The media was filled with sex robot talk early January of this year. In particular, there’s been heavy media coverage on Roxxxy, a female sex robot developed by the company TrueCompanion.

Everyone knows that sex sells, and the idea of sex with human-like artifacts has been with us since the myths of ancient Greece – ask David Levy or read his book. But just because it sells does not justify the ethical issues surrounding the product.

The following suggested reading was passed on to me by a good friend of mine, Francisco Grajales (@Ciscogiii).
This New York Time book review summarizes some interesting content from Michael Belfiore’s book ‘The Department of Mad Scientists’.
The following excerpts introduce a few interesting roboethics questions from the NYT book review: Book Review – History of Darpa – ‘The Department of Mad Scientists,’ by Michael Belfiore – Review – NYTimes.com.
So maybe we’ll let robots drive our cars. But would you let a robot cut you open? That’s Darpa’s next project. In minimally invasive surgery, doctors insert …

The following link is just another general editorial raising questions/concerns about various roboethics issues – not much is new.
But the article alludes to the possibility that virtual sex and our relationship with online avatars may help us in answering some of the questions regarding sex robots.
A woman in Britain broke up with her husband because she found his avatar (a computerized alter ego) having virtual sex online with someone else’s avatar.
Original Article: Smart robots are on the way.

IEET conducted a poll asking “If you had a personal robot that could do only one thing, which ability would you prefer it to have?” Is the question itself unethical?”. Result is shown below(source, IEET).

Little blurb about the poll itself can be found from the original IEET article: Sex Slaves, Polls, and Ethics.