Get a library card - free in many countries - and you can replace the child with a dog with a robot with a book about having a robot instead of a dog instead of a child, for no money at all!
I think the jump from having children to having a toy robot is still a bit too far. In a few decades maybe, if and when AI has come to fruition (that is, real AI, not the machine-learning fad which is so much en vogue at the moment). Until then I think these toy robots are just that, toys. They might be fun, just like other toys. People might get attached to them, just like they can to other toys.
> In a few decades maybe, if and when AI has come to fruition (...)
Assuming the EU's human brain simulation project comes to fruition, I wonder at one point we'll be able to raise a human child consciousness in VR—sort of a Tamagotchi but for an actual human consciousness.
I think the jump from having children to having a toy robot is still a bit too far. In a few decades maybe, if and when AI has come to fruition (that is, real AI, not the machine-learning fad which is so much en vogue at the moment). Until then I think these toy robots are just that, toys. They might be fun, just like other toys. People might get attached to them, just like they can to other toys.