Starting to “feel pain”: scientists have created a sensor that will protect robots from damage (video)
Artificial pain sensors developed by scientists helped robots avoid damage caused by collisions with objects. The sensors measured the force from the impact and transmitted signals to the robot’s motion control system, which helped it learn to interact more carefully with things that could cause damage.
The development was reported by New Scientist.
To allow robots to feel the pain of impacts, scientists at the Singapore National University have developed sensors based on zinc and gallium. When touched strongly enough, they generate an electrical signal – almost like impulses to the brain from pain receptors in humans.
These signals are processed by an artificial intelligence algorithm that has been trained to recognize safe and dangerous blows for the robot based on different signals.
The robot with these pain sensors was able to successfully distinguish between safe and dangerous objects with an accuracy of 97.5 percent. Dangerous things, such as a ball with spikes, the algorithm forced the robotic arm to throw away before the ball damaged it.
In addition, the developers of the sensors hope that they will be useful not only for robots, but also, for example, for prosthetics or doctors, so that they can more accurately guide their surgical instruments.
