From The Jetsons to Bicentennial Man, a common threat running along popular culture is the idea that one day, robots would perform the household chores that we all find so deeply tedious.
Numerous barriers prevent this from becoming a reality, sadly. Perhaps the biggest is that robots lack the innate intuition that humans do. It’s this intuition that makes us expert problem solvers.
Let’s suppose we’re in an unfamiliar kitchen, and you ask me to make you a cup of tea. Even though I may have never used the particular kettle before, and I may not be entirely sure where the milk and teabags are kept, I’ll muddle through.
Give me enough time, and I’ll bring you a smashing cup of “builder’s tea.” Milk first, obviously. Anything else is just wrong.
Computers aren’t like that. They need more explicit instruction. You can’t just say “make me a brew.” You’ve got to spell it out, step by step.
Walk to the kitchen. Open the cabinet. Fetch a cup. Open the tea box. Grab a teabag. Put it in the cup. Open the fridge. Grab the milk. Open the milk. Pour an inch into the cup. Put the lid back on the milk. Return the milk to the fridge. Fill the kettle. Turn it on. Wait for it to boil. Pour the boiling water into the cup. Stir the cup. Let it stand for a minute. Remove the teabag. Drink. Aaaaaah.
Get the idea? Fortunately, researchers from MIT’s Computer Science and Artificial Intelligence Laboratory (CSAIL), McGill University, the University of Ljubljana, and the University of Toronto are working on a way to make machines more suited to homemaking.
The researchers built a Sims-like environment called VirtualHome. This system represents a typical home environment, allowed the researchers to simulate typical domestic tasks, which were executed by artificial “agents.”
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Source: The Next Web