I'm interested in the possibility of a computer/robot to experience sensations, especially those that can be felt as positive or negative (such as pleasure/pain). I would imagine it could be simulated somehow and I theorize it's a necessary component for artificial intelligence. Anybody know of any research or ideas on the subject?

3/19/2007 3:17:27 PM

I wish my computer could feel pain. I'm betting that computer troubleshooting would go faster if I could just threaten my machine with a little torture.

3/19/2007 3:21:48 PM

i know there's been projects where robots can visually identify emotions in humans

but i think we got a ways to go before we'll have any machines with genuine emotions

[Edited on March 19, 2007 at 3:31 PM. Reason : i like this thread though. i hope somebody on here knows of some cool stuff going on]

3/19/2007 3:30:54 PM

am i obligated to put a terminator picture in this thread?

3/19/2007 3:37:28 PM

i don't understand the aim of the thread.

shivan you want to make something like that, or you just want to know about something like that? if you want to make it, do you have the qualifications and the knowledge? i doubt it, because only a handful of people in the world are into cutting-edge shit like that.

if you just want to know... google? broken?

just google what the people at honda, toyota, MIT, CMU, and caltech are doing.

3/19/2007 3:46:43 PM

btw, there's some pretty good blogs out there about AI/robotics/neuroscience

http://neurodudes.com/
http://sanssapiens.blogspot.com/
http://www.neurevolution.net/
http://scienceblogs.com/cognitivedaily/
http://channeln.blogspot.com/

3/19/2007 4:24:49 PM

Make an appointment with Dr. Endicott in Cognitive Science. He may not know specifics, but he'll have knowledge of the resources that will get you the specific you want. Take PSY/PHI 425 if you want the a lot of theory on most of this.

Edit: Bah, when did you graduate? Anyways, it really depends on the application more than anything else. Can also talk to some of your former ST profs or some of the CSC profs who do this sort of stuff.

[Edited on March 19, 2007 at 4:47 PM. Reason : .]

3/19/2007 4:31:20 PM

Easy one, simple pressure/force sensors, force > x, machine goes OWWWW you smashed my face, next question

3/19/2007 4:58:37 PM

get a-hold of InsaneMan. Last we heard of him, he was well on his way to making a working neural network using Java. I'm sure it's working by now

3/19/2007 5:07:42 PM

LOL

good times

3/19/2007 5:27:34 PM

I had to write a paper about that in philosophy (PHI205 w/ Bykova) last semester - pretty interesting topic

3/20/2007 1:54:50 PM

Quote :

"Can a computer feel anything?"

No, you're computer is not going to fall in love w/ you and magically turn into a hot woman for you to bwn. k.

3/20/2007 2:18:34 PM

qntmfred: Yeah, viewing emotions is a long ways from having them. But thanks for the interest and links.

0EPII1: I would like to make something like that, but obviously I lack the knowledge of electronics and the nervous system that such a project would require. So the next best thing is to see if others are doing something with it. Google turned up more "what if" stuff than real applications, but I'll look in depth more. Just wanted to see if anyone here knew anything.

Perlith: Last May. Thanks for the ideas.

Doss2k: Nice one. Of course, the machine wouldn't perceive the pressure as good or bad, which is what I'm really after.

agentlion: Ha. Yeah, I remember that. Even if it were to play Reversi well, not what I'm looking for.

sylvershadow:

3/20/2007 2:26:08 PM

i am serious about looking on the web, but don't do general google searches. go to websites of institutes/companies that are doing this stuff, such as honda, toyota, MIT, CMU, and caltech.

here is the robotics institute at CMU, the top robotics program in the world:

http://www.ri.cmu.edu

click on research, then "labs and groups", "projects", "centers", or "search"

labs and groups lists all the active labs at the RI, which can give you a direction:

http://www.ri.cmu.edu/lab_lists/index.html

3/20/2007 2:34:49 PM

Whenever I play FPS games with fast paced intense action, my computers temperature and the RPMs of fans inside go up. The only logical explanation is because it is feeling the excitement and pressure of my BF2 matches and it much like my heart rate goes up, its does too.

3/20/2007 3:29:08 PM

no computers cannot feel anything, and probably never will unless someone designs them to feel. and to do that, we would have to understand how humans and animals feel first, which is a cognitive science topic. but it would be pointless anyways as there is no real advantage unless a human would want to have a robotic brain that it could live on with, without losing their current central nervous system features.

computers are more likely to become conscious though (like skynet in terminator), because it is beneficial to have computers do things without us having to tell them. therefore, computer design will naturally lead towards building computers that can learn and have consciousness. there is more reseach in making computers that work like our brains for that and other reasons.

3/20/2007 8:56:37 PM

you can look at this from two perspectives
the architect of a feeling computer
or the natural responce of a computer to certain conditions
its possible that computers do feel and we dont know it yet, like maybe they feel but we wouldnt think to interperate something as a feeling when it is

3/20/2007 9:20:56 PM

Quote :

" its possible that computers do feel and we dont know it yet, like maybe they feel but we wouldnt think to interperate something as a feeling when it is"

Not really, computers have no mechanism for conscious thought, so there's no mechanism for an emergent feeling. You could broaden the definition of feeling drastically though if you want and call an alert box a feeling.

3/20/2007 9:24:03 PM

there is no reason for computers to have devleoped pleasure or pain sensations. And unless programmed specifically or an AI type program is running that sees impact of positive negative inputs no.

3/20/2007 9:42:34 PM

when you think about the internet, you can have an organism develop inside the constant connection of computers, thats how i imagine life starting, some energy is present and there long enough for the random even to happen that spawns life,
by the way im talking out of my ars, but i reckon im right

3/20/2007 9:53:02 PM

emotions are the weakness of the human race... why would we want to inject this into our computers?

3/20/2007 10:12:15 PM

you need feelings to fill the gaps between logic

3/20/2007 10:17:31 PM

emotions are extremely valuable as far as human evolution goes. whether they are required or beneficial for sentient computers is debatable, but i would lean toward including emotions

3/20/2007 10:18:48 PM

^/^^ I agree, I'm just dealing with a very emotionally charged (read unstable) girl via AIM right now and have a slightly biased opinion.

3/20/2007 10:22:00 PM

Quote :

"Whenever I play FPS games with fast paced intense action, my computers temperature and the RPMs of fans inside go up. The only logical explanation is because it is feeling the excitement and pressure of my BF2 matches and it much like my heart rate goes up, its does too."

Then why does my PC lag when I'm being rushed in Starcraft?

3/20/2007 10:30:32 PM

^ It was obviously unprepaired for such a quick attack. The quick attack startled your computer and when nervious/scared it tends to perform at a level less than optimum. Really the only explanation.

3/20/2007 10:38:34 PM

make your computer/robot fall in love with my knot-tying device

3/20/2007 11:30:23 PM