Upon reading, MSNBC's "Sex and marriage with robots? It could happen", my first thoughts were those of Transformers and "You have to be DESPERATE!".
Marriage to a machine...do I need to say more? Beastiality, necrophilia et cetera are all considered socially unacceptable, so why do we assume it would be acceptable with a robot?
Personally, if I was with someone and they left me for a robot or decided to add a robot into their life, I would be flat-out insulted. I think many people would be doubting their self-worth (something robots cannot do!). Not to mention the impact someone would feel in knowing that they have to have a machine programmed to "love" them instead of finding their own true love.
Robots of the future may be able to be programmed with amazing talents, but can they really replace the passion and true romance between people? Can they think and react to what one partner does and adjust accordingly? No (not entirely). Humans are simply too complex to mimic.
And to love...in order to love, one must feel it, but can a robot possess the capability of feeling? How would it feel to have something say "I love you", but not understand the feeling of love? How about the element of surprise and spontaneity? If we are the ones programming them, how could there possibly be unexpectedness in your relationship? Furthermore, you are essentially thinking for two bodies as you are the brain supplying the robot with actions and "thoughts". You have complete control of this object and no sacrifices to be made in the relationship. Without sacrifice, you can't gain pleasure and have a tendency to take everything for granted. Personally, you need to have faults to have character and arguments over these is healthy! Its a big part of what a relationship is...having, accepting and dealing with human faults.
I don't think robots can replace humans, maybe superficially, but on a deeper level, no.
In terms of feelings, robots can be programmed to get angry, maybe this is archaic Jetson-like thinking, but what happens when the emotion malfunctions and gets out of control? Maybe these thoughts have more to do with culture than anything, as some countries such as Japan are much more accepting of these ideas and technology than many Western societies. Or opposite of out-of-control, what happens when they just fail to work? I'd say an incident like this would terminate a marriage when one partner fails to function at all.
And if robots can't replace humans 100%, what makes one think that they could be a suitable replacement for pedophiles or any other sex criminals? In the article, it was suggested that these human-like robots could be substitutes for the real thing (ie. give a pedophile a child-like robot to discourage them from attacking real humans). But if something is missing to make them truly human, then sex criminals may also note the difference and feel that these are not adequate substitutes. Essentially, the role of the robot would be useless if attackers continue to go after their human prey.
This can also lead to another point the article brought up (which I've already slightly mentioned) about robots and ethics. Is sex with robots ethical? Socially acceptable? What about using robots for acts that are considered sex crimes when done with humans? It is quite the ethical dilemma. One that's answer is not clear or easily decided.
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