As human beings, we are known for our desire for social contact. Therefore, it is self-evident that we have the ability to love and feel affection towards others. However, getting attached to someone depends on social bonding. You need to get to know someone in order to feel attached towards them. Speaking of feelings, one must be able to in fact feel something in the first place. Although this might sound impossible for robots, beneath I will show examples of attached robots, or in other words, robots with a need for attention.
The first "robot" I came across in my life must have been a Furby. This robotic toy, designed by Tiger Electronics, is able to speak, albeing it "Furbish", move, blink and ask for attention, of which the latter is the interesting part. Once Furby was not given attention to, it started to make sounds until it was held or fed. Many Furby owners will remember the fright when a Furby proceeded to do so, while it was safely stored on a shelf.
Simon was designed to detect whenever a human being is willing to interact with him. Equipped with cameras, Simon detects wether humans react to his waving and in other words, are willing to give him attention. According to Georgia Tech, in order to enhance human - robot interactions and collaborations, robots need to be able to do so.
The Lovot was designed with the purpose to 'love' and be loved. Lovot reacts to motion and sounds and will approach its owner once it wants to be hugged or held. Lovots actions are based on previous experiences, in other words, deep learning technology.
From the above examples, we can conclude that robots are able to seek and react to attention. I find it interesting how this human element is translated into a robot's behavior, especially because it is widely known that robots do not have emotions nor feelings. Therefore, factors of attachment have been used to portray this, by example approaching someone, like Lovot, or simply screaming like Furby. Simon, the robot, translates this to detect when humans are willing to give something attention. This is interesting for the way other elements ask for our attention, either online, such as pop-up messages, or offline, by example a traffic sign.
A new creature would be a combination of the three above. Firstly, it is something that is willing to get the human attention, just as Furby. Secondly, it only asks for attention when it detects that the user is willing to give it. Thirdly, it is able to detect its owner in a room and to approach it if the second argument is true. This could be implemented for by example smartphones, that now are grabbing our attention without our "permission".