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 offer directions, as Google has finished, is especially fascinating.
It’s not the primary. The robotics startup Determine went viral a yr in the past for a video wherein people gave directions to a humanoid on how one can put dishes away. Across the identical time, a startup spun off from OpenAI, referred to as Covariant, built something similar for robotic arms in warehouses. I noticed a demo the place you possibly can 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 come back to our workplaces? What about our houses?
If Determine’s plans provide a clue, the reply to the primary query is quickly. The corporate announced on Saturday that it’s constructing a high-volume manufacturing facility set to fabricate 12,000 humanoid robots per yr. However coaching and testing robots, particularly to make sure they’re secure in locations the place they work close to people, nonetheless takes a long time.
