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There is no municipal bylaw that would prevent such a business from operating in Vancouver, according to a statement from the city. But standard zoning rules would apply for it to operate legally in a commercial area, and permits and licences would be required. Property use inspectors would ensure that safety and licensing regulations were being met, according to the city.

Marina Adshade, a professor at UBC’s Vancouver School of Economics, who recently wrote a chapter in a book titled Robot Sex: Social and Ethical Implications, said that while the existing technology is more blow-up doll than sex robot, she expected to see shops that rent them proliferate.

“We will see it all over the place. Right now, the dolls are very expensive, so it’s kind of prohibitive for somebody to buy one to use in the home,” Adshade said.

The cheapest dolls are somewhere around $7,000 and those being used in “brothels” are as much as $12,000, Adshade said. If those costs go down and the technology improves, the dolls could see widespread adoption.

Photo by Arlen Redekop / PNG

“I think we will see some very real societal shifts happen about the way that we kind of view relationships, (and) about the way that we view our interactions with technology,” Adshade said.

Meanwhile, sex doll brothels could offer a service that is safer and less exploitative than traditional sex work to patrons who may not have access to intimate relationships with other people, Adshade said.

“These might be people who normally would use sex workers, but they’re going to try sex dolls — maybe because they’re worried about risk of disease, maybe they’re worried about exploiting real live women,” Adshade said.