GLANCING at the man lying next to her, Karley Sciortino nestles into his neck.

Then she runs her fingers down his chiselled abs, stopping just short of the large bulge in his pants.

7 Experts believe that one day sex robots will be very realistic Credit: Shutterstock

Straddling his muscular body, Karley slowly leans down and tentatively kisses his perfect lips on his perfect face.

Her companion is so handsome, he almost seems too good to be true – and that’s because he is.

His name is Gabriel and he’s a 5ft 9in, £5,000 silicone doll, and Karley, a single 31-year-old writer from New York, is testing out his full skills for a documentary about male sex dolls.

In the end she spends approximately 20 minutes getting intimate with Gabriel.

“We always assume men are more likely to enjoy sleeping with an object and that women need some sort of emotional connection to enjoy themselves, but that isn’t always the case,” explains Karley.

“These dolls are 100% silicone, which makes the penis feel incredibly lifelike. At times it was indistinguishable from a real one.”

Especially as Gabriel features flaccid and erect options.

“It’s almost creepy,” says Karley. “It’s made to be hard on the inside with a soft layer over it. There’s even real pubic hair.”

Talking about intercourse with Gabriel, she adds: “Overall, the experience was a good one. It’s definitely not the same as having sex with a person, but in terms of a new sexual experience, it’s worth it. With a doll you can learn how to make sex work for you – trying out speeds and angles. It might help you understand your body and that’s an empowering thing for a woman.”

7 Having 'met' Gabriel, Karley proceeds to get a lot more familiar with him Credit: SLUTEVER

Of course, these dolls have their limitations – their bodies can’t move independently and they’re cold – but the team behind them, US manufacturer Sinthetics, is currently experimenting with putting heat in the penis to make it feel more real.

It sounds a bit OTT, but with 80% of British women admitting they’ve used a sex toy*, it’s no surprise Gabriel has caused something of a stir.

He hit the market in 2015 – along with two other male dolls, Akira and William – and they’re now selling out as quickly as their female counterparts, which Sinthetics launched in 2010.

Although there aren’t exact details on how many male dolls have been sold, Sinthetics says it has months’ worth of back orders.

And the expensive price tag doesn’t even include the additional cost of custom requests, such as freckles starting at £40, tan lines from £200 or tattoos from £120.

As futuristic as this all sounds, these lifelike dolls are only the beginning; the prototype for more lifelike sexbots set to revolutionise our lives forever.

Just last month at the Second International Congress on Love And Sex With Robots, held at the prestigious Goldsmiths, University of London, researchers predicted that within the next few years, robots will be our sexual partners of choice.

According to David Levy, the author of Love & Sex With Robots who is heralded by academics as the godfather of robot sex after decades researching the topic, intercourse with ’bots is all part of our evolution.

Speaking at the London-based conference, he said: “A single generation ago it would have been unthinkable to organise a conference like this one. But with advances coming thick and fast in computing, and artificial intelligence and robotics in particular, we’re being forced to contemplate what human-robot relationships will be like a generation from now.”

He went on to predict: “Sex with robots is just around the corner.”

And it’s not hard to believe.

7 Karley says that sex with a doll is worth it as a new sexual experience Credit: SLUTEVER

Roxxxy, the first female sex robot able to have a conversation and interact physically, hit the market in 2010, while her male counterpart, Rocky, was launched more recently.

Created by True Companion, they retail for around £8,100 each.

According to the manufacturer, these robots are your dream date, with a sparkling personality and great body, able to feel your touch and respond to it.

Buyers can choose hair colour and style, as well as skin tone, and for an extra £80 you can choose to add pubic hair in a variety of shades.

But how true to life they really look remains to be seen.

Roxxxy certainly appears more blow-up doll than bombshell in reality, and photos of Rocky are yet to surface.

7 Roxxxy, the first female sex robot able to have a conversation, resembles a blow up doll Credit: Getty Images

Sexpert Annabelle Knight says the benefits of customising your lover are obvious.

“Personalising a no-strings-attached object can allow us to fulfil our ultimate fantasies and, for some of us, to have a sexual experience with someone we feel would be unobtainable in the real world,” she explains.

And while there’s likely to be a certain amount of stigma in the early years of robot sex, clinical psychologist Isabelle Hung believes it’s highly possible it could become the norm.

“Initially there will be a lag between technology and what people are mentally ready to accept, but it’s important to remember at one point vibrators seemed really out-there,” she explains.

“Over time, as more people were open about using them, they’ve become increasingly mainstream and acceptable.”

However, Annabelle warns inviting a robot between the sheets can come with its downfalls.

“Using sex robots in healthy doses is fine as long as the person indulging doesn’t begin to compare them to their current or future partner,” she advises.

“There’s a dangerous line that, if not trodden carefully, may result in unrealistic expectations in the bedroom. Robots do nothing for a person’s performance. Sure, they’ll moan in the right places and make you feel like you’re the queen of sex, but copy and paste those moves into a real-life scenario with a real person and the reception might not be as good as you thought it would be.”

But experts believe that too will be rectified in the future – and sooner than you might think.

If David’s predictions are right, artificial intelligence will become so advanced that it won’t be long before we’re able to make our robots completely lifelike, even giving them a personality of our choosing.

“Within a few decades, it’s highly likely that software could create a robot companion who is everything people might want in a spouse – protective, patient, kind, loving, trusting, respectful and uncomplaining,” says David.

7 Could this be the future? Credit: Getty Images

He adds they won’t be jealous, rude, selfish or easily angered, unless of course you want them to be.

But given the chance, is it a good idea for people to be able to design their perfect partner?

“We, individually, are the worst judges of what we need as research shows we’re attracted to people for all kinds of unhealthy reasons,” explains Isabelle.

“The classic example is that we’re drawn to people like our parents. But if, for example, you have a controlling father, you might be drawn to a similar robot. So we could think we’ve created something flawless, but that might not actually be true.”

It also begs the question: if robots do become perfect, how will humans ever compete?

“The one thing robots won’t have is mortality,” says Isabelle.

“Our relationships change with age and so do our wants and needs. Having our partner stay looking youthful and gorgeous while we grow old could easily lead to a midlife crisis and feelings of resentment.”

However, at the International Congress on Love And Sex With Robots, Dr Trudy Barber, an expert on tech sex, said she believed the rise of robot intercourse would actually improve our real-life relationships.

“It could be that we become so busy with our lives, robots would fill in the gaps that our partners can’t meet or our lifestyle prevents, therefore making real-time relationships more valuable and exciting,” she explains.

“The most common reason people have an affair is their sexual needs aren’t being met,” says Isabelle.

“A robot could help with that.”

It could, however, damage a relationship.

“People would need to be clear about their intentions,” she adds.

“What one partner sees as a bit of fun with a sex toy, the other could see as cheating. Guidelines will need to be set to avoid heartbreak.

“The biggest danger of robotics is that people who feel isolated or struggle to interact will turn to a robot instead of seeking a human connection. For most of us, seeking human connection is instinctive and necessary.”

7 Robot Evan Rachel Wood in Westworld is an extreme example of how robots could be used for sex in the future Credit: LANDMARK

Regardless, David believes that by 2050, sexbots will be marriage material.

“For a long time interracial marriage wasn’t accepted, and same-sex marriage still struggles,” he explains.

“But people’s ideas change with time and marriage is reframing itself.”

Of course, all of this also raises the issue of consent.

“Many software systems have demonstrated their superiority over the decision-making skills of leading human experts,” says David.

“Given that software can better decide which move to make in a chess game than the human world champion, it’s difficult to deny the possibility that the robots of the future will be able to decide for themselves who they want to marry.”

Not everyone is in support of such a movement.

In 2015, Dr Kathleen Richardson, a senior research fellow in the ethics of robotics at De Montfort University in Leicester, set up the organisation Campaign Against Sex Robots out of fear that machines in the form of women or children will be used as sex objects.

In a recent interview with Australian news channel ABC, Dr Richardson explained she isn’t anti-sex or even anti-robot – but she is concerned about the misogynistic undertones.

7 Channel 4's Humans explores concerns that technology could, one day, allow robots to develop emotions Credit: CHANNEL 4

“While we live in a world that still considers women as property then it’s not too much of a stretch of the imagination to start creating property that looks like women,” she explained.

Current TV shows such as sci-fi thriller Westworld, where the plot centres around human guests at a Wild West theme park playing out their biggest fantasies with “host“ robots, are a case in point.

While it sounds fun, it’s led to robot rape, prostitution and abuse in the show.

Meanwhile, Channel 4’s futuristic Humans takes place in an alternative present day where people develop robots called Synths to help with everyday tasks from doing the school run to preparing the Sunday roast – and even sex.

The subject of consent may seem irrelevant given that robots are simply machines, but it’s a necessary concern – especially when academics believe they will become self-aware in the near future.

If humans can truly create their ideal robot, what’s to stop rapists or paedophiles from using one to live out their fantasies?

One argument, however, is that robots could be used as a diversion tactic for sex offenders.

During a conference at Berkeley University in 2014, Ronald Arkin, the mobile robot lab director at the Georgia Institute of Technology, told Forbes: “Childlike robots could be used for paedophiles the way methadone is used to treat drug addicts. There are no presumptions that this will assuredly yield positive results – I only believe it is worth investigating in a controlled way to possibly provide better protection to society from sex offenders.”

Comments like these make it clear that a world of sexbots will be far from simple.

But it’s something we need to brace ourselves for as, like it or not, the robots are going to play a part in our lives soon.

Whether they’ll be more Westworld than Metal Mickey remains to be seen.

*Lovehoney.co.uk

Isabelle Hung is founder of the divorceclub.com

Visit annabelleknight.com