A Conscious Robot that Can Venture into an Unknown Environment in Search of Pleasure

Abstract

A “conscious system that can venture into an unknown environment” has been proposed. This study models the process of consciousness of a person who is going into an unknown environment. First, we assumed that to go into an unknown environment, the person needs to be curious about that environment and assured of its safety. Curiosity is a tendency to become interested in unknown phenomena and draw information from them. We consider that to acquire the behavior of going into an unknown environment (curiosity behavior), firstly the person needs in some way to go through many experiences of pleasure in unknown environments and increase curiosity and interest in such environments. To enter an unknown environment the person must also be assured that the environment is safe. We have developed a conscious system that can venture into an unknown environment and tested whether a robot can voluntarily enter an unknown environment.