“Behold the Robot That Perfects Human-Like Moves with Just One AI Model on Board!”
“This Robot Only Needs a Single AI Model to Master Humanlike Movements”
“In a modest lab adorned with white boards and crowded with bulky technology, a humanoid figure sits at a table next to graduate student Mohammad Safeea. It’s the Kodlab’s marquee player: the Penn Jerboa.” Now, isn’t this what everyone dreams of while pursuing a graduate degree? An AI buddy to keep you company in those isolating lab hours! They say humans need social interaction but clearly, they haven’t experienced the joy of deep conversations with a humanoid robot.
This dashing figure is the star on the field, the Penn Jerboa. It spends its days (and nights, since it doesn’t require sleep, lucky bastard) not only learning from its human counterparts (because clearly, we have a lot to teach), but beginning to exhibit signs of – drumroll, please – generalized learning.
Apparently, generalization is the holy grail of artificial intelligence. Here’s to hoping it doesn’t get cocky after achieving it. After all, there’s a reason why generalization is such a big deal. Without over complicating things (which academics love to do), it’s all about enabling robots to apply lessons from one task to others. Sort of like when humans realize that olives are disgusting on pizza and likely disgusting on anything else.
In more technical terms, which the layperson may snore through, the Penn Jerboa’s success in generalized learning depends on the Q-Function. Sorry, did anyone yawn? It’s not a trigonometric algorithm from your high school nightmares but it’s, in fact, an anticipated reward from the AI’s decision-making process. Yeah, robots get decision-making processes, but some folks still can’t choose what they want for dinner.
Apparently, the function for the Penn Jerboa is generalizable, meaning that once it learns one task, it can apply it to another. To make that more interesting, imagine taking your knowledge of making scrambled eggs, and just being able to make a beef wellington because, well, how different could those processes possibly be?
Finally, ‘sim-to-real’ transfers are joyfully welcomed in the realm of robots. They take what they have learned in their sweet, imaginary simulation world, and apply it to hard, cruel reality. Oh, if only humans could translate half of their daydreams into reality!
There you have it folks, the Penn Jerboa doing exactly what most kids struggle with: taking what they learn in school and actually applying it to real life. A round of applause for our humanoid robot, please.
Be sure to keep your eyes peeled for more on this, and don’t forget to bring popcorn to watch the human vs robot competition. With everything going on here, it promises to be more entertaining than a sci-fi movie marathon.