ThinkPad T4x0: connector on the bottom of notebook

[zdenek_kucera]

Does anybody know the exact purpose of the small metal plate on the bottom part of ThinkPad T420 used for docking station - http://imageshack.us/photo/my-images/859/obraz1194.jpg/? My son played with ntb and totally misshaped it, so it is now totally squeezed, that there is no contact with counterpart metal pin on the docking station (I have Lenovo ThinkPad Mini Dock Series 3). However, it seems that everything is working fine. So I would like to know what should be the function of those contacts. Thank you for any response. ZK

[JesseKnows]

These are for discharging static charge before the connectors mate.