content: The article explains it in pretty simple terms:  Until now, Hector has been a reactive system. It reacts to stimuli in its surroundings. Thanks to the software program "Walknet," Hector can walk with an insect-like gait, and another program called "Navinet" may enable the robot to find a path to a distant target. Both researchers have also developed the software expansion programme "reaCog." This software is activated in instances when both of the other programmes are unable to solve a given problem. This new expanded software enables the robot to simulate "imagined behaviour" that may solve the problem: first, it looks for new solutions and evaluates whether this action makes sense, instead of just automatically completing a pre-determined operation. Being able to perform imagined actions is a central characteristic of a simple form of consciousness.  tl;dr: It can run simulations of the environment involving itself with advanced goal-achieving algorithms. Like if it needs to reach a piece of candy, and its basic robot behavior can't do it, it will switch over to "advanced mode" and take a look at its surroundings and itself, what sort of body it has control of, and the terrain it needs to traverse to achieve the goal (robot => candy) and run simulations to the end of achieving that goal. When it got an idea of what it would take, it would then implement that simulation with its own actions.