Sex robots are a hot trend for online porn

We may not have flying cars but sex robots are definitely a thing that exist and they're becoming increasingly popular, even in porn searches. according to the adult website xHamster, there is an upward trend of searches for sex robots on its website.

In 2017, the site saw 21,402 total sex robot searches, a 60 percent jump over 2016's total of 13,339. December 2017 was that year's biggest month, with over 3,900 searches.

And in 2018, there were 36,709 total sex robot searches on xHamster, an increase of 72 percent over 2017 and an increase of 175 percent over 2016, quite a healthy jump in a short amount of time. January 2018 is the biggest single month for xHamster and sex robot searches so far with nearly 6,200 total searches.

Original image has been replaced. Credit: Mashable

Alex Hawkins, VP of xHamster, noted that even though 2018 saw the highest number of total searches, 2017 was the biggest year for sex robot searches as a percentage of overall searches on xHamster. “We have seen a small decrease in 2018-2019, but expect searches to remain increased from the searches in 2016.”

Still, it's a pretty clear upward trend that looks like it'll continue to grow.

This may all seem a bit out of left field but it's actually a growing trend that's slipping more and more into the mainstream. Match's 2018 "Singles in America" survey found that 31 percent of men and 15 percent of women would have sex with a robot. Additionally, 56 percent of women and 39 percent of men who responded to that survey said they'd consider their partner having sex with a robot to be cheating.

Sex robots are also becoming a business tool to reckon with in the sex industry. A proposed sex robot brothel in Houston, Texas ran head-first into controversy in 2018 and was eventually banned by local government. But that particular corner of the market is still finding traction elsewhere: by late 2018, there were already two of these establishments open in Toronto.

And then there's the growing number of tech companies that are focused on actually creating and building the robots, an arms race to create the best sex robot experience.

This doesn't even take into account the ongoing -- and growing -- debate about the moral and ethical issues surrounding the sex robot industry, from what actually constitutes a sex robot, to the stigma attached to the idea of sex robots, all the way to (ugh, deep breath) builders being able to create their own childlike sex robots.