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The robotic population of the world is over 5 million, I learned yesterday at the Cheltenham Science festival. Noel Sharkey of Sheffield University, UK, told the audience that there are already 1.2 million industrial and 4 million service robots in use.That number is growing. But robots are also taking on greater responsibilities and Sharkey thinks this raises ethical questions. He fears some robots could harm society.His first example was robots designed to keep elderly people company, such as the expressively faced Pearl and Paro the seal pup.Sharkey questions whether anyone would choose to be nursed by a machine, or to have their nearest and dearest tended by one.A study has shown that Paro reduces levels of stress hormones, but Sharkey cites a follow up that found it was actually the interaction with researchers that was responsible.Only 20% of the Cheltenham audience thought it would be safe to leave an elderly person alone with a robot for 4 hours, and no-one thought 8 hours would be safe.Similar issues apply to robots designed to help look after children, such as Sony's Qrio (shown below playing with children) and NEC's PaPeRo (Partner-type Personal Robot). Both have already been tested in nurseries and schools, but Sharkey worries about a generation raised mainly or solely by robots:"Even if they are safe and entertaining, what kind of role model is a robot? Could they lead to a generation of social misfits?"

There is much still to be researched on human-robot relationships. But evidence shows children do treat them like real living things. We need to know more before robots change society more than they already have.Would you trust your child, or old age, to a robot?Lucy Middleton, New Scientist researcher