Heart Robot has a beating heart, a breathing stomach and sensors that respond to movement, noise and touch.

If he is cuddled, he seems to soak up the affection - his limbs become limp, his eyelids lower, his breathing relaxes and his heartbeat slows.

But if Heart Robot is given a violent shake, or is shouted at, he flinches, clenches his hands and his eyes widen, while his breathing and heart rate speed up.

The machine was developed by scientists at the University of the West of England, in Bristol, to explore how humans react to a machine that appears to show feelings.

Holly Cave, who helped organise the Emotibots event at the Science Museum in London, told the Daily Telegraph: "Heart Robot looks like a cross between ET and Gollum and is about the size of a small child. He's half robot, half puppet.

"Different children react to him very differently. They either want to hug and cuddle him, and look after him like a doll or baby, or they just want to scare him."

She added: "How humans and robots might interact in the future is something that raises lots of interesting and moral questions."