Robot might kill me because a pressure sensor was gummed up and the welcome home hug contained 10000 newtons of hydraulic force.
It's like people being scared of self-driving cars (or trains etc): nearly all car accidents are happening because of human error; same for trains. Yet we are far more scared of some mechanical/Ai failure, which ultimately would be or will be far less likely ;)
It's not entirely about the actual risk level. It's also about the perception . . . and reality . . . that you have some control over that risk. People like to feel in control of what's going on. If you drive a car and don't want to die, you can drive defensively; it won't necessarily work, but careful drivers do have far fewer accidents. If your car drives itself the risk level is what it is--high or low, you are helpless to make a difference. Blank Mage was just saying that robot risk leaves you less in control than people risk, and I'd say it's true--we've evolved to estimate and counter people risk; robot risk, not so much.
I'd say the opposite is true: People are uncomfortable because people SUCK at estimating and countering risk. Humans are TERRIBLE at judging probability. That's why it is so easy to manipulate people on that front (and why people get angry if they see a 90% probability and fail 10% of the time - people see 90% and expect 99%)
Yes, in a vacuum the driving car does allow the driver fewer decisions, and thus less control. But the baseline risk is still below that of a human driver, regardless how careful they drive. Meaning the overall risk is much, much lower.
The human just feels less in control about it, because of the error in perception when it comes to probability.
I'd say the real issue with sexbots is one of slavery. If the bot has an actual mind, buying one would quite simply be slavery. If the bot doesn't, it's nothing to love, it's a thing.