I generally always see the conversation regarding humanoid robots either being suggestive or violent. However, I don't really see it talked about how it could help people with mental problems.

Yes, people will say "people with depression should be seeing a therapist, a doctor, or making real human friends". People know they should be doing this, but suicide rates continue to climb anyways (An example of this). despite all humans with access to the internet knowing what we "should" be doing.

I personally genuinely think that humanoid robots with conversational AI and the ability to help and prevent individuals from harming themselves would be extremely beneficial for people. People may call it "pathetic" or whatever they want to, but an alive person who finds companionship in a robot is far better than a lost life.

They will probably be expensive but so are phones, computers, cars, and quite a lot of people have those, maybe a few dozen years into the future it will become a norm?

I don't think there will be anything wrong with people finding companionship in a robot, it may be a stepping stone some people need to find the courage or the self-confidence to form bonds or reach out for help outside of that too. Especially because AI like ChatGPT is already pretty good at giving mental-health related advice. Just telling people with depression or loneliness to go and make real human friends is obviously not working from what statistics show. Knowing what should be done does not equate to actually receiving that care in person.

The root issue is our society of course, but that's a rooted issue with enough branches that would probably have to be deconstructed throughout the years. I think home companions in robots with conversational abilities will be like a crutch for people while our society tries to figure itself out and should learn to prioritize mental health more.

Backstory (tl;dr at the end):

Last December I was seeing videos of people getting their parents the toys they always wanted but never got as kids, and it was super heartwarming. It got me thinking about my dad, who is notoriously difficult to buy for. When he was a kid he was super into robots. One year for birthday and Christmas (his birthday is December 21st), the ONLY thing he asked for was a real robot. When the time came to open presents he ran to the big box with his name on it, so sure that it was his robot, only to find…. A pillow. His family laughed, he was completely devastated, and then was punished for not being “grateful.” I looked into getting him one, but the only ones in my price range were meant for little kids so I decided to wait until I could afford a nicer one. I was hanging out with him today and he showed me that flame throwing robot dog and talking about how bad he wants it. Now, there is no way in hell I could spend 10k on a Christmas present (I’m 23 and broke), but figured if I start saving now then I could get him something under $1,000.

Thing is, I know absolutely nothing about robots or electronics in general. I would very much appreciate it if y’all could give suggestions for robots that a 40 yr old man would get excited about, but won’t put me in debt.

Tl;dr I want to save up to buy my dad a legit robot (or as legit as I can get for under $1,000) for Christmas, but need advice as to what to look at and where to look

Hello people

I'm on the search for a human-like robot that's designed for conversational/service interaction, all within a budget of about €20,000. I recently saw Pepper using ChatGPT to talk and was pretty impressed. I'm imagining something along those lines, for a research project on how customers interact with service robots.

Does anyone here have experience with humanoid robots that are great for this use case? I don't need it to do any object manipulation, just reliable communication incorporating chatbots. Pepper seems like a viable option as it seems to have a good development kit.

Any recommendations on models or any pros and cons you've noticed would be super helpful. Your information would help me a lot in talking to my university!

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https://preview.redd.it/ysr61t72l3uc1.png?width=1937&format=png&auto=webp&s=7401ce078861c3410abf3dd18e890e79f2f7bb59

Mark Gurman, who specializes on insider information in Apple, revealed recently that Apple is doing research on home robotics, and there is a project "exploring a mobile robot that can follow users around their homes". AI is currently not a strongsuit of Apple but they have an AI and machine-learning group run by John Giannandrea for their R&D on this technology.

Apple robot anyone?

https://preview.redd.it/cug68vym8lsc1.jpg?width=708&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=5d2d2c43bc906a00d95389db0258ef6fd050a68c