Somewhat philosophical considerations of tbe moral standing of robot aside, there are a few pretty pragmatic reasons to study this. 1) if we build robots that

Somewhat philosophical considerations of tbe moral standing of robot aside, there are a few pretty pragmatic reasons to study this. 1) if we build robots that elicit human empathy, then it could help avoid property damage to the robot - which is more about protecting the rights of the robot owner. 2) better understanding of how/why children are abusive to entities that they consider capable of suffering could give some hints about how to raise children to not be cruel to other people/animals. This could have impact ranging from reducing bullying to how we deal with crime to society'a willingness to go to war.