Sex not as exciting as it used to be? Getting turned on may be as easy as flicking a switch on your lifelike programmable robot.

Robots will make attractive companions capable of fulfilling us sexually and emotionally by 2050, thanks to advances in their appearance, senses, personalities and capacity to fall in love, says artificial intelligence expert David Levy.

"There is love and there is sex. Sex, I think, will happen much sooner," Levy told CTV.ca.

He figures it will take roughly 40 years for artificial intelligence to develop to the point where robots are fully capable of human interactions such as reading gestures, conversing, and even getting intimate.

They will also be attractive with realistic features such as soft skin and touchable hair, says Levy. Made-to-order robots could even be designed to look like your favourite Hollywood star or high school crush, though there is no telling how much custom orders would cost.

In his most recent book, "Love and Sex With Robots," Levy says human relationships with androids, humanoids, fembots, malebots, intelligent machines, Stepford wives, or any other name they may adopt, are "inevitable." He arrives at this conclusion after studying historical relationships between people and their machines, news in the field of robotics, and not to mention the booming sex toy industry pulsing with vibrators and life-size dolls.

Levy, who is currently wrapping up a Canadian tour including a stop in Toronto at the IdeaCity conference, expects his book to be met with a certain degree of doubt and even hostility, but says those reactions demonstrate a lack of vision.

He points to Japanese and South Korean engineers developing robots capable of caring for their country's aging populations.

Relationships with robots might be predictable, but they don't have to be, explains Levy, who lives with his wife in London, U.K.

"A good relationship needs some sort of friction," he said.

"If you want to, you can have a robot that is completely faithful, or you can have a robot that is programmed to be completely faithful so long as you're completely faithful, or a robot that strays every now and again. It just depends on what you want."

The book also highlights the endless downloading capabilities of robots. Getting kinky would be easy with a mate who could easily call up data on India's ancient sex manual, the Kama Sutra.

Levy wouldn't exclude robots from child rearing either. "You can't envisage traditional reproduction with a robot, but technology will develop and there will be some sort of process that involves a robot contributing to the personality and psychological makeup of a child," he said.

A robot that designs new robots is just one kind of reproduction that Levy suggests is possible.

"Love and Sex With Robots" is a "milestone" for opening the public's eyes about the future, says Levy, president of the International Gaming Association and leader of the 1997 Loebner Prize for Artificial Intelligence winning team for conversational software.

Although he is not currently developing a robot of his own, Levy would consider offering his AI and programming expertise to the right team of engineers if they came along.

Levy admits a future filled with robot lovers will be complicated.

"I accept the inevitability that with any kind of technological advance, there is going to be good things and bad things about it. I don't think we can really do anything to stop that.

Although sexy robots may seem titillating, an unexpected software glitch would surely spoil the mood. Remember, viruses plague even the most sophisticated computer programs.