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Building a More Sociable Robot Can't find anyone who wants to hang out this weekend? Help may be on the way. Inventors are working to develop robots that can interact with people on a deeper level: communicating, responding to emotion and operating under specific rules of social behavior.

Technology

Building a More Sociable Robot

Heard on Talk of the Nation

Building a More Sociable Robot

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Can't find anyone who wants to hang out this weekend? Help may be on the way. Researchers are working to develop robots with personalities — moving on beyond the mechanical arms found in today's factories, to devices that could interact with people on a social level.

Inventors describe their efforts to design robots that can interact with people on a deeper level: communicating, responding to emotion and operating under specific rules of social behavior. How soon will it be before social, lovable robots enter our homes?

Guests:

Helen Greiner, chairman and co-founder of the iRobot Corporation in Burlington, Mass.

Peter McOwen, project coordinator of Living with Robots and Interactive Companions (LIREC); professor of computer science at Queen Mary, University of London

Dean Kamen, inventor; founder of the FIRST Robotics Competition; founder of DEKA Research & Development Corporation in Manchester, N.H.

Grant Cox, team member of the winning FIRST Robotics Team "Thunder Chickens"; senior at Eisenhower High School, Sterling Heights, Mich.