U1208 Lab at Inserm, which studies cognitive sciences and robot-human communication. The team works with two robots. A number of emotions can be reproduced with Reeti using an interface that is easy to use by medical staff. Research with Reeti is led by a child psychiatrist to encourage communication with autistic children. Children with autistic disorders concentrate more with a robot who can endlessly, and without getting bored, repeat attitudes that represent easily identifiable emotions. Reeti can also talk. This robot would be an ideal neuropsychiatric medium. (Photo by: BSIP/Universal Images Group via Getty Images).
It starts subtly. The occasional odd answer. A tone that feels out of place. An alarming defensiveness brought on by misreading your intentions. Perhaps a stern, unsolicited 500-word diatribe on the dangers of sodium intake after you casually ask, "Italian or Chinese?"
If these were human responses, you'd assume them to be snapshots taken moments before some relationship-based disaster or manic breakdown. But what if they're not human reactions at all?
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