An article in Wired News that's particularly timely, at least for me, on robots that can sense emotion and the potential to use them on fields of battle to advise commanders.
On New Year's Eve I spent some time talking to a guy who was involved in similar work at the MIT Media Lab (not for war purposes though), and I've been thinking about the whole concept ever since. Of course, what I found irritating in this article was this statement, from a corporate communications officer at the Office of Naval Research:
Speaking as a former soldier, the last thing I would want is an artificial girlfriend by my side to nag me about how I am feeling while out in the battlefield.
Funny that he assumes the robot would be a woman, and would be nagging him rather than helping. Of course, I figured the robot would be a guy and be all buddy-buddy with the commander to give him a pep talk. I guess we all have gender biases.