There are many methods to include AI into robots, beginning with bettering how they’re skilled to do duties. However utilizing massive language fashions to present directions, as Google has achieved, 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 easy methods to put dishes away. Across the similar time, a startup spun off from OpenAI, referred to as Covariant, constructed one thing comparable for robotic arms in warehouses. I noticed a demo the place you would give the robotic directions through pictures, 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 possibly can’t assist however surprise: When are these robots going to return to our workplaces? What about our houses?
If Determine’s plans provide 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 protected in locations the place they work close to people, nonetheless takes a very long time.
