Could a robot become your new lover?
Researchers at Trinity College Dublin questioning that exact theory and they are looking for help from anyone with an interest in relationships and how technology affects them.
They are inviting all tech heads to consider the future of relationships and how technology will change them with an interactive conversation that will begin with the question, Would you swap your partner for a robot designed to be ‘the one’?
Robot manufacturers are creating very convincing human-like robots so the question may not be as daft as it sounds.
Speaking to The Hub spoke to lead researcher Dr Kevin Koidl who said: "It's very much looking into the future and it's very much leaning on the potential direction that these technologies can take, so we're very much interested from a research perspective and pushing artificial intelligence towards emotional sensing or situational awareness, which means that machines in the future should have the ability to socially sense what situation they are in."
There would be of positives, a perfectly matched partner who is never too tired to cuddle, can be programmed to meet your every desire.
It would never makes demands, never complains and can move from the bedroom to the boardroom with equal ease.
The Trinity researchers expect hundreds of participants in The Heliosphere, an online forum which uses a 360-degree camera and livestream to allow online audiences from around the world to engage directly in the conversation.
The talk will be directed by Dr Kevin Koidl, the lead researcher on the Heliosphere project from Trinity’s School of Computer Science and Statistics and the ADAPT Centre.
It takes place today as part of PROBE: Research Uncovered at Trinity College Dublin an interactive pop-up festival run to celebrate European Researchers’ Night.
