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WMDOLL, based in China’s southeastern Guangdong province, develop AI-powered sex dolls that can move and talk without human control. Costing between £1,300 and £5,796 (10,000 to 50,000 yuan) the AI dolls, launched in 2016, can be customised for height, skin tone, breast size, eye colour and hairstyle. WMDOLL is aiming to dominate the market in the United States, a lucrative market where 50% of its exports are sold. To do so, Liu Ding, WMDOLL product manager, believes more robotic advancements need to be made in order to attract more customers.

(Image: WMDOLL/REUTERS)

"Of course we're not expecting to make our AI dolls that human-like, after all we're just making adult products," Ding told Reuters. "But we will surely add more advanced technologies... for example making the limbs move more naturally." DS Doll, a robotics firm based in Dalian, China, is also aiming to develop a full body movement android it can produce and sell en masse. In May, the company released a video showing the first prototype of its full body movement sex robot, whose face, head, neck, shoulders and torso have autonomous motion.

(Image: REUTERS)

US and Europe-based firms Realbotix, Roxxxy, Synthea Amatus and other companies have so far focused on creating customised sex robots with limited movement that are tailored to each customer’s specifications. Dr Jordi Vallverdú, computing professor at the Autonomous University of Barcelona, believes the “huge market” for sex robots is ripe for Chinese firms to dominate in the coming years. The AI expert told Daily Star Online Chinese firms will soon leap ahead of their US and European competitors, who are more reluctant to invest because of ethical and moral qualms.

(Image: REUTERS)

“The problem with USA-European investors is that they are too slow from a moral and cultural perspective in order to invest into this huge market,” Prof Vallverdú said. “If new Western industries do not appear, Chinese firms will be first and best producers.”

The first generation of DS Doll sex robot in the “the final stages of development” and will be “released imminently”, the firm said.