Meet the sexbots: The contenders in the £20 BILLION race to create an AI sex doll that can chat and 'never says no'

The 'sex tech' market is worth an estimated $30.6bn - and across the globe, firms are racing to create a radical new type of robot they say could change sex forever.

From AI personalities capable of holding a conversation to models with a functioning G-spot, firms are hoping consumers will pay up to $15,000 for a sex doll that never says no.

Among the most impressive is RealDoll's Harmony - an artificial intelligence based sex bot that can hold conversations, remember what she's told and even has a customizable personality.

Prototypes of the Abyss RealDoll's smart AI sexbot.  The doll's AI can learn about its user to 'create an engaging simulation of a relationship,' according to the company behind the life-like bot.

The sex doll's AI will then continue to learn about its user to 'create an engaging simulation of a relationship,' according to the company behind the life-like bot.

Arguably one of the most life-like dolls being developed, Harmony is fully customizable - from her hair down to her labia.

The figures are even fitted with a hinged jaw, with 'soft, stretchy lips, ultra soft tongue, soft silicone teeth.'

While sex dolls had been produced in Japan since the 1980s, they were made from plastic.

However, Matt McCullen, the CEO of Abyss Creations, the company behind RealDoll, created the dolls with a high-grade silicone, which retains heat and allows for a 'more realistic feel and greater elasticity', according to the company's website.

Harmony - an artificial intelligence based sex bot that can hold conversations, remember what she's told and has a customizable personality.

The bizarre doll talks in a Scottish accent, and can be programmed with 18 different personality traits, including 'shy' and 'sexual.'

The doll also comes with a 'persistent memory' allowing her to build up relationships with her owners.

The life-like silicon doll is created with a flexible skeleton and requires about 80 hours of work from start to finish, and even has customised genitalia and interchangeable faces.  

Standard dolls come with the choice of 18 female body types, or two male figures.

Roxxxy -  Her creator Douglas Hines is working on his 16th version of Roxxxy, but no photos of the new version have been released since 2010.

Then, she was presented at a convention and looked clunky, manly, and her lips didn't move when she spoke.

Eva - Built based on moulds of real women's bodies.

'Our ultra realistic Android Love Dolls are hand made to perfection to create the most perfect human like silicone sex dolls ever,' the firm behind it says.

'To make a human like silicone sex doll first we do a full body silicone lifecast on the model in order to make a perfect replica and ultrarealistic android love doll. '

The robot's maker boasts that she could put herself in 20 different sex positions, and has a fully functional AI who 'won't complain and is ready 24/7.' 

Samantha -  She is covered in sensors that respond to human touch and can switch between 'family' and 'sexy' mode.

She has a functional G-spot.

The sex robot also has a functional vagina and mouth, according to its Spanish inventor.

The robot speaks in an American accent and says sexual phrases such as 'I'm on for you all the time', 'nice and gentle' and 'now then, what's next?'

The silicon doll is created with a flexible skeleton and requires about 80 hours of work from start to finish.

The company, based in San Marcos, California, has been making the dolls since 1996 and ships to almost every country in the world.

Standard dolls, which come with the choice of 18 female body types, or two male figures, start at $6,500 while more specific creations start at an eye-watering $12,000.

But the AI-enhanced model, which will go on sale at the end of the year, will cost $15,000.

Harmony's AI system will allow users to choose different personality trait settings for the sex assistant, such as kind, sexual, shy, naive and brainy and choose how strongly these traits are expressed in their doll.

McMullen told The Guardian that his goals was to make people happy.

'There are a lot of people out there, for one reason or another, who have difficulty forming traditional relationships with other people,' he said. 

'It’s really all about giving those people some level of companionship – or the illusion of companionship.'

But McMullen isn't the only person trying to achieve this - there are a variety of other sex dolls being created by others too.

Douglas Hines, the founder of True Companion, created Roxxxy, a sex doll that Hines created following the loss of a close friend in the 9/11 attacks.

He was struggling to cope with losing his friend, and the thought of his friend's children not being able to know their father.

So he re-purposed an AI software and modelled it after his friend's personality, that he could speak to whenever he wished.

After that, his first project was Roxxxy the sex robot.

When he presented the bot at the 2010 AVN Adult Entertainment Expo in Las Vegas, he was ridiculed because the bot looked clunky, manly, had a square jaw and her lips didn't move when she spoke.

She had sensors on her hands that, when touched, she would say 'I love holding hands with you' when she was in 'Frigid Farrah' mode.

But when in 'Wild Wendy,' mode she would say 'I know a place you could put that hand.'

Hines told The Guardian that he's working on his 16th version of Roxxxy, but no photos of the new version have been released since 2010.

In Las Vegas, another sex doll creator, Roberto Cardenas, 31, runs Eden Robotics.

His robots are molded from real women's bodies to make them more realistic.

He said he hopes to make full functional human-like bots that can act as shop assistant, hotel reception hosts and even carers for the sick - but for now, he's focusing on sex robots because 'they are less of a challenge' and 'the movements are easier to do.'

His robots cost between $8,000 and $10,000, and he hopes to have them commercially available within the next five months.

He told The Guardian that she could put herself in 20 different sex positions, and has a fully functional AI who 'won't complain and is ready 24/7.'

However, upon inspection, the prototype of 'Eva' was headless, had holes in her silicone skin exposing her metal skeleton, she couldn't speak and could barely move her limbs.

'Our ultra realistic Android Love Dolls are hand made to perfection to create the most perfect human like silicone sex dolls ever,' the firm says on its site.

'To make a human like silicone sex doll first we do a full body silicone lifecast on the model in order to make a perfect replica and ultrarealistic android love doll. '

Sergi Santos, from Barcelona, however, created a doll with a truly functional vagina and mouth - her name is Samantha. 

'Silicon Samantha' is covered in sensors that respond to human touch and can switch between 'family' and 'sexy' mode.

The AI bot, which has dark brown hair and piercing green eyes, is even capable of 'emotional closeness', according to engineer Santos

He said: 'Samantha is interactive. Basically she likes to be touched.

'She has different modes of interaction – she has romantic, she has family and she has also sexy modes.'

Sensors cover the doll's hips, shoulders, vagina and mouth.

The robot speaks in an American accent and says sexual phrases such as 'I'm on for you all the time', 'nice and gentle' and 'now then, what's next?'

He added: 'Normally she likes to be kissed always and also she responds to, basically, the G-spot and also the breasts.'

There are a range of sex doll developers at all stages of development, and while many claim that the dolls will benefit people who are lonely or struggle with finding relationships, there is a potential dark side to these bots.

Dr Kate Devlin, a computer scientist at Goldsmiths, University of London, said in during the Second International Congress on Love and Sex with Robots, that smart vibrator 'We-Vibe' company Standard Innovation, had to pay $375 million in a class-action lawsuit after it was revealed that they had tracked customer data, including how often the vibrators were used and at what intensity.

If company's could track this kind of personal information via sex robots, there is a risk that personal, embarrassing information could be retained by these company's.

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