Humans will soon lose their virginity by romping with SEX ROBOTS, Brit academic claims

Teenagers of the future may end up losing their virginity by romping with a sex robot.

That's the claim from a British academic called Professor Noel Sharkey, who is considered the nation's leading authority on the morality and ethics of the robotic revolution.

He predicted that youngsters could soon end having their first erotic experience with a mechanical love machine - with grim implications for the relations between real men and women.

"‘Sex robots are accessible now and certainly [will be common] within the next 10 years," he said during a speech at the Cheltenham Festival.

Sharkey, who is professor of artificial intelligence and robotics at Sheffield University, raised concerns about what might happen to gender relations if virgins made love to a robot before they enjoyed the pleasures of a real life romantic encounter.

He said: "It’s not a problem having sex with a machine. But what if it’s your first time, your first relationship? What do you think of the opposite sex then? What do you think a man or a woman is?

"It will get in the way of real life, stopping people forming relationships with normal people."

Professor Sharkey also predicted that sex robots would soon be whacked with an age restriction to keep them out of the hands of horny youngsters.

"I think there will be an age limit," he continued.

"Certainly there should be, but if your dad or mum had one, you could sneak in and use it."

The professor's proclamation sparked a furious Twitter debate between a sex blogger who writes under the pseudonym  and a group called The Campaign Against Sex Robots.

The anti sex-machine activists said humans "can't lose virginity to an inanimate object" and added: "Sex is a property of life."