Can Robots Feel Your Pain?

Perhaps no quality seems more human than our ability to empathize with others. Yet today scientists and engineers around the world are developing an oxymoron for the 21st century: the empathic robot. It sounds like science fiction, but for years researchers around the world (especially in Japan and Korea) have been trying to build autonomous, human-like machines that could serve as domestic servants and provide around-the-clock care to the elderly or terminally ill--services that will become invaluable, they imagine, as the world's elderly population skyrockets in the coming decades. Electronic caregivers will need to be able to detect emotional signs of distress or anxiety--in order, for instance, to provide companionship and offer gentle reminders to take medication. "[Robots] are increasingly being designed to serve as pets, nurses, office assistants, tour guides, teachers, domestic servants, and even emotional companions," says Kwan Min Lee of the University of Southern California, who studies communication between humans and machines.