Robot dogs could replace man's best friend in as little as a decade, according to an animal welfare researcher.

Dr Jean-Loup Rault, from the University of Melbourne, says he thinks people will still be able to form genuine emotional attachments - despite them being pretend pooches.

He claims while it might sound surreal to many of us, advances in robotic pets could make them totally normal for the next generation.

"It might sound surreal for us to have robotic or virtual pets, but it could be totally normal for the next generation," Dr Rault said.

"It's not a question of centuries from now. If 10 billion human beings live on the planet in 2050 as predicted, it's likely to occur sooner than we think."

"If you'd described Facebook to someone 20 years ago, they'd think you were crazy. But we are already seeing people form strong emotional bonds with robot dogs in Japan."

"Pet robotics has come a long way from the Tamagotchi craze of the mid-90s. In Japan, people are becoming so attached to their robot dogs that they hold funerals for them when the circuits die," he added.

A double-edged sword

Dr Rault researched a paper after discovering a huge lack of information about how technology may influence our relationships with animals in the future.

"You won't find a lot of research on pet robotics out there, but if you Google robot dogs, there are countless patents. Everyone wants to get ahead of this thing because there is a market and it will take off in the next 10 to 15 years."

But the emergence of robotic pets is a double-edged sword, he warns.

"Robots can, without a doubt, trigger human emotions. If artificial pets can produce the same benefits we get from live pets, does that mean that our emotional bond with animals is really just an image that we project on to our pets?".

"Of course we care about live animals, but if we become used to a robotic companion that doesn't need food, water or exercise, perhaps it will change how humans care about other living beings."

But he believes it is not too far-fetched to imagine that robot pets of the future could feature bonafide artificial intelligence - and learn to think and respond on their own.