In an even more thrilling development, researchers suggest that in the future, robots will get the ability to sense human feelings just by touching skin. This idea may alter the relationships between people and robots, making new ‘empathetic’ robotic machines basing themselves on feelings. The study looks at how robots with appropriate sensors could detect pheromones, or variations in sweating and heartbeat that indicate the mood, towards building more lifelike human relationships. The possibility of robots recognizing people’s emotions by touch may soon become the foundation of a new global paradigm in human-robot interactions.

Key Highlights:

• Robots detecting emotions through skin contact could become a reality.
• New sensors can detect physiological responses to emotions.
• The technology could lead to more empathetic robots.
• Robots detecting emotions would enhance human-robot interactions.
• Emotional intelligence in robots could revolutionize customer service.

From a range of work domains, it could be transformed into fundamental industries such as healthcare, customer support, or personal assistant services. It would mean that, just like the human faculty of feeling stressed, happy, or uncomfortable while sitting on a beanbag or uncomfortable with how a dress fits, or uncomfortable in an outfit that seems too tight, robots would too be able to feel these elements and thus be in a position to flexibly interact. Suppose a robot helper in the hospital can detect if a patient is stressed up and then change their tone or the surroundings to make the patient comfortable. Robots' capabilities to identify their users' emotions and offer comforting actions are a breakthrough for businesses relying on people’s interactions.

In the case of businesses, the evaluation of emotions by robots could improve customer experiences in so many ways. If robots were used in the context of such trades as retail or hospitality, they, unlike their human counterparts, could identify frustration on a customer’s face and reply with a friendly or understanding a customer’s satisfaction and react in the most natural and comforting way. Of course, it would also help to increase customer satisfaction levels which could, in turn, lead to increased loyalty. In the future, it could be possible that robots sensing feelings could act like companions or caretakers to provide people feelings in events where social contact is restricted.

In the future, this may include robots in mental health and therapy. Robots could, therefore, use emotional touch on the skin to provide interventions that assist a person experiencing stress, anxiety, depression, or social isolation. They point out that as robots learn to detect emotions and become smarter, ethical concerns will arise and must be resolved to ensure that tremendous robots benefit people without undermining their privacy or tables.