Robot that thinks for itself from scratch brings forward rise the self-aware machines
Robot that thinks for itself from scratch brings forward
rise the self-aware machines
After 35 hours the arm
began performing tasks with reasonable accuracy - Columbia University
By Henry Bodkin January 30, 2019
The rise of “self-aware” robots has come a major step
closer following the invention of a machine capable of thinking for itself from
scratch, scientists have said.
Engineers at Columbia
University claim to have smashed one of the biggest barriers in the field of
robotics after a mechanical arm, which had not been programmed with any
instructions, began performing practical tasks after just a few hours.
The team said this is the
first time a robot has shown the ability to “imagine itself”, thereby working
out what its purpose is and how to perform it.
Until now, some experts
had pointed to the failure to achieve this as evidence that machines would
never be able to develop their own intelligence in the complex
way that humans do.
The robotic arm was programmed with no knowledge of
physics, geometry or motor dynamics.
It spent approximately 35 hours moving about at random,
however intensive machine-learning computing was going on during this time.
Eventually, the robot was able to understand its own
dimensions and capabilities.
It then began successfully performing exercises, picking
up objects and placing them elsewhere.
Professor Hod Lipson, who leads the Creative Machines
lab, where the research was carried out, said: “This is perhaps what a newborn
child does in its crib, as it learns what it is," he says.
"We conjecture that this advantage may have also
been the evolutionary origin of self-awareness in humans.
“While our robot's ability to imagine itself is still
crude compared to humans, we believe that this ability is on the path to
machine self-awareness."
The self-modeling robot was also used for other tasks,
such as writing text using a marker.
Meanwhile to test whether the self-model could detect
damage to itself, the researchers 3D-printed a deformed part to simulate damage
and the robot was able to detect the change and re-train its self-model.
The new self-model enabled the robot to resume its
pick-and-place tasks with little loss of performance.
"Self-awareness will lead to more resilient and
adaptive systems, but also implies some loss of control," the authors
warn.
"It's a powerful technology, but it should be
handled with care.” The study is published in the journal Science Robotics.
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