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Robot: I Now Have Common Sense. Engineer: Great, Go Fetch Me a Sandwich

singularityhub.com

1–10 of 27 posts

Re: Robot: I Now Have Common Sense. Engineer: Great, Go Fetch Me a Sandwich

#4
Ugh, singularityhub.

Willow Garage does, in fact, have a blog. And they did, in fact, post about this four days ago: http://www.willowgarage.com/blog/2011/10/04/jsk-and-tum-teac...

Did singularityhub mention the original source? No, of course not.

Re: Robot: I Now Have Common Sense. Engineer: Great, Go Fetch Me a Sandwich

#5

Ugh, singularityhub. Willow Garage does, in fact, have a blog. And they did, in fact, post about this four days ago: http://www.willowgarage.com/blog/2011/10/04/jsk-and-tum-teac... Did singularityhub mention the original source? No, of course not.

Willow Garage isn't the original source. They made the platform, but the developers of the "common sense" system, the owners of this robot, and the people who actually made the video, are from the University of Tokyo JSK Lab and Technische Universität München. If you read the link you posted, you would see that Willow Garage properly credits them as the original source.

Edit: Also, the fourth word in TFA is a link to Willow Garage. Your entire post is wrong.

Re: Robot: I Now Have Common Sense. Engineer: Great, Go Fetch Me a Sandwich

#7
The part that really interested me was the process by which a robot orders a sandwich and pays for it. Unfortunately, the video fast-forwards through that bit. The way the cashier looks at the cameraman suggests that there was some human assistance there.

My point is that encoding probabilities about locations isn't enough. When the robot knew that the fridge was a probable place for a sandwich, it also knew how to open the door of the fridge, and that this was a required action to obtain a sandwich in that location. "Open the fridge door and look for a sandwich" is analogous to "Talk to the cashier and order a sandwich", but it seems like the robot can't do that yet. Subway also sells drinks, and if the person had asked for a drink, and subway had been found to be a probable location for a drink, the actions needed at the subway would need to be different to get a drink rather than a sandwich.

It's cool research, and very useful, but it's worth pointing out that this robot can't yet actually fetch a sandwich from subway unassisted.

Re: Robot: I Now Have Common Sense. Engineer: Great, Go Fetch Me a Sandwich

#8
Uh. The difference between writing a 'probability map' that says fridges and subways are good places to find sandwiches, and telling the robot to go to the fridge and to subway, are not so clear to me. Having the robot modify that probability map with no guidance--now that would be cool.

Re: Robot: I Now Have Common Sense. Engineer: Great, Go Fetch Me a Sandwich

#9
I'm really not seeing anything impressive here. There's zero "true" AI at work, and common sense is actually the cornerstone of true AI.

The robot still needs to be told the existence of subway and the probability of getting a sandwhich there. It can't deduce for itself that the new restaurant across the street has sandwiches.

Edit: please don't downvote because you think my opinion doesn't coincide with your awe at seeing a robot buy a sandwich.

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