Robotic Assistants
Image Credit: https://www.theengineer.co.uk/ocado-technology-humanoid-robot/
Due to the increasing development of technology, people have been continuously working on new projects regarding robots and artificial intelligence. These robots will have the ability to help humans by working more efficiently than humans at certain tasks. A company called Ocado Technology has been very successful in their efforts to create a robot that utilizes artificial intelligence.
Ocado Technology has been creating a robot that can sense when a technician needs assistance. The first prototype was created through a collaboration between Ocado Technology and researchers at European universities. However, the project came to an end because the scientists thought their goal of creating a robot that could anticipate what the technician would need next was too ambitious. They specifically wanted a robot that could analyze what the technicians were doing and then offer some assistance at the right time. The robot will then step in to help with the tool that is needed or lift the work in progress.
On the second attempt to create the robot, the robot’s AI was trained through observing the actions of humans. The workers at Ocado Technology also wanted the robot to respond to humans in a rather natural way. When the AI was finished, the scientists made a few tweaks to the robot’s strength and added five cameras to ensure that the robot could see the technicians actions.
The people who have seen the final prototype of the robot have expressed that they were surprised since the robot is as tall and large as a man. However, its work ethic and skills may prove to be better than that of a human. While a typical person can only last a certain amount of time holding extremely heavy objects, this robot will never get tired. Ocado Technology’s creation is surely impressive, and due to this, we may see more impressive robots in the future that fuse robots with AI.
Sources:
Morris, Ben. “The Robot Assistant That Can Guess What You Want.” BBC News, BBC, 11 May 2020, www.bbc.com/news/business-52547331.