There are many methods to include AI into robots, beginning with enhancing how they’re skilled to do duties. However utilizing massive language fashions to provide directions, as Google has executed, is especially fascinating.
It’s not the primary. The robotics startup Determine went viral a 12 months in the past for a video through which people gave directions to a humanoid on tips on how to put dishes away. Across the similar time, a startup spun off from OpenAI, known as Covariant, constructed one thing comparable for robotic arms in warehouses. I noticed a demo the place you can give the robotic directions by way of photographs, textual content, or video to do issues like “transfer the tennis balls from this bin to that one.” Covariant was acquired by Amazon simply 5 months later.
Whenever you see such demos, you’ll be able to’t assist however surprise: When are these robots going to return to our workplaces? What about our properties?
If Determine’s plans supply a clue, the reply to the primary query is quickly. The corporate introduced on Saturday that it’s constructing a high-volume manufacturing facility set to fabricate 12,000 humanoid robots per 12 months. However coaching and testing robots, particularly to make sure they’re secure in locations the place they work close to people, nonetheless takes a very long time.
