Why robots must have synthetic emotions? The role of emotions in the artificial cognitive systems

Not only we are attending to the exponential implementation of robotic platforms into several fields but also has arisen a public debate about the several challenges of this robot revolution.  Among the long list of possible debates, there is one especially important: do must robots have emotions? Beyond the classic approaches related to affective computing which help to design better Human-Robot Interactions (henceforth, HRI), the presence of emotions into robotic systems is considered in a new light. Taking into consideration artificial cognitive architectures, should emotions, or a kind of synthetic emotions, be a fundamental part of these machines? We know that emotional values and mechanisms determine and shape the whole experience and rationing human processes, and it could affect/help/modify robotic ones. From an individual or a social perspective, the emotional skills of our robots can define a new scenario for the HRI processes as well as for the internal robotic revolution.

From three different perspectives and disciplines, Anthropoogy, Engineering and Cognitive Philosophy, we will discuss these ideas in more detail, thanks to the collaborations of Lola Cañamero (University of Hertfordshire, UK), Rodolphe Gelin (Softbankrobotics, France), and Kathleen Richardson (De Montfort University, Leicester, UK).