There are many methods to include AI into robots, beginning with enhancing how they’re educated to do duties. However utilizing giant language fashions to present directions, as Google has performed, is especially fascinating.
It’s not the primary. The robotics startup Determine went viral a 12 months in the past for a video by which people gave directions to a humanoid on the best way to put dishes away. Across the identical time, a startup spun off from OpenAI, referred to as Covariant, constructed one thing related for robotic arms in warehouses. I noticed a demo the place you may give the robotic directions by way of 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.
Once you see such demos, you may’t assist however marvel: When are these robots going to return to our workplaces? What about our properties?
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.
