Pleasant and Unpleasant States in a Robot

We have been conducting research with the objective of enabling a robot to perform human-like autonomous behavior and communication. For this purpose, we have developed consciousness modules, termed MoNADs, which by means of groups of neurons comprise the elements that make up the functions of consciousness, emotions and feelings that are possessed by humans, and mounted them on a robot. In this study, we propose a consciousness model that enables a robot to evolve in accordance with rules based on our definitions of pleasant and unpleasant states in a conscious system comprised of MoNADs. For the definitions of the pleasant and unpleasant states, we are using the “smoothness of the information flow” in the conscious system, where “pleasant” is the state in which the information that has come in to the robot is flowing smoothly, while the state in which information is not flowing smoothly is defined as “unpleasant.” By means of these definitions, the robot becomes able to autonomously evolve using uniform and consistent rules in both of the systems of the brain, the sub-system that governs reason and the sub-system that is responsible for emotions and feelings.