This article was originally published on SEXTECHGUIDE, an independent publication that looks at the intersection between sex and technology in a non-explicit, as close to a ‘safe for work’ way as possible – including app reviews, adult VR info, sextech devices, privacy, security issues, and much more. It was founded by ex-TNW European Editor Ben Woods, and can be found on Twitter and Facebook.

A sex doll manufacturer is ‘breaking the mold’ of traditional doll-building by introducing 3D printing into the process.

DS Robotics, an offshoot of DSDolls, exhibited its latest 3D-printed robotic head at the VR Expo in NanChang City in China last month, showing that manufacturing AI heads for sexbots is about to get a whole lot more affordable.

Until now, the traditional method for manufacturing silicone sex doll components is through using molds and setting casts. Using a 3D printer to create humanlike faces for DSDoll’s AI gynoids means that the assembly line process will be sped up considerably and therefore, the bots will be cheaper to produce.

Certain robotic components have been 3D printed to ensure that each body part is identical and precisely sized for each model that’s produced. However, DS Dolls customers won’t be able to request their own human face for the gynoid to replicate a celebrity or another woman of their choice. While 3D printing has been used in other sectors to create almost identical human replicas, DS Dolls says it is only using its consenting team of models for the face blueprints. This is to prevent customers creating replicas of real women who haven’t given their consent. View this post on Instagram dsdollrobotics.com @sasha_de_sade @psion_satori Robotic Technology coming soon #Robotics #Cyborg #AI #BlueTooth #IoT #BlockChain #Innovation #FutureTech #MP4 #Robot #Synthetics #Android #SexDoll #FutureOfSex A post shared by Yolanda (@dsdollrobotics) on Nov 6, 2018 at 5:28am PST The doll’s robotic skeleton is also modeled on a real body in order to replicate realistic human movements. However, the robot body isn’t currently being developed for DSDoll’s sexbot – it’s instead in development for the firm’s Welcome and Service Robot – a product the firm is creating for use in shops and restaurants to act as a hostess. In terms of its sexbot offerings, DSDolls/Robotics is currently only offering an AI head to complement a silicone sex doll, similar to RealDoll’s Harmony model. This isn’t to say DS isn’t planning to develop its robotic body to become a fully-functioning sexbot in the future – the only thing we’re waiting for is a release date, which it says it will be announcing in 2019. Will using 3D printing become the norm for mass-producing sexbots? Possibly. What we know right now is that DSDolls has proved that sexbots can be mass-produced and retailed at an affordable price, while looking more lifelike than ever. This article was originally published on SEXTECHGUIDE, an independent publication that looks at the intersection between sex and technology in a non-explicit, as close to a ‘safe for work’ way as possible – including app reviews, adult VR info, sextech devices, privacy, security issues, and much more. It was founded by ex-TNW European Editor Ben Woods, and can be found on Twitter and Facebook.

Read next: Day 5 of TNW’s Advent Deals: an Xbox bundle, a Sonos, and a FitBit