Can robots feel pain?

Robots currently cannot truly "feel" pain in the way humans do. However, there are experiments designed to simulate pain in robots to study human perceptions and reactions. For instance, Lex Fridman shared an experiment where he programmed Roombas to scream and moan in pain when kicked. This display of "pain" made the robots seem more human-like and evoked empathetic responses from him and likely others interacting with them 1.

This kind of experiment highlights that while robots do not experience pain, giving them the ability to express distress can significantly affect human-robot relationships. By simulating negative and positive emotions, robots can appear more relatable and elicit deeper emotional reactions from humans 2.

Essentially, the perceived pain or emotions in robots are designed to influence human behavior and interaction, not because robots can genuinely feel pain.