Google’s 7-Year Quest: Outfitting AI with a Robot Body, One Algorithm at a Time!
“Inside Google’s 7-Year Mission to Give AI a Robot Body”
“Renowned philosopher Nick Bostrom once wrote a paper that terrified his peers about the possibility of a future where machines run amok”.
Alright, let’s pause for a second and absorb this. There’s a sequel to those Terminator movies in the works – not on the big screen, but at the global tech giant’s playground, Google.
Cross-legged Silicon Valley gurus have been tapping into their inner Elon Musk, mapping the next mindboggling frontier, the freaky junction where artificial intelligence (AI) high-fives robotics. The thought is jarringly futuristic and grippingly current – a wink at the era of AI running on robotic underpinnings. Voices might be quaking at the prospect of irked robotic overlords, but for Google, this represents the dawn of a blisteringly innovative age.
Those thinkers and tinkerers at Google are pouring their deep-thought-producing, coffee-addled grey matter into this project, with the utopian dream of enhancing AI’s perception and interaction with the physical world, starting with… you guessed it, robots.
Some poor robotic test subjects, aptly named ‘TossingBot’, have been enrolled in the AI university of hard knocks. These normal, everyday, garden-variety arms just turned Terminator-style, having the AI software installed to give them a hint of human savviness. These TossingBots are tasked with picking up objects, discerning one item from another, though currently, they operate with the finesse of a toddler.
It seems they are embracing the idea that if you can’t beat it, give it a hand… or an arm. Granted, poking at this AI-infused mechanical marvel unleashes an uncomfortable mash of excitement and apprehension. This enterprise stands at the frontier of a brave new world, where humans and machines might walk hand-in-hand. Will this symbiotic relationship of our own making prove to be a stepping stone or a potential pitfall? Perhaps only future blog posts will tell.
Until then, raise a toast to a future where machines don’t run amok but rather gallop in harmony with humanity, courtesy of the boffins at Google. Words of caution though – a well-intentioned pat on these robotic backs might not be returned with the warmth we are accustomed to. Not yet, anyway.