(ETH) – Scientists are claiming that they have created the first robot ever to display what they are saying is “glimmers” of empathy – in a major breakthrough in overcoming a major obstacle that until now had proved elusive.

Scientists are hailing this as a major breakthrough with a robot demonstrating elements of empathy – or what is known as the act of being aware of and experiencing the feelings and thoughts of others, that has previously been out of reach for even the most intelligent and advanced robots.

According to the report from inews, “The researchers put a robot in a small playpen and programmed it to seek and move towards the nearest green circle it could see. Then they put a second robot into the pen to observe the first. After watching its partner puttering around for two hours, the observing robot began to anticipate its path, which it was able to accurately predict 98 percent of the time”.

Boyuan Chen, of Columbia University, stated: “Our initial results are very exciting. They begin to demonstrate how robots can see the world from another robot’s perspective. “The ability of the observer to put itself in its partner’s shoes, so to speak, and understand, without being guided,

whether its partner could or could not see the green circle from its vantage point, is a primitive form of empathy.” A professor of Columbia University stated: “They are clearly going down a path that throws up ethical issues and needs to be closely watched”