The system allows robots to determine possible damage to its own mechanisms.
Researchers from the University of Hannover has developed an artificial nervous system for robots that will allow them to feel pain.
The announcement was published on the IEEE Spectrum website.
As stated by one of the authors of the development, the ability of robots to feel pain will be able to protect themselves as robots, and humans. This will happen due to the fact that a robot that can feel pain, will be able to assess the damage not only for themselves but also for people who may be affected by its failure.
The nervous system will allow the robot to “feel the pain” and assessing the possible damage to engines, machinery and electrical appliances. The nervous system acts on the same principle as the neurons of the person, and determines the strength of the pains experienced by the robot. If the pain is weak, the robot tries gradually to withdraw from contact with the stimulus, the stronger the pain, the more dramatically he reacts to pain.
If the conditional is reached the pain threshold, the robot switches to the “passive obedience”, which should reduce further damage.
