A call for a ban on the development and marketing of sex robots has been made after a new campaign was launched on Tuesday, called “Campaign Against Sex Robots.” The campaign aims to raise awareness that robots may harm humans and makes society more unequal after some developers reported plans to build sex toys with artificial intelligence, making it more like humans.

The campaigners claim that it is unnecessary and undesirable for the “increasing effort” of technology companies into producing artificially intelligent sex robots. They believe that the use of such robots may reinforce the traditional stereotypes of women and children and that it can reduce human empathy.

"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," Kathleen Richardson, the campaign leader and a robot ethicist at De Montfort University in Leicester, told the BBC. "We think that the creation of such robots will contribute to detrimental relationships between men and women, adults and children, men and men and women and women."

The campaign also raised concern that the development of the human-like sex toys reinforces the idea of prostitution that could harm women. Richardson and her fellow campaigners said that the technology and the sex trade co-exist supporting each other, which will create more demand for human bodies.

However, some supporters of the use of sex robots said that the technology will support a stop to prostitution, help those involved in prostitution and sexual exploitation and violence for people will tend to use robots rather than humans. One of the developers endorsing sex robots is the company True Companion, currently developing "the world's first sex robot,” called Roxxxy, set to launch later in 2015.

To date, according to True Companion Chief Executive Douglas Hines, there is a real need for sex products like Roxxxy. He explains that the sex robots are the “solution for people who are between relationships or someone who has lost a spouse” and that they are not trying to replace a real wife or a girlfriend.

Hines told the BBC that the Roxxxy doll may become a self-learning engine that can talk to her owner and learn his likes or dislikes. "The physical act of sex will only be a small part of the time you spend with a sex robot - the majority of time will be spent socialising and interacting.”

With sex robots turning more sophisticated, Richardson and co-leader Erik Brilling, suggest that instead of developing products for sexual pleasure, engineers should work on technologies that “reflect human principles of dignity, mutuality and freedom.” The campaigners hope to encourage computer scientists and roboticists to work against the development of sex robots, as well as work with campaigns against the sexual exploitation of humans.

However, David Levy, author of the book “Love and Sex with Robots,” said that products like Roxxxy would “fill a void” involving people who can’t form relationships. He also predicts that by 2050, it will be common for people to have intimate relationships with robots.

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