Robot that autonomously folds a pile of towels

When I was briefly involved in doing research as an undergrad, Pieter Abbeel (the Berkeley professor behind this robot) was my grad student advisor. Back then I was just trying to pick up dry-erase markers off a table, and even that was extraordinarily difficult to do. To me, this video is nothing short of mind-blowing.

Re: Robot that autonomously folds a pile of towels

#5

Post by noonespecial » Tue, Apr 06, 2010, 12:51 AM UTC

Anyone who's ever worked retail on the fitting-room -> shelf/hanger treadmill is now thinking feverish thoughts...

Edit: Oh. Swing and miss! Feverish was the wrong word. I was not at all implying that this is a "teh robots took our yooobbss" scenario, rather, as someone who has folded and restocked many shirts, I'm excited about the prospect that this kind of drudgework could be spared us by robots.

Philosophically, I think this is a very good thing. Sure robots do more important things than fold shirts, but this kind of AI is an important baby step to a much better world for people.

Re: Robot that autonomously folds a pile of towels

#6

Post by jpwagner » Tue, Apr 06, 2010, 12:52 AM UTC

mhb wrote: post #3

http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=1235994

thanks for this link to another HN page involving the exact same video with zero discussion on it.

Re: Robot that autonomously folds a pile of towels

#7

Post by invisible » Tue, Apr 06, 2010, 12:59 AM UTC

It's so astonishing that what takes this robot over an hour and a half to do can be processed by our brains in a fraction of a second. I am looking forward to being witness to the tightening of that gap.

Re: Robot that autonomously folds a pile of towels

#8

Post by mahmud » Tue, Apr 06, 2010, 1:03 AM UTC

noonespecial wrote: post #5

Anyone who's ever worked retail on the fitting-room -> shelf/hanger treadmill is now thinking feverish thoughts... Edit: Oh. Swing and miss! Feverish was the wrong word. I was not at all implying that this is a "teh robots took our yooobbss" scenario, rather, as someone who has folded and restocked many shirts, I'm excited about the prospect that this kind of drudgework could be spared us by robots. Philosophically,…

Really? robots already "do" a whole lot more important things than folding clothes and they have "threatened" industries and work sectors far more significant than that.

You must think the AIBO also threatens the ailing dog-pound, and animal shelter "industries" ..

Re: Robot that autonomously folds a pile of towels

#9

Post by [deleted] » Tue, Apr 06, 2010, 1:13 AM UTC

noonespecial wrote: post #5

Anyone who's ever worked retail on the fitting-room -> shelf/hanger treadmill is now thinking feverish thoughts... Edit: Oh. Swing and miss! Feverish was the wrong word. I was not at all implying that this is a "teh robots took our yooobbss" scenario, rather, as someone who has folded and restocked many shirts, I'm excited about the prospect that this kind of drudgework could be spared us by robots. Philosophically,…

[deleted]

Re: Robot that autonomously folds a pile of towels

#10

Post by kijuhygfhjk » Tue, Apr 06, 2010, 2:08 AM UTC

Since this was a male CS Phd student presumably the real research was discovering that towels:

a, needed folding

b, needed washing occasionally so they could be folded