Robots Running HR: Weird News Prompts Weird Thought

Found on the Associated Press news feed today... they following quote... "A New Jersey company says it has developed 'the world's first sex robot,' a life-size rubber doll that's designed to engage the owner with conversation rather than lifelike movement. At a demonstration at the Adult Entertainment Expo in Las Vegas on Saturday, the dark-haired, negligee-clad robot said 'I love holding hands with you' when it sensed that its creator touched its hand."

Yep, you read right. A speaking love doll that you can have a human connection with because it talks back to you. Well having the slightly bent mind that I do, this got me thinking that this device would be good for HR as well. NOOOO... NOT the the love doll part.... the ROBOT that talks to you is what I was talking about. You could conceivably program the robot with all the applicable employment related laws and all of your company's policies. Using either a keyboard, or voice recognition, you could sit down in front of RobotHR and ask your question. The robot could compare databases and give you the answers you were looking for and then possible steps to follow to deal with the issue. You could program it to be "tough as nails" or a softer HR approach of finding a way to say "yes", as Kris Dunn called for in The HR Capitialist post entitled The Secret to HR That Matters... (BTW, I like Kris' approach.)

Many managers may not even recognize that RobotHR has replaced the incumbent, or, if they do, they may like them better. Well, the technology is probably not really there yet, so we really don't have to worry for the moment. But if you are currently offering no more value to your management than what a robot would offer then you need to be concerned. The robot will work without a salary.
As a closing note, I don't think the Love Robot is going to be a big hit. Many men don't want to talk and cuddle with a real woman let alone a Robot one.