A humanoid robot created by researchers from Singapore’s Nanyang Technological University is giving jitters to robotic enthusiasts as the machine resembles its developers in both appearance and presence of a personality.

The creatures have programmed their social ‘bot’, dubbed as Nadine, with intelligent assistant software similar to Apple’s Siri and Microsoft’s Cortana. One thing that separates Nadine from other assistant software is its way to express moods and emotions. The robot is capable of remembering people she has met before, as per the researchers.

Many robotic enthusiasts have been praising this research in a positive way, but there are some robotic experts too who believe a human-like robot could be just a way to fool people. They raised questions about the robot’s use in filling societal and personal needs. MIT professor Sherry Turkle said that robots like Nadine gives feeling that technology is going to make everyone forget what they know about life.

Turkle, author of ‘Reclaiming Conversation: The Power of Talk in a Digital Age’, said seeing a robot which looks like a human has become everyday thing. “It has two eyes, it smiles, better, better, better right. And then you hit the point where ‘Oh my Gosh!’ it’s starting to look like it could be a person and the fact that you’re starting to respond to it like it’s a person starts to creep you out”, the professor added.

According to Turkle, it’s not good to play with old people and children’s feelings by making such things.