I know that the future foresees a greater role played by robots in our daily lives. They have come a long way from stiff mechanical arms on the operating table to human like clones. But imagining a robot with emotions is too mushy even for a romantic like me. It's like revisiting Bicentennial Man. Creators of the Heart Robot want to impress upon the fact that an emotional robot could be a possibility in the future. To give it a realistic feel, Heart Robot is made of soft, flexible plastic and appears to breathe, blink, flinch, and clench its fists in response. Expertise of people from diverse fields has been used in its creation. Robotics, animatronics, street theater, puppetry, and Web designers have been consulted to create Heart, who "has large deep soulful eyes, delicate ears, hands, and feet and is warm to touch."
Heart Robot's body is made from white Egyptian cotton. Five small computers make up the nervous system, which produce reactions to stimuli. Motors move its eyelids and hands and make it's little red rubber heart beat (slowly if you cuddle it, and faster if you shake it, yell at it, or stress it out). Sensors allow Heart Robot to detect other objects. Two air pumps in its legs drive its breathing system, which, like the heart, responds to the robot's level of "worry" or "relaxation" by speeding up or slowing down accordingly.
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