Artificial Intelligence, more commonly known as AI, has been a pop-culture fascination for years now, even decades. One of the central arguments in the development of AI is how, or even if, a robot can be programmed to feel authentic human emotions. Well, the authenticity part may be debatable, but self-described "Lovotics" engineers at the National University of Singapore are attempting to build robots capable of creating a human-robot bond of love, both psychologically and biologically.
Researchers and engineers have attempted to recreate something of a robotic neural network that mimics, biologically speaking, that of humans. Complete with dopamine, seratonin, and oxytocin to name a few are all simulated in this neural network, the map of which is based on MRI scans of actual human neural pathways. The ultimate product is a robot that has some semblance of psychology and can "feel" affection, or disaffection, for a human counterpart. This affection is largely created through a single interface analgous with that of human interaction; touching. Depending on how a human counterpart touches the robot, it will feel jealous, bored, angry, happy or, as the engineers insist, love. Of course, neglecting these lovebots would have their own consequences as well.
It seems to me that more than an emotion, these Lovotics engineers are creating a disposition within the robots; as if affection for certain human targets is measured on a spectrum from love to hate (rather than a fine line), and they react accordingly to touch interface. In humans, emotions are much more nebulous, often manifesting in strange ways not because of the inner workings of our endocrine system but because we find a multitude of triggers in very common experiences. I may react hatefully to someone that I care deeply about because I feel offended, or because I'm pushing them away for one reason or another. In addition, I may react lovably to some that I loathe, simply because I want something from them or because I have an agenda. (For more information ont hese kinds of interactions read Machiavelli's The Prince) Granted, we have social and ethical codes for these kinds of (mis)behavior, but nonetheless there are constant deviations from our emotional center.
Regardless, this is a pretty innovative approach to creating an emotional "self" in robots and the implications are equally large. Religious, philosophical, and existential questions abound whenever anyone attempts to invest a inanimate thing (or even a non-human animated thing for evangelicals) with the characteristics of a spiritual being. This is evidenced in the volume (mostly rambling) of comments on PopSci, where this topic originally broke.
It is unassailably cool that there may be some kind of Skywalker-R2D2 burgeoning relationships in the near future. I envision a scenario where my smartphone is stolen and the thief is made to feel like an asshole by a very uncooperative voice that sounds something like Kit from Knight Rider. Of course, there are inevitable lovebot correlations to lonely guys in small apartments seeking android companions ala Cherry 2000, the 1980's sci-fi blunder. Whatever the ultimate outcome of these Lovotics engineered lovebots, we're likely not to see anything commercial for some time, and even then I doubt we'll be conversing with C3PO so much as poking and petting at beeping, whirring toasters.