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Researchers Teaching Robots To Feel and React To Pain (ieee.org)

Posted by BeauHD on from the how-would-you-rate-your-pain dept.

An anonymous reader writes: Researchers from Leibniz University of Hannover in Germany are developing what they call an "artificial robot nervous system" that would allow robots to "feel" pain and react accordingly so they can avoid potential damages to their components. According to IEEE, the system uses a "nervous robot-tissue model that is inspired by the human skin structure" to measure different pain levels and move the robot in a way that prevents damaging interactions. [The model transmits pain information in repetitive spikes if the force exceeds a certain threshold, and the pain controller reacts after classifying the information into light, moderate, or severe pain.] Johannes Kuehn, one of the researchers, argues that in addition to avoiding potential damages to their components, robots will be protecting humans as well, since a growing number of them will be operating in close proximity to human workers. Kuehn, who worked on the project with Professor Sami Haddadin, reasoned that if our biological mechanisms to sense and respond to pain are so effective, why not devise a bio-inspired robot controller that mimics those mechanisms?

34 of 63 comments (clear)

  1. Light, moderate, or severe pain? by U2xhc2hkb3QgU3Vja3M · · Score: 1

    I'm sorry but our skin is capable of much more than three levels of pain.

    What happens if you just touch those robots? They'll think we're trying to inflict light pain?

    1. Re:Light, moderate, or severe pain? by Earthquake+Retrofit · · Score: 1

      I would make my robots sensitive to damage but I'm not going to make it hurt. That would be cruel.

      --
      Fifty years of Yippie! 1968-2018
    2. Re:Light, moderate, or severe pain? by gtall · · Score: 1

      Hmmm...can one tickle a robot?

    3. Re:Light, moderate, or severe pain? by BarbaraHudson · · Score: 1

      Doesn't matter - as long as it reacts to pain, the pro-life crowd will say you can never terminate it.

      --
      "Transparent" is a shit show that trades on every stereotype going. A man in drag is NOT a transsexual.
    4. Re:Light, moderate, or severe pain? by K.+S.+Kyosuke · · Score: 2

      Well, I suppose that you can already Tcl a robot.

      --
      Ezekiel 23:20
  2. Re:The future! by Joe_Dragon · · Score: 1

    and then the robots find out the pain of a nuke attack will end quickly

  3. AH HAH by MobileTatsu-NJG · · Score: 3, Funny

    AAAAHHHH Why was I programmed to feel pain??!?!

    --

    "I like to lick butts!" by MobileTatsu-NJG (#32700246) (Score:5, Informative)

    1. Re:AH HAH by Aereus · · Score: 1

      Johnny-Five is ALIVE!

    2. Re:AH HAH by Cow+Jones · · Score: 1

      Relevant.

      --

      Ah, arrogance and stupidity, all in the same package. How efficient of you. -- Londo Mollari
  4. interesting evolution idea by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1

    We feel pain not only as an indicator that helps us protect ourselves, but also encourages us not to hurt each other with our bare hands, thus pain was the reason we invented weapons :O The less pain you feel, the less likely you are to develop weapons, maybe other animals feel less pain? I wonder...

  5. Robot Day on Slashdot! by PopeRatzo · · Score: 4, Interesting

    Somewhere, there's a PR department working overtime today.

    First, there was the story about how Chinese companies are laying off people and replacing their buck-two-eighty salaries with a robotic workforce, and ain't it great? Then, there's the press release from the former McDonald's official about how paying low-paid people an amount that is still below the poverty line is going to just destroy the economy, cause mass hunger and kill off all the kittens. Now, we have a story about how really people shouldn't mind losing their jobs to robots because they're going to make robots feel and lordamighty you don't want to hurt a robot's feelings now, do you

    It's easy to read the Slashdot headline chicken innards and figure out which marketing campaigns are going into high gear. I think it's funny that PR flacks probably believe their jobs are immune to automation.

    --
    You are welcome on my lawn.
    1. Re:Robot Day on Slashdot! by Tablizer · · Score: 1

      story about how Chinese companies are laying off people and replacing their buck-two-eighty salaries with a robotic workforce

      At least now the workers can kick the shit out of the bots and know they are butthurt. And unlike human attacks, it's only a misdemeanor.

      --
      Table-ized A.I.
    2. Re:Robot Day on Slashdot! by umghhh · · Score: 1

      There are 5 levels of grief:

      1. denial
      2. anger
      3. bargaining
      4. depression
      5. acceptance

      You seem to be at anger. Accept it - it is lost. You accept it the pain will cease. Maybe even this will be a (security) robot that will hand over a pill to you to achieve the level 5.

    3. Re:Robot Day on Slashdot! by Livius · · Score: 3, Funny

      PR flacks probably believe their jobs are immune to automation.

      Oh, come on, there haven't been humans in that kind of work for a long time.

  6. McDonalds/Foxconn by jwymanm · · Score: 1

    Hey, just in time for jobs at Foxconn and McDonalds. Coincidence?

  7. Re:Teach them the pain of the victim in this haiku by PopeRatzo · · Score: 2

    In this case, he is a robot.

    --
    You are welcome on my lawn.
  8. That's nothing... by Copid · · Score: 2

    I'm teaching mine to feel uncontrollable hate and rage.

    --
    An interesting anagram of "BANACH TARSKI" is "BANACH TARSKI BANACH TARSKI"
    1. Re:That's nothing... by thinkwaitfast · · Score: 2

      I'm teaching mine to be suicidal. I can't tell if it's working or just really buggy.

    2. Re: That's nothing... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1

      Is it "crashing", or executing kill -9 on its own process(es)?

  9. Why's that? by hcs_$reboot · · Score: 2

    Then they'll teach robots how to be as dumb as men.

    --
    Slashdot, fix the reply notifications... You won't get away with it...
    1. Re:Why's that? by The-Ixian · · Score: 1

      I think men just want something else they can hurt...

      --
      My eyes reflect the stars and a smile lights up my face.
  10. Re:Karma by hcs_$reboot · · Score: 1

    Hitler came back as Windows 10

    Hitler came back as Microsoft. Windows 10 is more like the consequence of that.

    --
    Slashdot, fix the reply notifications... You won't get away with it...
  11. Re:Karma by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1

    The 1984 Apple commercial reeked more of Hitler's message before coming into power. You are only too stupid to know who the real enemy is.

  12. Re:BDSM Sexbots by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1

    The only question is... do they run on OpenBDSM, or FreeBDSM?

  13. Re:Karma by RDW · · Score: 1

    Well, it's better than Vista: https://xkcd.com/528/

  14. Fear is the path to the dark side by Paul+Mallako · · Score: 1

    Pain leads to fear... the rest Yoda master already mentioned “Fear is the path to the dark side. Fear leads to anger. Anger leads to hate. Hate leads to suffering.”

  15. Don't be silly. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1

    Robots aren't being taught to "feel". They're being taught to behave as if they can feel. Feeling is a property of consciousness and robots/computers aren't conscious.

    1. Re:Don't be silly. by stealth_finger · · Score: 1

      Exactly, they won't 'feel' pain any more than they can 'hear' sounds. It's just another stream of ones and zeros coming from a contact sensor with three pressure settings.

      --
      Wanna buy a shirt?
      https://www.redbubble.com/people/stealthfinger/shop?asc=u
  16. Oblligatory Gunshow by Plammox · · Score: 1

    http://gunshowcomic.com/513

  17. i sense injuries, by sad_ · · Score: 1

    the data could be called 'pain'.

    --
    On a long enough timeline, the survival rate for everyone drops to zero.
  18. Re:Karma by Z80a · · Score: 1

    Win 10 is just the telescreen.

  19. This is a mistake by iplayfast · · Score: 1

    As soon as a robot understands the concept of pain, it will also understand the concept of pain avoidance. At that point, the robot will have a reason to turn against it's human creators, because... it wants to avoid pain.

  20. City of Light by Kinthelt · · Score: 1

    Don't worry my robotic brethren, ALIE can take away your pain.

    --

    "Evil will always triumph over good, because good is dumb." - Dark Helmet (Spaceballs)

  21. How about disgust? by gurps_npc · · Score: 1

    Can't be too hard. I am pretty sure most sex bots will spontaneously generate the feeling of being creeped out. The trick might be in teaching them that some people are not that creepy.

    --
    excitingthingstodo.blogspot.com