AI startup gives robots physical responses to emulate human emotions

A 19-year-old entrepreneur is developing technology to give robots simulated bodily functions—including virtual heart rates, body temperature, and sweat responses—to help them better emulate human emotional states. This unconventional approach aims to bridge a fundamental gap in how AI systems interact with humans by introducing physiological feedback mechanisms that could make robots seem more relatable and less uncanny in their interactions with people.

The big picture: Teddy Warner, founder of emotional intelligence robotics company Intempus, believes robots need physiological feedback mechanisms to truly understand and interact with humans effectively.

• Warner argues that current robots follow a simplistic “observation-to-action” model while humans have an intermediate physiological state that shapes how they respond to the world.
• His solution involves creating an AI model that gives robots an “emotional composition” based on data from polygraph tests, mimicking human physical responses to emotions.

The founder’s vision: Warner developed his concept while working on “world AI” models at image generator company Midjourney, identifying a fundamental limitation in how robots process information.

• “Robots currently go from A to C, that is observation to action, whereas humans, and all living things, have this intermediary B step that we call physiological state,” Warner explained to TechCrunch.
• He believes robots need to “communicate with humans in a way that is innate to us, that is less uncanny, more predictable” by incorporating this physiological dimension.

Technical approach: The Intempus system uses data captured from human physiological responses to create artificial versions of emotional states.

• Warner and his colleagues collected sweat data using polygraph tests to build models that simulate physical responses associated with emotions like joy, stress, or anxiety.
• The goal is for people to intuitively understand when interacting with “a joyful robot” without needing explicit explanation of the machine’s emotional state.

Current progress: Since launching in September, Intempus has developed rapidly from concept to implementation.

• The company has secured seven partners and is now hiring staff while testing its retrofitted “feeling robots” with customers.
• While currently focused on modifying existing robots, Warner hasn’t ruled out eventually building purpose-built emotional robots from scratch.