Humans tend to attach themselves rather easily to objects or beings that portay or visualize (their) emotions. Could robots actually be used to mimic human behaviour in such a way that lonelyness, certain types of anxiety be drastically improved by the present of a emotional (emotion protraying) robot?
Meet Cozmo! The cutest robot everrrrrr created!
This robot is not just a blob of happiness on wheels but also has been carefully designed to mimic emotions such as impatience, need for attention, playfullness, anger, joy and more. It even recognizes it's friends (he hates the word user) to addapt to a certain environment.
This little rascal (and other similair robots) has also been tested in their effect on humans. And surprisingly, these robots that show human emotions are so adept in what they do (interacting with humans) that they keep children and retirees socially, emotionally and mentally engaged.
with ever increasing elderly population, could robots that protray human behaviour and emotions be a solution to keeping humans engaged when humans are lacking?
As well as Alpha 2!
Fully capable of being your iphones 'siri', assistant, handyman and even yoga instructor.
It is truly fascinating to think of robots beyond just functional entities and realise that when a human teaches (programs) them what it means to be human, they can offer a great solution to what some people are lacking, even if that is just some company.
With technological advancements, day after day, to what extend could robots be used to fill human needs from attention to caretaking?