What would it take for a robot to lie when asked by a human?

Big lies, little lies and lies of omission play an essential role in society. Without occasionally concealing our true opinions about people around us, we could never be able to create lasting social bonds. Clearly, lies can be useful to humans. But can they also be useful to robots? All of us have at least once in our lives complimented someone on their appearance despite not being impressed with it or showed interest in a conversation that we cared little about. While such behaviors are clearly commonplace, a machine that conceals the truth is still considered to be the stuff…...