Robot sex doll responds to human touch and remembers interactions

Samantha the Sex Doll is a £3,000 (NZ$5451) interactive robot designed with one specific purpose: pleasure.

She is the latest development in a growing trend in Austria which has seen brothel customers preferring robots over sexual intercourse with a human.

During a display at the Ars Electronica Festival in the city of Linz, Samantha shows off her "skills", which includes reacting to touch, hugging and moaning - and remembering individuals she has 'interacted' with, reports the Daily Mail.

The robot doll's developer Sergi Santos says Samantha can remember someone she has interacted with in the past, as she communicates according to the way she was treated by them before.

The robot reacts to touch, speaks multiple languages and is even said to be able to learn new things thanks to artificial intelligence (AI) software.

Samantha approaches visitors at the festival by asking "How are you?" and is even seen looking people deep in their eyes or handing out hugs.

According to one tester, Samantha "moans" and reacts to having her breasts touched, and Santos adds that she is able to replicate a female orgasm "at a higher sex frequency".

For all her "features", Samantha is a costly sex toy and will set back a prospective buyer some 3,700 euro (NZ$6132).

However, the price tag does not seem to be putting customers off, as Santos, based in Barcelona, said he has already sold 15 "Samanthas".

A growing number of brothels in Austria, where prostitution is legal and regulated, are adding sex robots to their roster, local news reports.

It follows the success of a sex doll christened Fanny who became the most popular "attraction" at the Kontakthof brothel in the capital Vienna.

Psychologist Gerti Senger, said that she was shocked by the news that Austrian men were preferring dolls to prostitutes.

Senger, co-chair at the Austrian Society for Sexual Research (OeGS) called the trend "a real autistic tendency".