The day when robots will do all of our dangerous work for us is quickly approaching, and Google-owned Boston Dynamics‘ walking, self-balancing robot Atlas is a big step (no pun intended) toward that goal. The 6’2″, 330-pound humanoid robot walks on two legs to leave its upper appendages free for lifting, carrying, and manipulating objects. It’s designed to navigate difficult terrain and even to crawl on all fours or climb when its surroundings call for some more flexibility in getting from one point to another.

The Florida Institute for Human & Machine Cognition has been working on Atlas’ walking and balancing algorithms, including a feature that lets the robot recover from tripping or being pushed. Their newest video demonstrating Atlas’ impressive abilities shows the enormous robot balancing on one foot atop a pile of cinder blocks. This may seem like a small feat for a robot – you could stand your old tin robot on a pile of bricks and it would stay there, right? But Atlas is a dynamic moving robot that can self-correct its position to keep it in place as it moves its arms, much in the way a human body does.

In the video, Atlas adopts the “crane” posed demonstrated in the final fight scene of The Karate Kid: one leg bent and raised high and both arms raised over the head. Atlas adjusts its center of gravity as its arms move around, which would be a feat for a lot of humans. Disappointingly, though, it doesn’t actually do the crane kick in the end. The robot is currently in development, with large groups of researchers dedicating their time to various aspects of its movement. They envision Atlas being able to perform actions that are too dangerous for humans, such as ammunition handling, rescue missions, and bomb disposal.

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We still don’t have robots that will do our housework or care for our pets (or kids), but Pepper is the first robot designed to live in homes with humans. Created by Aldebaran, Pepper is currently helping customers in SoftBank Mobile phone company stores in Japan. Aldebaran’s ultimate plan for Pepper, however, is to put the robot in every home as an emotion-sensing companion.

The robot stands a stately four feet tall and moves in an almost creepily fluid manner. The humanoid ‘bot has a vaguely Astro Boy-like face and a screen on its chest. Its job as a companion robot is to detect and react to your emotions. It analyzes facial expressions, words, and body language to determine what mood you’re in and, in theory, provide an appropriate reaction to that mood.

If you seem sad, Pepper may play one of your favorite songs to cheer you up. If you’re happy, Pepper would perhaps dance around or play some fun graphics on its screen. These movements and reactions are only ideas at the moment, however, because Pepper still has a long way to go before it is fully developed and ready to share our homes.

In an increasingly lonely and isolated world where we can do just about everything from home, robots like Pepper might become a necessity for humans’ mental health in the future. It is meant to be a companion, reacting to our emotions and learning from us. Much like a human friend or a spouse, Pepper will learn your moods and evolve to increase your well-being.

Aldebaran has started Pepper’s life as a helper in mobile phone stores, but with the cooperation of developers the robot will gain thousands of apps that will help it benefit humans’ lives. Although it may seem sad for a human to rely on a robot as a companion, robots like Pepper could one day help elderly and disabled people live on their own – not by doing the laundry for them, but by reminding them of what needs to be done and how, and alerting the proper people if trouble should arise.

The post Robot Love: Emotional Robot Designed to Keep You Happy first appeared on Gajitz.