This photo taken on February 1, 2018 shows a worker preparing silicone dolls at a factory of EXDOLL, a firm based in the northeastern Chinese port city of Dalian. With China facing a massive gender gap and a greying population, a company wants to hook up lonely men and retirees with a new kind of companion: “Smart” s*x dolls that can talk, play music and turn on dishwashers. The company makes 400 custom dolls per month, up from 10 in 2009. It began research into sexbots in mid-2016 and now employs 120 people with plans to expand. On the factory floor for “traditional” s*x dolls, buyers can customise each doll for height, skin tone, breast size, amount of pubic hair, eye colour and hair colour. But the most popular dolls have pale skin, huge boobs and measure between five foot two and five foot seven tall. EXDOLL has ambitions to apply artificial intelligence to make dolls so lifelike that they could cure loneliness among the country's huge singletons population. There are 33.6 million more men than women in the country of 1.4 billion people which means many frustrated young men getting little or no bedroom action. Seated between two non-robotic silicon companions, one in a short black skirt and a smaller model in a schoolgirl outfit, marketing director Wu Xingliang explained his company's products could solve this. He said: “China has a shortage of women, and this is a factor in why there's this demand, but they're not just for s*x”. This is because the bots can also have conversations and do some household chores. The country is estimated to make more than 80 per cent of the world's s*x toys, with over a million people employed in the country's $6.6billion industry. In the next year, EXDOLL hopes to roll out more advanced robots featuring artificial intelligence technology, complex facial expressions and body movements, voice recognition systems and eyes that can follow people's movements. (Photo by Fred Dufour/AFP Photo)





This photo taken on February 1, 2018 shows a worker making the eyes for silicone dolls at a doll factory of EXDOLL, a firm based in the northeastern Chinese port city of Dalian. With China facing a massive gender gap and a greying population, a company wants to hook up lonely men and retirees with a new kind of companion: “Smart” s*x dolls that can talk, play music and turn on dishwashers. (Photo by Fred Dufour/AFP Photo)





This photo taken on February 1, 2018 shows a worker trimming the skin imperfections of a silicone doll at a factory of EXDOLL, a firm based in the northeastern Chinese port city of Dalian. (Photo by Fred Dufour/AFP Photo)





This photo taken on February 1, 2018 shows an engineer displaying the facial expressions a robot can make, in a lab of a doll factory of EXDOLL, a firm based in the northeastern Chinese port city of Dalian. (Photo by Fred Dufour/AFP Photo)





This photo taken on February 1, 2018 shows a worker trimming the skin imperfections of a silicone doll at a factory of EXDOLL, a firm based in the northeastern Chinese port city of Dalian. (Photo by Fred Dufour/AFP Photo)





This photo taken on February 1, 2018 shows a worker painting the face of a silicone doll at a factory of EXDOLL, a firm based in the northeastern Chinese port city of Dalian. (Photo by Fred Dufour/AFP Photo)





This photo taken on February 1, 2018 shows a worker adjusting the flesh tones to a silicone doll at a factory of EXDOLL, a firm based in the northeastern Chinese port city of Dalian. (Photo by Fred Dufour/AFP Photo)





This photo taken on February 1, 2018 shows a worker painting the face of a silicone doll at a factory of EXDOLL, a firm based in the northeastern Chinese port city of Dalian. (Photo by Fred Dufour/AFP Photo)





This photo taken on February 1, 2018 shows non- robotic silicone doll heads at a doll factory of EXDOLL, a firm based in the northeastern Chinese port city of Dalian. (Photo by Fred Dufour/AFP Photo)





This photo taken on February 1, 2018 shows a worker painting the face of a silicone doll at a factory of EXDOLL, a firm based in the northeastern Chinese port city of Dalian. (Photo by Fred Dufour/AFP Photo)





This photo taken on February 1, 2018 shows a worker painting the face of a silicone doll at a factory of EXDOLL, a firm based in the northeastern Chinese port city of Dalian. (Photo by Fred Dufour/AFP Photo)





This photo taken on February 1, 2018 shows a worker preparing silicone dolls at a factory of EXDOLL, a firm based in the northeastern Chinese port city of Dalian. (Photo by Fred Dufour/AFP Photo)





This photo taken on February 1, 2018 shows a robot in a lab of a doll factory of EXDOLL, a firm based in the northeastern Chinese port city of Dalian. (Photo by Fred Dufour/AFP Photo)





This photo taken on February 1, 2018 shows an engineer holding a silicon face against the head of a robot at a lab of a doll factory of EXDOLL, a firm based in the northeastern Chinese port city of Dalian. (Photo by Fred Dufour/AFP Photo)





This photo taken on February 1, 2018 shows robots in a lab of a doll factory of EXDOLL, a firm based in the northeastern Chinese port city of Dalian. (Photo by Fred Dufour/AFP Photo)