An AI-powered robot that can make coffee in a busy kitchen is being hailed as the forerunner of a new generation of intelligent machines.
A University of Edinburgh team has developed a robot can interact with its surroundings in “more human-like ways than ever before”.
“While robots are adept at working in tightly controlled settings such as factories and production lines, they struggle in dynamic, unpredictable places like kitchens,” the study report said.
“This is because robots have traditionally relied on pre-programmed actions and responses and lack the ability to adapt to unforeseen obstacles in real-time.”
The new robot combines advances in sensitive motor skills and AI to create a robot that can interact with objects and people in challenging settings.
The robot is effectively an arm with seven movable joints that interprets verbal instructions and analyses its surroundings.
“The technology behind the robot enables it to adapt seamlessly to unforeseen events, such as if someone bumps or moves the mug unexpectedly while it is working,” the report says.
The research was published in the journal Nature Machine Intelligence.
The full report is on the University of Edinburgh website.
