The robot child was equipped with a so-called painful nervous system - and he was able not only to distinguish gentle touches from rough ones, but also to demonstrate the appropriate reaction.
Engineers from Osaka University in Japan have developed new tactile sensors and built them into the child-like robot Affetto. This was stated by one of the authors of the technology, Minoru Asada, at the annual meeting of the American Association for the Advancement of Science, which was held in Seattle from 13 to 16 February.
For the first time, Japanese researchers reported Affetto back in 2011, and since then they have continued to improve it. Previously, scientists were actively involved in his facial expressions - and not only with simple movements of the eyes, eyebrows and lips. Thus, Affetto learned more complex "emotions": to smile, wrinkle his nose, frown and roll his eyes, and, in principle, began to look more like a person (although this did not make his appearance less frightening).
Video from 2018:
Neck movement mechanism:
Affetto has a realistic skeleton of the face and body, covered with artificial skin: the sensitive soft material, in contrast to the hard metal surface, ensures a more complete interaction of the robot with the outside world. With the help of implanted sensors, Affetto was now able to feel touches, distinguish tender, neat from rough and strong, and also demonstrated responsive emotions.
Promotional video:
This is how Affetto looked at the very beginning.
The goal of the experiment is to make the humanoid robot learn to empathize with a person and recognize his feelings, including negative ones. Such skills can, for example, come in handy for robots that are designed to help the elderly.
However, according to Anthony Damasio, a neuroscientist at the University of Southern California, there is a difference between a machine that responds predictably to a painful slap and a robot that can discriminate between human feelings: the researcher emphasizes that this will only be possible if the robot is programmed to experience something like mental state and have a kind of inner experience, that is, consciousness. But modern technologies are still far from such a thing, the specialist noted.
