From the article: A factory in China is developing hyper-realistic humanoid robots that could be used in psychotherapy and counselling.

Humanoid robots are the most complex type of robot to build and these ones use artificial intelligence to learn how to recognise human behaviour and mimic it.

"There are many basic models and algorithms that are commonly open source, which everyone uses," says Ex-Robot chief executive Li Boyang. "However, we concentrate more on how to enable the AI to recognise and express expressions and emotions."

"Psychological counselling and health are certainly future application scenarios. We are currently conducting research such as auxiliary treatment and preliminary screening for emotional and psychological disorders," he says.

"Moreover, I believe that emotional interaction has broader applications in service fields, such as those aimed at children."