Are We Ready for Intimacy with Robots?

Academically, he is using them to understand the mechanics of person-to-person interaction. But his true quest is to untangle the ineffable nature of connection itself. It is summer 2002, mid-morning in a university research lab on the edge of Osaka, Japan. Two girls--both dressed in pale yellow, with child-puffy cheeks, black shoulder-length hair, and bangs--stand opposite each other under fluorescent lights. More precisely: One is a girl, 5 years old; the other is her copy, her android replica.