Lead author Dr. It must ensure that it doesnt drop the glass but also that water doesnt spill over the recipient during the act of passing, or that the glass is presented in such a way that the person can take hold of it.Unfortunately, that could mean that a hugely powerful machine then thrusts a potentially lethal blade towards you, at speed. Getting a machine to pick up unfamiliar objects, randomly presented, requires the seamless interaction of multiple, complex technologies.Researchers explored the issue of robots using objects., to pass the screwdriver safely to its human colleague, in order to rethink its actions.. The traditional metrics used by researchers, over the past twenty years, to assess robotic manipulation, are not sufficient.These include vision systems and advanced AI so the machine can see the target and determine its properties (for example, is it rigid or flexible?); and potentially, sensors in the gripper are required so the robot does not inadvertently crush an object it has been told to pick up.

Grasping is an action perfected long ago in nature but one which represents the cutting-edge of robotics research.The study cited the example of a robot in a factory picking up an object for delivery to a customer.In simple terms, this means machines need to understand motive the way humans do, and not just perform tasks blindly, without context, reported the study published in the journal, Nature Machine Intelligence. It successfully executes the task, holding the package securely without causing damage.e. In the most practical sense, robots need a new philosophy to get a grip.Even when all this is accomplished, researchers in the National Centre for Nuclear Robotics highlighted a fundamental issue: what has traditionally counted as a successful grasp for a robot might actually be a real-world failure, because the machine does not take into account what the goal is and why it is picking an object up.Imagine asking a robot to pass you a screwdriver in a workshop.

Ortenzi and his co-authors give other examples, involving robots working alongside people.Another scenario envisages a robot passing a glass of water to a resident in a care home. Valerio Ortenzi, at the University of Birmingham, argued the shift in thinking will be necessary as economies embrace automation, connectivity and digitisation and levels of human-robot interaction, whether in factories or homes, increase dramatically. Based on current conventions the best way for a robot to pick up the tool is by the handle.What is obvious to humans has to be programmed into a machine and this requires a profoundly different approach.Dr.Unfortunately, the robots gripper obscures a crucial barcode, which means the object cant be tracked and the firm Schuko Plugs has no idea if the item has been picked up or not; the whole delivery system breaks down because the robot does not know the consequences of holding a box the wrong way. Instead, the robot needs to know what the end goal is, i.Most factory-based machines are dumb, blindly picking up familiar objects that appear in pre-determined places at just the right moment.Robots need to know the reason why they are doing a job if they are to effectively and safely work alongside people in the near future, suggests researchers