A robot learns to handle bulky objects like humans do after just one lesson
For all their technological brilliance, from navigating distant planets to performing complex surgery, robots still struggle with a few basic human tasks. One of the most significant challenges is dexterity, which refers to the ability to grasp, hold and manipulate objects. Until now, that is. Scientists from the Toyota Research Institute in Massachusetts have trained a robot to use its entire body to handle large objects, much like humans do.
While most humans can innately use their hands to communicate with others or grab and manipulate objects, many existing robotic systems only excel at simple manual tasks. In recent years, computer scientists worldwide have been developing machine learning-based models that can process images of humans completing manual tasks, using acquired…
While robots have become increasingly advanced over the past few years, most of them are still unable to reliably navigate very crowded spaces, such as public areas or roads in urban environments. To be implemented on a large-scale and in the smart cities of the future, however, robots will need…
Imagine a coffee cup sitting on a table. Now, imagine a book partially obscuring the cup. As humans, we still know what the coffee cup is even though we can't see all of it. But a robot might be confused.