When the prayer robot talks about love at the touch of a button

They bring the food, provide information, care for the sick and operate on patients – social robots are increasingly becoming a part of everyday life. But pray? Can machines serve as instruments of God? And how do people react to that? That’s what an international workshop entitled “Robot, pray for me!” asks Lukas Brand from the Chair of Philosophy of Religion and Philosophy of Science at the Faculty of Catholic Theology at the Ruhr University in Bochum organized with other scientists.

“Celeste” is the name of the religious robot that serves the workshop as a visual object for digital prayer helpers. You – or he? – has the figure of a small praying angel and speaks in a soft, preaching voice: “The Lord bless us and keep us and keep us from all evil in life,” says Celeste. The angel stands on a white cloth on a kind of altar in the meditation room of the university pastoral care “Campus-Segen”. On the right, a large Easter candle burns, giving the scene a devotional atmosphere.

If you want to talk to Celeste, you have to touch a sensor at the foot of the figure, just as you like to touch statues of saints in a church. Then the angel “awakens”, which can be recognized by the fact that the small halo lights up green. Lukas Brand (33) approaches the figure and says: “Celeste, tell us something about love.”

Celeste hums softly, flares her wings, and—if we choose to use the female form of address—she replies, “Let’s think. I will read you a verse from the Bible, from the Gospel of John, chapter 15 verse 7. But if you stay close to me and take my words to heart, you may ask of God what you want – you will get,” Celeste purrs. “I hope you will think about these words,” she whispers before the halo fades again.

Gabriele Trovato (41), an Italian engineer who works as a computer scientist at the Shibaura Institute of Technology in the Japanese capital Tokyo, came up with the idea. Celeste is the latest version of the so-called theomorphic machines he has been tinkering with for years. At the beginning there were minor mishaps, he admits. An elderly lady complained of her suffering and pain to the digital predecessor angel, to which he replied: “Blessed are the dead, because they no longer suffer from physical ailments.” Which was probably not very comforting. But such breakdowns are a thing of the past, assures Trovato with a grin.

Lined with passages from the Bible and quotes from the Pope

Celeste already had some predecessors. One was the prayer robot “Santo”, the world’s first Catholic robot in the form of a gray plastic monk. Or the blessing robot “BlessU2”, which saw the light of day in 2017 on the occasion of the celebrations for 500 years of Reformation. “It was a converted ATM. You had to press a button and you got a ready-made answer,” says Dominik Winter (32) from the Chair of Theological Ethics at the Ruhr University. Not very sophisticated.

There’s Celeste next. However, Celeste deliberately has nothing in common with a language robot (chatbot) such as ChatGPT, which spits out completely new texts on request. Trovato fed the angel the Bible, the lives of all 365 saints of the day, and significant quotes from three popes. In response to a question, he selects the appropriate quote from this pool, but does not invent any new Bible verses or texts.

Robot researcher Trovato explains that he came to this topic more by accident when dealing with human-like robots and the cultural adaptation of machines. First, he created very popular digital lucky charms in Japan, so-called Daruma dolls. “These are objects that have supernatural powers for people if you believe in them.” This is how he came to religion and the question of whether humans can also find the sacred in machines or whether the divine could speak to believers through robots, so to speak . It may be part of an answer that he currently has orders for 15 Celestes that could be used in nursing or retirement homes.

Use in a nursing home

Due to her angelic form Celeste does not appear like a computer, she does not blink, does not move and has no buttons, which gives her a certain religious aura. The reactions of the people are extremely different, says Trovato: “Either very enthusiastic or completely negative.” He had received letters in which he was wildly insulted: It was godless and evil, a work of the devil, the end. Others, especially older people, would respond positively. “Some cross themselves, ask Celeste something and start to pray.” During a test in a Siegen nursing home, he was then asked: When will Celeste come back?

The robot cannot take the place of priestly pastoral care, but it can fill gaps, help against loneliness and emptiness and be an occasion for a prayer ritual, says theologian Lukas Brand. “There is a longing for interaction and conversation.” Dominik Winter emphasizes that the Christian faith is always designed for community, Celeste can therefore not replace a priest and confession also requires conversation and “a human ear”.

Open questions for theology

Nevertheless, theomorphic machines raise questions for theology, which the workshop will deal with. What religious experiences can robots convey, how do they change the idea of ​​the sacred and of ourselves, asks Winter. And: Does a priest always have to be a baptized person – and always a man? “It’s a machine without consciousness, but at some point we won’t be able to tell the difference anymore,” says Winter, referring to the rapid advances in artificial intelligence.

“Theology will have to deal with these questions in the coming years if it wants to actively help shape the emerging integration of robotic systems into religious practice,” Brand is convinced.

Celeste has the last word. Brand puts his hand on the sensor and says “My name is Lukas.” The little angel buzzes and prints out a small card. It says, “Hello Luke. Whatever happens in the future, remember: don’t be afraid.” He will surely ponder the answer.

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