There are many methods to include AI into robots, beginning with bettering how they’re educated to do duties. However utilizing massive language fashions to present directions, as Google has executed, is especially fascinating.
It’s not the primary. The robotics startup Determine went viral a yr in the past for a video through which people gave directions to a humanoid on how you can put dishes away. Across the similar time, a startup spun off from OpenAI, known as Covariant, constructed one thing comparable for robotic arms in warehouses. I noticed a demo the place you may give the robotic directions through photos, 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.
While you see such demos, you may’t assist however surprise: When are these robots going to come back to our workplaces? What about our properties?
If Determine’s plans supply 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 yr. 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.