Too Busy or Lazy for House Chores? Let Robots Do It for You

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Today’s Highlights:

• Too Busy or Lazy for House Chores? Let the Robot Do It for You 🦾

• Last-Mile Delivery Optimization Platform 🚛

Too Busy or Lazy for House Chores? Let the Robots Do It for You

The idea of robots living alongside humans on Earth has been an idea planted in our ideas for quite some time, through fictional media like Robocop, The Jetsons, or Star Wars, and in real life, too. The very first modern robot as we know them was created by an inventor from Louisville, Kentucky, George C. Devol, in the early 1950s.

At the time, Devol attempted to sell his product but didn’t succeed. In the late 1960s, Devol’s robot patent was acquired by businessman and engineer Joseph Engleberger. Engleberger modified Devol’s robot into an industrial one and formed a company to produce and market his robots. This was the very first commercialization of robots.

We have come a long way since then, and dozens of “real” futuristic robots now exist. From autonomous mobile robots which do not resemble humans to telepresence robots* that we can honestly say might take after humans a little too much, Engineered Arts’ Ameca being one example, our engineers have raised the standards of robotics.

*Telepresence Robots: Typically remote-controlled and wheeled robots that enable users to have a mobile, remote presence anywhere in the world with internet access.

Due to this, imagining a world where you might stumble upon robots walking a dog during your morning walk has become a little easier. What if robots were to live in your house or hang around in your office, helping you organize a messy drawer you haven’t had the motivation to touch? Picturing that occurrence now requires minimal effort, thanks to CMU Robotics Institute, as they have succeeded in teaching robots how to do chores.

Robots Doing House Work

In 2022, the CMU Robotics Institute developed the in-the-Wild Human Imitating Robot Learning (WHIRL) program, an algorithm that allows robots to learn how to perform a specific task by watching a recording of a human. With this algorithm, robots can now not only respond to programming but also adapt and learn by simply watching a video.

During this development, a robotic arm was able to learn and complete over 20 household chores, such as opening and closing drawers and taking out the trash. The robots were only able to operate in a setting similar to the one they had viewed, however, and required multiple attempts to execute certain tasks, not stopping until they had succeeded.

Chores with YouTube

CMU Robotics Institute assistant professor Deepak Pathak shared the developments their system has gone through over the past year. Now called Vision-Robotics Bridge (VRB), the algorithm enables robots to perform a task in more flexible settings.

The robots were brought around campus to complete all sorts of tasks simply by imitating humans on video and have apparently succeeded. After watching several videos of humans opening drawers, for example, the robots can now determine how to open any drawer anywhere.

This development has made the CMU team believe that by improving and expanding their datasets, robots will be able to learn from the vast amount of YouTube videos available.

With this sort of algorithm in place, it wouldn’t be a surprise if robots could someday soon be utilized by professionals and businesses to do numerous tasks, such as hazardous or busy work, for instance. If or when this happens, a whole new light on workplace productivity and flexibility can be shed.

AI-Generated Idea of the Day

Last-Mile Delivery Optimization Platform

As e-commerce continues to grow rapidly, the demand for efficient last-mile delivery solutions is increasing. To address this need, you can develop the Last-Mile Delivery Optimization Platform (LMDOP) to optimize your delivery and enhance customer satisfaction.

The platform provides a comprehensive suite of tools and services to help you streamline your last-mile delivery operations. Some key features and services include:

• Route Optimization

• Dispatch and Driver Management

• Customer Communication

• Training and Support

• Fleet Management

With advanced algorithms and mapping technologies for route optimization, you can optimize delivery routes based on distance, traffic patterns, and delivery time windows. This way, you reduce fuel costs, improve delivery efficiency, and create an overall satisfying experience for your customers.

By utilizing a centralized dashboard to dispatch and manage drivers, you can assign routes, track drivers in real-time, and communicate with them throughout the delivery process. Integrating with mobile apps can help drivers receive delivery instructions, capture proof of delivery, and report any ongoing issues, creating the best experience for your employees and your customers.

To provide an even better customer experience, you can develop customer-facing features such as automated notifications and tracking tools to keep your customers informed at all times, promoting transparency. To ensure the best service your employees can offer to customers, you can provide training materials for operational technicalities and customer support.

Lastly, to guarantee proper and efficient fleet management, you can provide vehicle maintenance scheduling, fuel consumption tracking, and driver performance monitoring. This way, your fleet can operate at optimal levels and minimize downtime, creating an overall efficient delivery experience.

Meme & AI-Generated Picture

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