I've been based in Japan for past 30 years, and this is a huge area of research and active product development. On my podcast, I've talked with many of the CEO

I've been based in Japan for past 30 years, and this is a huge area of research and active product development. On my podcast, I've talked with many of the CEOs making social robots and companion robots here, and there is a real benefit to forming emotional bonds with machines in this way. Western culture has an intrinsic mistrust of robots that does not really exist in Asia - or at least in Japan. However, even when the elderly are the target audience, the gold standard for acceptance is the reaction of children. Young children (from any culture) will give you the most honest assessment of whether a given robot is being viewed as a toy or a pet. It's a fascinating area of research.