What I Learned on My Date With a Sex Robot

I'm driving down the San Diego freeway, searching for my exit, feeling jumpy and a little bit lost. I'm hoping a few wrong turns early in my drive won't make me late. I still need time to stop off at a strip mall with a Starbucks and a big parking lot -- someplace I can put on deodorant and maybe a little makeup after my cross-country flight. I prefer to think this is because I want to appear professional to the human man I'm on my way to see: Matt McMullen, the founder of Abyss Creations and its offshoot robotics company, Realbotix. But once I find a place to park and start brushing my hair, I realize that some deranged sliver of myself feels as if I'm primping for romance. This is a complicated realization. In addition to McMullen, I'm about to meet Henry, the first available male sex robot. Henry is six feet tall, with six-pack abs and the customer's choice of penis. He's just a prototype at the moment -- you can't buy him -- but the two female models Realbotix developed alongside Henry will ship this summer. So far, there have been 50 preorders at $12,000 apiece. Henry, Harmony, and Solana have sturdy silicone bodies, and once they're synced up to a corresponding app, they can give compliments, recite poetry, tell jokes, and seduce.