Scientists have developed an empathetic computer that can tune into the mood you're in, drooping its screen despondently when you look gloomy or swinging cheerfully upwards when you perk up.

RoCo (Robotic Computer), with its monitor for a head and a simple LCD screen for a face, is the world's first "expressive" computer designed to bond with its user, developed by Cynthia Breazeal and Rosalind Picard of the Massachussetts Institute of Technology, reports New Scientist.

The MIT researchers suggest that by tuning into users' moods, the robot might help them work more effectively.