Wired UK: AMARSi project could see robots learn from co-workers

Source: wired.co.uk

Another recent story for Wired:

Robots of the future will be capable of learning more complex behaviours than ever before if a new, pan-European research project succeeds in its goal of developing the world’s first architecture for advanced robotic motor skills.

If successful, the four-year AMARSi (Adaptive Modular Architecture for Rich Motor Skills) project (which started this month) could see a manufacturing world filled with autonomous, intelligent humanoid worker bots that can learn new skills by interacting with their co-workers. It could also see a society with personal carer bots capable of quickly adapting to complex environments and changing human needs.

If the researchers are successful, the 7 million euro, EU-funded project will enable humanoid (and quadruped) bots to autonomously learn and develop motor skills in open-ended environments in the same way humans do — by learning from the data provided by movement and essentially rewiring their circuits to process and store the new knowledge they’ve acquired.

It’s all a far cry from the limited learning and motor skills capabilities of existing bots and it will rely on a suitably advanced range of technologies to make it happen: dynamic neural networks built on reservoir computing principles, new robotics hardware designs, and sophisticated software algorithms are all involved.

AMARSi relies on a “more-or-less unusual,” biologically inspired view of motor skills that goes beyond traditional robotic designs and is better suited to truly autonomous robots, says Project Coordinator, Jochen Steil, Director of The Cognitive Robotics and Learning Laboratory (CoR-Lab), at Bielefield University, in Germany.

Read more about the AMARSi project here.

Forklift Bots Prepare For War

Researchers at MIT’s Computer Science and Artificial Intelligence Laboratory have been testing a system designed to load and unload trucks autonomously or by remote control, to be used in dangerous places such as war zones. Photo Credit: Jason Dorfman.

Researchers at the Computer Science and Artificial Intelligence Laboratory (CSAIL) at MIT have developed a semi-autonomous forklift, designed to handle supplies in a war zone.

As the team explains, being a forklift operator in a war zone isn’t easy:

Currently, when supplies arrive at military outposts in war zones such as Iraq, people driving forklifts unload the pallets and put them into storage, and later load them onto trucks to take the material to where it’s needed. These forklift operators must often scramble for cover, slowing the work and putting them at risk.

When completed, the new robotic device will provide a safer way to handle pallet-loaded supplies of everything from truck tires to water containers and construction materials, says Matt Walter, a CSAIL
postdoctoral researcher with a lead role in the project. The device is designed to operate outdoors on uneven terrain such as gravel or packed earth.

Currently, when supplies arrive at military outposts in war zones such as Iraq, people driving forklifts unload the pallets and put them into storage, and later load them onto trucks to take the material to where it’s needed. These forklift operators must often scramble for cover, slowing the work and putting them at risk.

When completed, the new robotic device will provide a safer way to handle pallet-loaded supplies of everything from truck tires to water containers and construction materials, says Matt Walter, a CSAIL
postdoctoral researcher with a lead role in the project. The device is designed to operate outdoors on uneven terrain such as gravel or packed earth.

The CSAIL researchers made extensive use of computer code developed for other projects, including the autonomous vehicle MIT entered in the 2007 DARPA Grand Challenge auto race, in which unmanned cars navigated urban roads without human intervention.

Check out a video simulation of how the forklift bot might be used here. (I really like the voice recognition features and the ability to simply identify the pallets you want to move just by circling them on a small touchscreen.)

If you haven’t already, check out my previous post on warehouse bots here.

Warehouse Bots At Work

IEEE Spectrum Online uploaded a fascinating YouTube video July 21st, which shows warehouse robots at work. Developed by MA-based Kiva Systems, these little bots engage in a delicate ballet as they carry goods around the warehouse floor.

The robots read barcode stickers embedded in the floor to move around and are powered by a single DC motor.

The concept of a self-organizing warehouse is also upon us: Kiva System’s robots can automatically move popular goods to the best collection point, while leaving less popular items at the back of the warehouse.

That’s the last we’ll see of The Lisbon Treaty then, right?