A theory that studies the design and development of robots capable of recognizing human emotions, interacting with them, and exhibiting emotional responses. Rosalind Picard, a scientist at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), is considered the first intellectual founder of this field. In her 1997 book, Affective Computing, she laid the scientific foundations that allow machines to recognize and respond to human emotions. Later, researcher Cynthia Breazeale, also at MIT, put this concept into practice by creating the first social robots capable of emotional interaction (such as the Kismet robot in 2000). The theory of affective robotics suggests that empowering robots with emotional abilities is not just a functional improvement, but a prerequisite for effective human-machine interaction.