MIT researchers create human operated robot

So, what they’ve really done is programmed a bunch of little robots to work within a set of directions, and to gather as much information as they can to assign themselves their next task, without having a programmer tell them what they should do next.

Both small PR2 robots that have coolers attached to them are programmed to go to separate rooms and ask people if they want a drink.

A team of engineers has designed robots that can work together to pour and serve beers to humans.

A key challenge in making robots work effectively together is the uncertainty factor. Communication and sensor problems, for instance, could pose problems in the system. He added that when it comes to results, a robot could drop things while trying to lift or it may take more time to navigate than what is thought. To solve this problem, the researchers developed complex planning algorithms that would help the robots decipher their location, status and behavior. The sedate human then simply has to reach out and use a single finger to press a single button – the mechanical equivalent of grunting- to order the next round. We don’t have to think about each footstep we take-it’s become second nature through experience.

Their macro-action approach builds upon previous planning models that are referred to as “decentralized partially observable Markov decision processes”, or Dec-POMDPs.

It is actually that latter pair that the team from the school’s Computer Science and Artificial Intelligence (CSAIL).

The project was the brainchild of Chris Amato, a former CSAIL postdoctoral researcher who is now a professor at the University of New Hampshire. The online publication also notes the team hopes their Beerbots would one day “deliver items in unpredictable environments, including hospitals and disaster situations as well as restaurants and bars”.

Sure enough, these planning algorithms have applications beyond bartending. Machines that mix drinks with the help of an app and robot bartenders that are capable of creating cocktails exist but the notable thing about these bartending robots is not their individual skills but their teamwork.

All images via MIT.