Hensonian Robots Know Your Face, Want To Spoon

If they made a robot that looked just like a Jim Henson goblin from, say, Labyrinth, and then programmed that robot to act all cute and affectionate like, say, a goblin changeling child who's replaced a real child, and if all of that didn't freak you out completely, you might just fall in love with the Heart Robot.

This Wallace & Grommit-looking mofo is programmed to react emotionally, can recognize human faces, and breaks hearts - it'll tense up in response to loud noises or sudden movement and relax into your arms when you coo and cuddle.

Created by robot folks at the University of the West of England in Bristol, ostensibly to measure how badly I can feel for an object that isn't alive, has been described as "half robot, half puppet" and accidentally provided some insight into pre-teen psychology:

'Different children react to him very differently. They either want to hug and cuddle him, and look after him like a doll or baby, or they just want to scare him.'

Children are evil! How could anyone want to scare this poor, adorably ugly little fella? Robot-bashing kids should be put to sleep.

The robots with 'emotions' who like a cuddle and can recognise faces [Mail Online]