This researcher is worried about child sex robots

In a new essay for The Conversation, University of Minnesota law professor Francis Shen grapples with the difficult legal and social issues raised by sexbots -- including the specter of ones designed to look like children. "Childlike sex robots are robots, not humans," Shen wrote. "Like virtual child pornography, the development of a childlike sex robot does not require interaction with any children. Yet it might also be argued that childlike sex robots would have serious detrimental effects that compel state action." There's already been federal legislation to outlaw childlike sex robots, Shen pointed out.