As products become smarter, their behaviors will mean they essentially have continuing conversations with us, whether they include verbal exchanges or not. Just like we read subtle cues from our pets (we see a dog’s ears and believe that he feels sad, guilty or excited), we’ll read emotion from our products, perceiving nuances of dialogue and a sense that the object is “alive.” For example, colored lights on a robotic vacuum cleaner will tell us what’s going on inside: green, slow pulsing indicates “All systems go!”; rapid red flashing pleads “Help! Something is amiss here.” A jubilant melody at the end of a washing machine cycle says, “Everything went well and your clothes are ready!” When a video conferencing webcam in an office lowers its head, it’s saying: “Bye! Going to sleep now.” These animated behaviors blend together and it’s human nature to read them as emanating from a living entity.

Through their personalities, these objects will offer us emotional value along with other features. Siri, the iPhone speech recognition search engine, has already won the hearts of many by displaying a consistent, witty personality with which people can converse. Autom, a new countertop weight-loss product, was created by researchers who learned that a robotic coach with expressive eyes and face was more effective at keeping dieters eating better and exercising more because the emotional bond was created.

Even robots with minimal expressions, like the Roomba floor cleaner, have led people to treat them as living entities, bestowing names on them and perceiving moments of celebration and even guilt. Researchers at Georgia Tech have found that this emotional connection leads people to feel empathy for the product, making them much more accepting of mechanical flaws that would otherwise be seen as a nuisance.

Browsing Amazon.com reviews of the Roomba reveals just how compelling this sense of life is: “We have named our new Roomba Rosie. She is my new best friend. I vacuumed with my 15-year-old Kirby before letting Rosie do her thing...She is wonderful. Most of my furniture is too heavy to move each week. She cleaned under those pieces and I was amazed at what she picked up.”

When working for the firm Smart Design, designing a floor-cleaning robot for a company called Neato Robotics, I studied research that had been conducted around the Roomba and knew that shaping the vacuum’s personality would be as important in building a positive relationship between product and owner as any other element. To do that, my team and I dissected typical service personalities, like the hotel maid you never see, the chatty bartender and the proper nanny. “Which of these should this vacuum be?” we wondered.