Prototype robots mimic infant attachment process
The first prototype robots capable of developing emotions as they interact with their human caregivers and expressing a range of emotions have been finalised by researchers.
Led by Dr. Lola Cañamero at Hertfordshire University and in collaboration with a consortium of universities and robotic companies across Europe, these robots differ from others in the way that they form attachments, interact and express emotion through bodily expression.
Developed as part of the interdisciplinary project FEELIX GROWING (Feel, interact, express: a global approach to development with interdisciplinary grounding), funded by the Sixth Framework Programme of the European Commission and coordinated by Dr Cañamero, the robots have been developed so that they learn to interact with and respond to humans in a similar way to how children learn to do it, and use the same types of expressive and behavioural cues that babies use to learn to interact socially and emotionally with others.
The robots have been created through modelling the early attachment process that human and chimpanzee infants undergo with their caregivers when they develop a preference for a primary caregiver.
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