Amsterdam - On June 12 and 13 scientists plan to gather in the southern Dutch city of Maastricht to discuss the possibility that human beings will increasingly engage in personal and even romantic relationships with robots in the coming decades. Academics from Austria, Canada, the Netherlands, Ireland, Singapore, the US and Britain are due to deliver some 20 presentations.
The conference, organized by the University of Maastricht, follows the PhD dissertation Intimate Relationships with Artificial Partners by Scottish chess player David Levy, 63, completed at the same university in October 2007.
A commercial edition of the dissertation, entitled Love and Sex with Robots, was published shortly.
In his dissertation, Levy claims human beings will increasingly develop personal relations with robots.
