DO ROBOTS FEEL? A ROBOTICS-ORIENTED ENGINEERING ANALYSIS OF THE BOUNDARY BETWEEN COMPUTATION AND EMOTION
Keywords:
Robotics; Cyber-Physical Systems; Affective Computing; Embodied AI; Autonomous Systems; Human-Robot Interaction; Control SystemsAbstract
Modern robotic systems increasingly simulate emotional behavior using sensor fusion, control algorithms, and adaptive policies. This paper investigates these systems from a robotics engineering perspective, focusing on architecture, embodiment, and control loops. It argues that robotic “emotion” is a behavioral simulation resulting from data-driven computation and control, rather than an intrinsic affective state. The engineering boundary between computation and emotion is defined by the absence of biological homeostasis and intrinsic vulnerability.
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