Sex technology may become surprisingly intimate as the future of sex may have more to do with technology than anyone thought.

Dating in a digital world presents a new set of difficulties, including online dating and a growing landscape of ever-baffling hook-up apps and video chat relationships.

But that’s just scratching the surface of the ways that sex technology already is, and will continue to present opportunities and difficulties, specifically regarding sexuality. Don’t worry, pearl-clutchers — we will keep this Safe For Work.

Taking love out of the equation

Pornography has been a profitable and growing industry for decades, and currently accounts for about 30 percent of all Internet traffic.

Similarly, technology brought women vibrators in the early 20th century, before which they were used for hysteria treatment. Now, one third of adult women own them.

[contextly_auto_sidebar id=”acGy4niFar2mzJ1g23QsWSR9AmoCkfwL”] Mobile stimulation

There are already a number of sex technology products that allow people to virtually arouse one another over long distances, taking sexting and cybersex to the next level. For an NSFW overview, check out this list from the Huffington Post.

Sex technology will include Augmented reality (AR) and virtual reality (VR)

Google glass may have been the first AR technology to be used for erotic purposes, but today a new crop of companies have entered the marketplace with improved technology.

One such company is Naughty America VR, where they are fusing gaming and adult entertainment into new immersive forms. A Techcrunch reporter provides an entertaining glimpse of what it is like to use Naughty Americas product.

Game developers have also created sex simulators for Oculus Rift, the VR device acquired by Facebook. For example, porn-streaming service SugarDVD is working on an interactive, choose-your-own-adventure type VR experience, and Japanese company Tenga has developed an anime sex simulator with Oculus in mind.

Further future: Sex robots?

Many believe that at the current rate of technological growth, sex robots are an inevitability.

Some say that creating robots like this could minimize human exploitation and criminal acts by virtually meeting the urges that drive human trafficking, child molestation, and rape.

Robots might even be used to treat sexual predators and pedafiles, a robot ethics panel at Berkeley hypothesized, though this would open up complicated ethical queries.

When considering that shockingly realistic sex dolls are already available, and robotic strippers performed at the Cebit Trade Fair in Hanover, Germany, the idea of sex robots isn’t much of a stretch at all.

In a 2014 PEW study, experts predicted that AI technology and robots will be common in households by 2025, with one expert predicting that robotic sex partners will become commonplace.

As though to complicate matters even more, the future of sex technology may be one in which humans might be able to marry robots by 2050, according to one artificial intelligence expert.

Sex technology may also foster unwanted developments like those that have already happened in the Philippines. As broadband Internet access expanded there, a billion dollar cybersex industry emerged.

Sex technology will likely produce other unpredictable outcomes, especially if humans use robots as a replacement for people and let technology take over the relationship roles that humans once had.

Updated. The future of sex technology photo courtesy of torbakhopper , modified by Curiousmatic.