There's a line at the beginning of the movie AI where William Hurt says: "...in the beginning, didn't God create Adam to love him?" The scene opens a movie that examines what makes a person human...and perhaps more profoundly, what do we look for in other humans? ...what expectations do we have of others? ...what do we need from others? ...can a robot fill this gap?There's a group of folks out there called transhumanists. Transhumanism as described by Nick Bostrom of Oxford University:
Transhumanists view human nature as a work-in-progress, a half-baked beginning that we can learn to remold in desirable ways. Current humanity need not be the endpoint of evolution. Transhumanists hope that by responsible use of science, technology, and other rational means we shall eventually manage to become posthuman, beings with vastly greater capacities than present human beings have.
http://www.nickbostrom.com/ethics/values.html
A key step in achieving this goal of transhumanism is getting computers/robots to form relationships and show emotions to people. ...and, this is why Keepon the robot is so fascinating. Here is a quote from Keepon's webpage describing the project.
We are developing and evaluating an architecture that will allow these robots to perceive, model, and generate social rhythms such that the robot's behaviors are synchronized with those of a human interactor. We believe that rhythmic synchrony will be as important for establishing engagement, rapport, and comfort between a robot and a person as it is between people.
For example, synchrony between the tempo of a speaker's voice, the punctuation of the speaker's gestures, and the frequency of a listener's nodding is characteristic of smooth and comfortable interactions. Social scientists such as William S. Condon and Adam Kendon have identified interactional synchrony as a phenomenon that plays an important role in the regulation and coordination of movements, vocalizations, and other social cues.
http://www.cs.cmu.edu/~marekm/projects/beatbots
Keepon has a microphone in "his" nose, two cameras for eyes, and his yellow rubber skin. He makes his own decisions as to his dance moves. He can be set up to dance according to the sound of the music or the movement of other people dancing. Perhaps this is a step closer to the questions of AI and the sci-fi world of the transhumanists? 
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