robots vs cloning: would you wellcome robots as your social companions?

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What we have seen in films is likely to come true. An International consortium of scientists are setting the stage for a path-breaking research that aims to develop robots as social companions. "Like a child learning by imitation of its parents and interacting with an environment around it, the robot will master basic principles of structured grammar, like negation, by using these abilities in context" said Prof. Chrystopher Nehaniv, a lead researcher in the project."With in a year we will have the first humaniod robot" he added. Is it not sounds like cloning - now a robot as a social companion - then a robot as your friend - then a robot as an anti-social element. Is there a research is needed - do you wellcome robots?