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Watch the Little Robot That Taught the Big Robot Something New

Robots can learn to do tasks just fine. Getting different kinds of robots to share knowledge, though, is another challenge entirely.

Released on 05/10/2017

Transcript

[Narrator] Yes, I know, I know.

You can do this much faster than a robot.

But there's something fascinating

going on here behind the scenes.

An operator has taught the robot, named Optimus,

how to pull a tube out of another tube.

To do so, the human worked in a 3D environment,

kind of like a video game, to demonstrate how it's done.

So, cool, now the robot can manipulate tubes.

But what's so remarkable about this system

is this little robot can then seamlessly transfer

that knowledge to a much, much bigger robot.

Namely, the famous Atlas humanoid,

which stands at six feet tall.

So that knowledge is combined with new information for Atlas

about how to adapt this behavior for itself.

After all, it has to do it while balancing on two legs.

For now, this transfer of knowledge

only works for Atlas in a simulation.

But this is a big step towards the future

where robots share knowledge on vast scales.

Researchers are already building robots

that can teach themselves to do things like open doors

through what's known as reinforcement learning.

So, imagine a day when one robot in a factory somewhere

learns to do something more efficiently,

then uploads that knowledge to the cloud for other robots.

And not just robots of its own kind.

With advances like this with the Optimus robot,

the machines will be able to communicate across species.

Nothing to worry about, I'm sure.

Look, they smile.

Nothing to worry about at all.

Starring: Matt Simon