate place in the ecosystem.

Conclusion

Will artificially intelligent, sexually capable silicone dolls be able to alleviate loneliness issues? The Japanese trend with sex dolls may point toward a yes. But there are several ethical, cultural and moral issues that must be addressed for a wider adoption of sex robots, at least in their current form. In order for these robots to move to the next level as companion robots, a change in cultural perception will be necessary, not to mention several tweaks to such robots’ capabilities to provide emotional, and not just physical companionship (which may even be completely eliminated for some applications).

Disclaimer: Frost & Sullivan does not endorse the use of sex robots, but through this article only highlights current developments, in hopes that such advances can be applied in healthcare settings for alleviating human pain and suffering–physical and emotional. For the purposes of this article, we are steering away from the ethical and moral issues and concerns surrounding sex robots and their use.

If you would like more insights on global care assistance and automation robots market, and the future of behavioral healthcare paradigms, please connect with us! Email siddharths1@frost.com and speak to a thought leader in this field.

This article was written with contributions from Siddharth Shah, Industry Analyst, Visionary Health program, part of Frost & Sullivan’s Transformational Health practice.