Robots Can Supply Human Emotions

Robots Can Fill Humans’ Emotional Needs, Israeli Study Shows (+Video)

Einat Paz-Frankel | June 12, 2016

In the movie “Her”, Joaquin Phoenix and Scarlett Johansson portray a human being and a robot who develop an intimate, emotional relationship. But can intimacy between humans and robots actually happen? According to new Israeli research, some robots do in fact generate strong emotional responses in the people they interact with.
In a new study by IDC Herzliya researchers, participants told a personal event to a small desktop robot. For 50 percent of the participants, the robot was responsive and supportive of their emotional needs, using gestures and on-screen text. The other 50 percent were met with an unresponsive robot.
The people who interacted with a responsive robot had more desire to use the robot as a companion in stressful situations, like visiting the dentist, and their body language exhibited more emotion towards the robot, like leaning in, smiling, and having “eye contact.”

"Realistic robot faces aren't enough – we need emotion to put us at ease" Source: http://phys.org/news/2015-06-realistic-robot-emotion-ease-androids.html

<more at http://nocamels.com/2016/06/idc-humans-robots-relationship-feelings/; related articles and links: http://nocamels.com/2014/04/this-robot-with-soul-gets-frightened-when-youre-angry/ (This Robot With ‘Soul’ Gets Frightened When You’re Angry. April 8, 2014) and http://www.cnbc.com/2016/03/16/could-you-fall-in-love-with-this-robot.html (Could you fall in love with this robot?. March 16, 2016)>