A single algorithm can help robots make good decisions in real time

In 2018, Google DeepMind’s AlphaZero program taught itself the games of chess, shogi, and Go using machine learning and a special algorithm to determine the best moves to win a game within a defined grid. Now, a team of Caltech researchers has developed an analogous algorithm for autonomous robots—a planning and decision-making control system that …

Platform allows AI to learn from constant, nuanced human feedback rather than large datasets

During your first driving class, the instructor probably sat next to you, offering immediate advice on every turn, stop and minor adjustment. If it was a parent, they might have even grabbed the wheel a few times and shouted “Brake!” Over time, those corrections and insights developed experience and intuition, turning you into an independent, …

Smallest walking robot makes microscale measurements

Researchers have created the smallest walking robot yet. Its mission: to be tiny enough to interact with waves of visible light and still move independently, so that it can maneuver to specific locations — in a tissue sample, for instance — to take images and measure forces at the scale of some of the body’s …