2018 was an eventful year for the sex robot industry, with robot brothels expanding from Europe to North America, the introduction of robot strippers, and legislative action against “Pedophilic Robots.” But, will 2019 take us one year closer to a sex robot revolution?

At the start of 2018, in January, a Bloomberg writer predicted sex robots could make men obsolete, and even spoke about the possibility of gifting a sex robot to her daughter.

“I think it’s the men who should be worried. It’s entirely possible that robots can outperform them,” expressed Cathy O’Neil in the Bloomberg article, titled, “Maybe Sex Robots Will Make Men, Not Women, Obsolete.”

“Perhaps it’s time for a Big Think. Are women not as capable as men of crude objectification? There’s room here for everyone’s impure thoughts and desires. Robots don’t discriminate, and they can probably give good massages,” she proclaimed. “Don’t get me wrong, I have a good husband. I doubt I would trade in. But if I had a daughter, I might consider giving her a robot as a college graduation present. Preferably one who can do the dishes and guard the door.”

In the same month, a pair of robot strippers performed at a Las Vegas gentleman’s club, and Californian sex robot company Realbotix expressed interest in creating a transgender sex robot, with the company’s A.I. head proclaiming, “We do believe there is a market not only for transgender, but for any other sexual preferences of gender,” and adding that it is “not out of our plans.”

In March, the president of a sex doll manufacturing company claimed sex dolls and robots would be better for children than pornography, and a sex doll brothel in Barcelona, Spain, introduced its first male sex doll for “curious” customers.

Members of Congress also made moves in March to ban the importation of “Pedophilic Robots” from the United States, with the Curbing Realistic Exploitative Electronic Pedophilic Robots (CREEPER) Act — which received thirty-one co-sponsors.

“When I saw articles on the issues of child sex dolls abroad, I knew I had to act immediately to stop the proliferation of them within the United States,” declared Rep. Dan Donovan (R-NY). “These dolls are being shipped here now. The ability to obtain child sex dolls needs to be stopped immediately… You don’t give an alcoholic a bottle of liquor… Once a child sex abuser tires of practicing on a doll, it’s a small step to move on to an innocent child.”

In April, international fascination with sex robots spilled into Hollywood with the premiere of Zoe, starring Christina Aguilera as a sex robot prostitute, and in October, a sex robot on Tinder received 92 matches in just two hours.

56 percent of those who matched with the sex robot were reportedly open to having sex with it.

2018 also saw the expansion of sex robot brothels in North America, following their popularity in Europe.

Aura Dolls opened in Toronto, Canada, claiming to be the first sex robot brothel in North America, a claim disputed by fellow Toronto sex robot brothel KinkySdollS.

KinkySdollS then announced its expansion into the United States, and fought calls for regulation against its planned brothel in Houston, Texas, while a sex robot brothel named Eve’s Robot Dreams attempted to raise funds to open in California.

The technology for sex robots was also improved in 2018, with the creation of “smart skin” which allows robots to feel human touch all over the body.

Will 2019 bring mankind one year closer to a sex robot revolution, however?

Professor Robin Mackenzie thinks so, and recently predicted that sex robots will become advanced enough “to suffer,” and to “acquire deep knowledge.”

“Humans need for intimacy will drive the design and manufacture of sentient, self-aware, male and female sexbots. These sexbots will be able to be customized to become their purchasers’ perfect partners. They will be like us in some ways but not in others,” Mackenzie proclaimed in an interview with Techexplore. “Sexbots will be customized to love us, acquire deep knowledge of us as part of the self-customization process and will be able to suffer.”

In a 2016 interview with Breitbart Tech, futurist Dr. Ian Pearson also predicted sex robots would become a big part of the average human life over the next few decades.

Pearson had previously claimed that major advancements in sex and technology could be made as early as 2030, and predicted that by 2050, human-robot sex would start to overtake human-human sex.

“I think it will be fully emotional,” declared Pearson to Breitbart Tech, adding, “people are going to be buying robots for use around their home, sort of beyond 2030 they’ll start becoming quite common, but I imagine people spending about the same as they do today on a decent family-size car, they’re going to be buying android-style robots.”

“Now if you’re going to be buying one for that sort of money, you’ve got to buy one that you find attractive. You’ve got a wide choice over cars for instance, you’ve got to have a similar choice over robots,” he explained. “There’s not just going to be two models on the market, you’re going to be able to pick robots where you can customize their appearance. People will design the robots that they’re buying as a home servant, or butler, or maid, or whatever it is they’re buying it for, and they’ll be customizing the appearance of that so that they find it attractive.”

“In the same time-frame, artificial intelligence is reaching human levels and also becoming emotional as well, so people will actually have quite strong emotional relationships with their own robots,” Pearson predicted. “In many cases that will develop into a sexual one because they’ll already think that the appearance of the robot matches their preference anyway, so if it looks nice and it has a superb personality too it’s inevitable that people will form very strong emotional bonds with their robots and in many cases that will lead to sex.”