Cornell robot discovers itself and adapts to injury when it loses one of its limbs

Just read this pretty cool article.

This four-legged robot is not
preprogrammed to walk. Like a newborn
animal it explores itself and learns to
use its limbs to move. When a leg is
damaged, it repeats the process and
works out a new method of locomotion.

Pretty awesome! I wouldn't wanna give it a weapon though

Although the test robot is a simple four-
legged device, the researchers say the
underlying algorithm could be used to
build more complex robots that can deal
with uncertain situations, like space
exploration, and may help in
understanding human and animal behavior.

"Most robots have a fixed model
laboriously designed by human engineers,"
Lipson explained. "We showed, for the first
time, how the model can emerge within the
robot. It makes robots adaptive at a new
level, because they can be given a task
without requiring a model. It opens the
door to a new level of machine cognition
and sheds light on the age-old question of
machine consciousness, which is all about
internal models."

The article itself goes into much more technical detail. Baring in mind this article is nearly six years old imagine what some robots can do now

I'm assuming that the 'Curiosity' has tech on par or above but this is the part that really interests me; may help in understanding human and animal behavior. The idea of true artificial intelligence truly creeps me out but cool nonetheless!

reply to post by TechUnique


Reminds me of this program this guy wrote a while back. The program was "living" blocks evolving to get an inanimate cube as food. After a while some would evolve to be faster than others. But the scary thing is one of the cubes started to attack the compitition before they got to the food. It wasn't tought that, nor was it programed to evolve into that. It just did.

What a total waste of time and money.

What can that thing do that a 6 wheeled truck cant do? If a 6 wheeled truck loses a wheel it keeps on rolling. Not only that it moves at a faster speed and it can carry stuff and it doesnt need a complex computer program.

Talk about reinventing the wheel

reply to post by PhoenixOD

They are programmed to do that though, this learns robot learns it.

reply to post by XLR8R

Hey, do you have any links to those robots? Sounds awesome but I can't seem to find it on google.
Thanks

Originally posted by PhoenixOD
What a total waste of time and money.

this is an experimental version of a much bigger idea. they're not looking to strap some baskets to it and call it a day. they set out to have a machine problem solve and adapt on its own and seem to have accomplished just that.

Although the test robot is a simple four-legged device, the researchers say the underlying algorithm could be used to build more complex robots that can deal with uncertain situations, like space exploration, and may help in understanding human and animal behavior.

Have none of these scientists that do this stuff never watched a science fiction film?

These things always end badly!

reply to post by XLR8R


I remember that, pretty crazy.

Heres another video that shows an adaptive program. enjoy

Originally posted by TechUnique
reply to post by PhoenixOD

 

They are programmed to do that though, this learns robot learns it.

Yes, but this new robot from cornell is PROGRAMMED to learn it.

Its just a different method of programming. The use of evolutionary algorithms and neural networks allows scientist to create programs which appear to learn or self improve. Some people mistake this for consciousness. But in reality it is just a complex system which has the ability to update itself.

This robot has some sort of sub-routine that will test different combinations of movement in its limb. It will rate each combination with a level of effectiveness(distance move vs energy spent maybe?) until it reaches a desired level of effectiveness. At which point, the robot will then use that mode of locomotion. Then if the robot detects that it has lost a leg, or it's walking routine has become ineffective (new terrain?) it will re-run that subroutine until finding a new mode of transportation.

Its not like this program decided to change its programming and learn a new way to walk. It was programmed with the right tools to discover for itself.

I'm assuming that the 'Curiosity' has tech on par or above but this is the part that really interests me; may help in understanding human and animal behavior. The idea of true artificial intelligence truly creeps me out but cool nonetheless!

edit on 26/10/2010 by TechUnique because: (no reason given)

I hope you checked out the video i listed previously. Tools like that could be used to help understand evolution.

Just like the robot you mentioned could help understand human behavior. We both use a similar model or mental map when trying to learn something.

When we want to figure something out, what do we do? Science. We make a hypothesis, test it, and then try it again until we get it right. Its the same with this robot.

you may enjoy this ATS thread-
Artificial Intelligence

reply to post by Deedsy1


I can't seem to find it. By the way they are not robots, they are individual programs in a computer portrayed as cubes on the screen. If I can find the documentary I found it in I'll post it ASAP.

reply to post by XLR8R


here it is. i thought of the same exact video when it was brought up. the "creature" somehow learns to block the rival for food without any preprogramming. it just reminds me that based on a few simple rules complexity can form. it says something to me about at what level is consciousness considered. say as in the simplest lifeforms such as jelly fish and such reacting to stimuli through a simple(r) nervous system instead of a large brain.

reply to post by homeskillet

THAT'S IT!! Ok, sorry for the caps but I've been looking for this for a couple of days. It's amazing that it would go beyond it's programing and evolve. So imagine, we've created artificial, completely synthetic bacteria. What's more agressive than an amoeba? Nothing really. Would it be possible for it to adapts and preserve it's food source by preventing other spiecies from feeding?Would it have an impact on it's or our enviroment? Many questions come from that. KInd of scrary to me.