Future could be rosy with a robot

9:09am Monday 21st April 2008

ENGINEERS, psychologists and computer scientists from across Europe have begun a major project that aims to develop personalities for robots.

This already happens in fiction, of course. Marvin the paranoid android in Douglas Adams' The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy is miserable enough to be a Yorkshireman. Lirec - Living with Robots and Interactive Companions - involves 10 universities from seven countries and will run for four years. The clever folk taking part will be imagining a future in which robots will be helpers around the house and maybe a boon to the elderly.

It is thought people will interact with these machines more positively if they are fitted with sophisticated programs that reflect individual preferences and respond in a human-like manner.

This is all very well if they do as they are told and do not develop some of the real human traits which we all recognise.

We have to hope that the programmed response to a request for a cup of tea is something like this: "No problem. Coming up with a smile and you don't mind me calling you Al do you?"

It will be a sad day indeed when it sighs loudly, tells you to get it yourself and storms off to the pub.