Looking into the eyes of a robot can teach us what it is to be human, a leading robot professor says.
Hiroshi Ishiguro took to the stage at the Hybrid World Adelaide Festival with Geminoid HI-2, a silicone skin robot copy of himself.
"We can use the robot as a simulator to analyse complicated human behaviour," Professor Ishiguro said.
The Osaka University professor said by building robots as human as possible forces us to learn and understand human desires and consciousness.
"If we can create a robot with a consciousness, intentions and desires we can use that robot as a hypnosis for analysing human brain processes," he told AAP.
Although robots are yet to show desire he believes human-looking robots will one day be integrated into our lives, employed to help autistic children, dementia patients and even work as receptionists.
"In the near future androids may appear on the theatre and in films as actors," Professor Ishiguro said.
"If we have a very short interaction like a receptionist it's better to have a very human like robot otherwise we don't know how to act."
The western world has an increased fear of robots taking peoples' jobs, professor Ishiguro said.
"Androids will be more accepted in a Japanese culture no doubt."
"We don't care, the most important thing is the total productivity of the country," he said.
