Thanks to decades of sci-fi movies, it's easy to think of robots as a substitute for humans. Metal arms, hinged legs and electronic eyes do just that. But the future of robotics may be to expand and amplify humans, not replace them. The concept isn't entirely new, and now the Toyota Research Institute (TRI) headquarters in Los Altos, California, is developing robots that amplify humans.
Max Bajracharya of the Toyota Research Institute said that instead of being fooled by the humanoid layout of many robots, their real value may lie in amplifying, not replacing, humans. People at Toyota Research Institute are passionate about making robots really useful, and a concrete example is the soft touch-sensing gripper developed by TRI, which allows robots to handle fragile things like we do, with progressive, subtle sensations about stress and recognition.
These soft grippers are like hooves with mats, with cameras inside that not only calculate the perfect force needed to grab something, but also help identify objects, basically by touch. This soft touch job isn't just about grabbing and holding. Jeff Hawkins, a pioneer in artificial intelligence and smartphones, endorses the theory that our understanding of the world is largely achieved through "memory frameworks" that compare how we move within it, whether through text touch or through virtual contact with concepts like freedom and love. This learning of the world seems to have received a strong response in TRI's work.
TRI also gives its robots the ability to understand transparent or reflective surfaces. Transparency and reflection can confuse robots into thinking that something exists or doesn't exist, when the opposite is true. From grocery store aisles filled with transparent containers to homes filled with mirrors, this breakthrough can push robots to better adapt to different environments. But TRI's bigger goal remains a "symphony" of people and robots.
Today we haven't seen humans and robots really work together, which does limit the extent to which robots can amplify human capabilities. That's what TRI flipped the AI over with what they call IA. Simply put, it sees robots as something that harnesses the superior intelligence of humans and multiplies it with the robot's superior abilities in terms of strength, precision, persistence, and repeatability.