This came up today, what do y'all think?
These were my initial thoughts.
I think there is definite potential, although I think blessings or other rituals would be an easier sell (or entry point?) than funerals.
I think what would be necessary would be a trusted (charismatic!) religious authority who could explain a convincing theological reason for this to work. This would give some of the religious families (as opposed to secular families who are comforted by tradition) the confidence to use. Once it was in some type of use, if it successfully met emotional and practical needs (not counseling, but if the ritual was satisfactory emotionally) it could totally take off. There are definitely uses of mechanical processes in magical traditions, animism and Tibetan Buddhism. Maybe it could involve the robot being empowered, or being created at a certain astrological time.
If my body doesn't dissolve into rainbow light at the end of my life then I expect my consciousness to be on Padmasambhava's copper-colored mountain, ...so my body will be fine with whatever.
Interestingly,. I recently watched a talk that mentioned medieval automata that gave blessings, in relationship to a discussion of animism and pre-cartesian-split thinking.