Are robots edging closer to being 'alive'? Scientists create droids that can sweat and even get goosebumps
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Some robots can mimic human expressions, while others walk like man.
But in order to help humans better understand the intention of robots, one team is working on a droid that sweats when it is nervous.
Another prototype robot gets goosebumps when there is a cold breeze or it is told a scary story.
A team of roboticists is working on a droid that sweats when it is nervous and another prototype that gets goosebumps when it is cold or scared. A stock image of a robot displaying 'emotion' is pictured
A group of roboticists led by Tomoko Yonezawa at Kansai University in Osaka, Japan, are creating the machines which show physiological reactions, IEEE Spectrum reported.
Their third prototype is a teddy bear called Bretter that uses a fan to make breath when it is talking. More air is produced when the bear is speaking loudly than quietly – so when it whispers it seems more 'realistic'.
The idea behind the machines is that by giving robots involuntary reactions, humans can have a better idea of their intentions.
Scientists think that if they look visibly anxious or frightened by showing easily-recognisable signs, we are more likely to accept and feel at ease with them.
Roboticists might create machines that show their intentions, but a math model says emotional machines like Marvin the android from Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy (pictured) won't exist
One of the prototype droids can show it is under pressure or anxious by sweating from its forehead, rather than stating its 'emotions,' which researchers from Georgia Tech described as 'awkward'. But no information has been revealed so far about just how it does this.
Swiss robot expert Marco Tempest explained in a recent TED talk that not being able to have an idea of a robot's intentions makes humans nervous.
'When someone hands an object to you, you can read intention in their eyes, their face, their body language. That's not true of the robot,' he said.
Dr Yonezawa said that while humans sometimes make facial expressions that disguise what they are really thinking, involuntary responses such as sweating and shivering reveal their 'true feelings' and the same could be true of robots in the future.
While robots are being developed that can hint at genuine reactions, one mathematician from the National University of Ireland in Maynooth has said that robots will 'never' have real feelings.
Phil Maguire said that computers can't handle any process that completely integrates information, so they cannot be conscious and capable of feeling.
MATHEMATICS SUGGESTS ROBOTS CAN'T EXPERIENCE EMOTIONS LIKE US
A mathematical model of how our brains create consciousness suggests that emotional machines will never exist.
This is because computers can't handle any process that completely integrates information, so they cannot be conscious and capable of feeling, one expert claims.
A mathematical framework for consciousness, developed over the last decade by Giulio Tononi at the University of Wisconsin-Madison, says that the ability to integrate information is a key feature of consciousness.
He believes that integrated information can't be broken down into smaller components in conscious minds, because the brain contextualises information.
Phil Maguire of the National University of Ireland in Maynooth, used mathematics to show that computers cannot handle the complex processes needed to mesh pieces of information together seamlessly.
Therefore, if consciousness is based on the integration of lots of pieces of information, computers can't be conscious and capable of experiencing emotions like humans.
Professor Maguire says that consciousness cannot be created in a physical machine in finite time using limited memory.
'It doesn't necessarily mean that there is some magic going on in the brain that involves some forces that can't be explained physically. It is just so complex that it's beyond our abilities to reverse it and decompose it,' he said.
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