There was a time when I was doing a lot of research on procedural charaacter animation. That research included simulation of the emotional nuances of both body language and facial expression.
People always seemd very interested in this work. But then I would talk about the possibilies of applying these technologies to robots, and then I would get a very different reaction.
As soon as we started discussing robots showing emotion, my listeners began to make associations with Frankenstein. Machines that imitate human feelings appeared to hit a raw nerve, and people would become genuinely concerned.
But then I gave a talk in Japan, and I found that attitudes were completely different. When I gave talks there about procedural character animation, audience members would ask about whether the results could be applied to robots.
Clearly there is something going on here. More tomorrow.