Relationships with robots will happen

BRITISH BOFFINS are convinced that we will soon be having romantic relationships with robots.

David McGoran has just developed what he calls a Heart Robot which is a plastic pal who is fun to be with. If you like babies, that is.

Heart Robot, is a flexible, plastic puppet with robotic features that has been programmed to react to sound, touch and nearby movements.

The robot, which can be seen at the Antenna Gallery at London's Science Museum, is part of a project to create robots that recognise and respond to basic human emotions.

Speaking to AFP, McGoran said that most people think that robots are cold and calculating industrial automatons. But in the last ten years there has been a new field where robots have become the opposite.

He predicts that humankind's relationship to machines could be transformed if they are programmed to respond to prompts like vocal tension or facial expressions.

If robots portray some kind of emotional response, people will become attached to them.

Then punters will be on dating sites looking for robot lovers. µ

L'Inq
AFP