"Would You Ever Snuggle Up With a Cuddling Robot?"

Maybe we can replace cats with these things:

This little robotic ball of fur wants to feel your soft touch. Cuddlebot was created by Anna Flagg, a Canadian artist and computer scientist. It can tell the difference between nine kinds of touch, responding differently to being stroked, scratched, or tickled—and it reacts based on those interactions.

Here's a video of the current version: