Love me, love my baby ... engineer Dr Damith Herath says it is inevitable that robots will become a bigger part of humans' lives. Photo: Steve ChristoHowever, unlike other infants, Mr Fitzpatrick's moves on wheels and comes with batteries and a user's manual. He and his new addition are part of an adopt-a-robot trial at the University of Western Sydney MARCS Robotics Lab, which aims to study interactions between humans and robots.
Like a newborn baby, the robots, called Swarming Heads, have limited skills: they can move across the floor and change direction when they run into objects.
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The aim of the project is for the owners to come up with functions and skills they want their robot to perform.The researchers, led by engineer Damith Herath, will then add parts, such as sensors and hard drives, to program the robot to perform these tasks.
Eventually they may be able to recognise their owners, follow them around and speak.
Dr Herath said it was inevitable that robots would become a bigger part of humans' lives, and they wanted to see if the owners warmed to their robot over the course of the six-month trial.
''We want to see if the novelty wears off after 10 days,'' Dr Herath said.
At the end of the trial the robots will reunite in a public installation at the Powerhouse Museum.
Read more: http://www.theage.com.au/technology/sci-tech/adoptarobot-helps-oil-wheels-of-familiarity-20110726-1hyhv.html#ixzz1TkauaAKK
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