When a robot sa国际传媒渄ies,sa国际传媒� does it make you sad? For lots of people, the answer is sa国际传媒測essa国际传媒� sa国际传媒� and that tells us something important, and potentially worrisome, about our emotional responses to the social machines that are starting to move into our lives.

For Christal White, a 42-year-old marketing and customer service director in Bedford, Texas, that moment came several months ago with the cute, friendly Jibo robot perched in her home office. After more than two years in her house, the foot-tall humanoid and its inviting, round screen sa国际传媒渇acesa国际传媒� had started to grate on her. Sure, it danced and played fun word games with her kids, but it also sometimes interrupted her during conference calls.

White and her husband Peter had already started talking about moving Jibo into the empty guest bedroom upstairs. Then they heard about the sa国际传媒渄eath sentencesa国际传媒� Jibosa国际传媒檚 maker had levied on the product as its business collapsed. News arrived via Jibo itself, which said its servers would be shutting down, effectively lobotomizing it.

sa国际传媒淢y heart broke,sa国际传媒� she said. sa国际传媒淚t was like an annoying dog that you donsa国际传媒檛 really like because itsa国际传媒檚 your husbandsa国际传媒檚 dog. But then you realize you actually loved it all along.sa国际传媒�

The Whites are far from the first to experience this feeling. People took to social media this year to say teary goodbyes to the Mars Opportunity rover when NASA lost contact with the 15-year-old robot. A few years ago, scads of concerned commenters weighed in on a demonstration video from robotics company Boston Dynamics in which employees kicked a dog-like robot to prove its stability.

Smart robots like Jibo obviously arensa国际传媒檛 alive, but that doesnsa国际传媒檛 stop us from acting as though they are. Research has shown that people have a tendency to project human traits onto robots, especially when they move or act in even vaguely human-like ways.

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Designers acknowledge that such traits can be powerful tools for both connection and manipulation. That could be an especially acute issue as robots move into our homes sa国际传媒� particularly if, like so many other home devices, they also turn into conduits for data collected on their owners.

sa国际传媒淲hen we interact with another human, dog, or machine, how we treat it is influenced by what kind of mind we think it has,sa国际传媒� said Jonathan Gratch, a professor at University of Southern California who studies virtual human interactions. sa国际传媒淲hen you feel something has emotion, it now merits protection from harm.sa国际传媒�

The way robots are designed can influence the tendency people have to project narratives and feelings onto mechanical objects, said Julie Carpenter, a researcher who studies peoplesa国际传媒檚 interaction with new technologies. Especially if a robot has something resembling a face, its body resembles those of humans or animals, or just seems self-directed, like a Roomba robot vacuum.

sa国际传媒淓ven if you know a robot has very little autonomy, when something moves in your space and it seems to have a sense of purpose, we associate that with something having an inner awareness or goals,sa国际传媒� she said.

Such design decisions are also practical, she said. Our homes are built for humans and pets, so robots that look and move like humans or pets will fit in more easily.

Some researchers, however, worry that designers are underestimating the dangers associated with attachment to increasingly life-like robots.

Longtime AI researcher and MIT professor Sherry Turkle, for instance, is concerned that design cues can trick us into thinking some robots are expressing emotion back toward us. Some AI systems already present as socially and emotionally aware, but those reactions are often scripted, making the machine seem sa国际传媒渟martersa国际传媒� than it actually is.

sa国际传媒淭he performance of empathy is not empathy,sa国际传媒� she said. sa国际传媒淪imulated thinking might be thinking, but simulated feeling is never feeling. Simulated love is never love.sa国际传媒�

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Designers at robotic startups insist that humanizing elements are critical as robot use expands. sa国际传媒淭here is a need to appease the public, to show that you are not disruptive to the public culture,sa国际传媒� said Gadi Amit, president of NewDealDesign in San Francisco.

His agency recently worked on designing a new delivery robot for Postmates sa国际传媒� a four-wheeled, bucket-shaped object with a cute, if abstract, face; rounded edges; and lights that indicate which way itsa国际传媒檚 going to turn.

Itsa国际传媒檒l take time for humans and robots to establish a common language as they move throughout the world together, Amit said. But he expects it to happen in the next few decades.

But what about robots that work with kids? In 2016, Dallas-based startup RoboKind introduced a robot called Milo designed specifically to help teach social behaviours to kids who have autism. The mechanism, which resembles a young boy, is now in about 400 schools and has worked with thousands of kids.

Itsa国际传媒檚 meant to connect emotionally with kids at a certain level, but RoboKind co-founder Richard Margolin says the company is sensitive to the concern that kids could get too attached to the robot, which features human-like speech and facial expressions.

So RoboKind suggests limits in its curriculum, both to keep Milo interesting and to make sure kids are able to transfer those skills to real life. Kids are only recommended to meet with Milo three to five times a week for 30 minutes each time.

By Rachel Lerman, The Associated Press

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