Robots get friendly

Later this month Valerie will go on duty behind the reception desk at Carnegie Mellon University's School of Computer Sciences. Besides doling out information and directions, she'll chat about her ever-changing personal life. If you introduce yourself, she'll remember you. If you ask about the weather, when she meets you again she may bring up the subject. Valerie, in case you haven't guessed, is a robot - one in a long line of increasingly sophisticated machines.