NEW YORK — Frustrated with your sex life? Tech companies are racing to lead the way in the creation of “sexbots,” or robots specifically designed for human pleasure. But would you venture down that risqué road? A large number of Americans say they would, perhaps surprisingly.

According to a survey of 2,000 men and women, 40 percent said they would have sex with a robot. The survey, commissioned by online sex toy shop EdenFantasys.com, found that, while about a quarter of respondents would do it once out of curiosity, 16 percent were fully on board with taking on a robot frequently.

Broken down by gender, men were found to be 21 percent more likely than women to get intimate with an android. When asked how much they would pay for a sexbot, participants would shell out an average of $1,666, with men willing to hand over an extra $560.

“Robots are entering human spaces everywhere and, as the research shows, sex will not be an exception,” says Fred Petrenko, an EdenFantasys spokesman, in a press release. “Creating a perfect sexbot will be a huge challenge both scientifically and commercially. But we are still a few years away yet.”

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The survey showed that 41 percent of participants said they’d prefer the robot to be lifelike, with the ability to hold conversations and feel emotion. The majority of men and women agreed they’d want the bot to look as human-like as possible, though 4 percent admittedly would prefer their sexbot to look like a stereotypical robot instead.

Interestingly, 16% of the respondents — about 1 in 6 — said they’d prefer to have sex with a robot than a human in general.

The survey raised moral questions, of course. About 4 in 10 respondents considered sex with a robot masturbation, not actual sex. When asked if having sex with a robot is considered cheating on their spouse or significant other, 30 percent said yes. Fifty-three percent of respondents called human-robot sexual relations cheating — but only if the robot was attractive and had its own personality.

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