On one hand, with computers getting more powerful, it seems like soon (if not already) we can create robots which can handle all the complexities of the real world in a reasonable if somewhat stupid way.
On the other hand, mechanical engineering has not advanced as fast as computer science (though this is a comparison between apples and oranges).
Can a human learn to love a machine as they would a biological pet? Perhaps we still need some more advances in fluffy and squishy mechanical engineering.
Robotic pets of course have advantages over biological ones.
From there, it seems only a short hop (possibly over the uncanny valley) to robotic children as depicted in Spielberg's A.I. Artificial Intelligence.
Robotic versions of really stupid animals, e.g., fish, turtle, insects, seem doable now. Perhaps put the computer outside the robot and control it wirelessly. Though we still need to program the effect of the pet learning to trust its owner, which provides the great pleasure of owning a pet.
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