Robot taught to play jengu. Why is it important

Robotics do not stand still - so thatmake sure to look at least one of the Boston Dynamics videos. But robots are taught not only to walk, lift weights, and fight: scientists at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, for example, have created a robot that can play jenga. At the same time, the machine did not have a goal to win - it must examine the blocks on its own.

The design itself consists of a robotichands, a special sensor and a two-way manipulator to make it easier for the machine to gently pull out the blocks. According to MIT, the robot knows about the location of the blocks, as well as how they look, but he tries to understand how the elements interact with each other.

As a result, the robot analyzed that partblocks is looser than the others, so they can be got without applying a large amount of force. Next, the robot understands how the design has changed, and by the method of touch, trial and error, tries to pull out the next block. According to the researchers, the machine is able to fully understand the game, having processed 200-300 "bricks".

This approach is significantly different fromused by other scientists who pre-write the program to successfully complete the task by the robot. In this case, the machine has the right to make mistakes; besides, if she makes the right movements, she is “rewarded”. Of course, as long as the robot can not beat the man in jengu (as, for example, in Go or Starcraft), but in the future everything goes to this.

If you let the robot learn the process yourself,he can model the situation much better with high accuracy. In addition, the management of small objects is one of the most priority areas for the use of such machines. Do you think robots will brush our teeth soon? Share your opinion in our Telegram chat.