Covariant has introduced RFM-1, aiming to revolutionize robotics with a large language model for robot language that enhances robots' decision-making and interaction capabilities across various industries by utilizing a massive data collection from its Brain AI platform.
Tuesday, March 12, 2024Covariant has introduced RFM-1, aiming to revolutionize robotics with a large language model for robot language that enhances robots' decision-making and interaction capabilities across various industries by utilizing a massive data collection from its Brain AI platform.
Unitree has released the first few details on its G1 Humanoid Agent, a $16,000 robotic helper. The robot is equipped with 3D LiDAR sensors, a depth camera, three-fingered grippers, and a 9,000-mAh battery pack. It can recover from brutal kicks and punches, as seen in the short demo video in the article. At around 35 kg, the robot can fold itself down to 690x450x300-mm proportions for compact carry.
Over 900 people attended last year's Conference on Robot Learning, which featured 11 workshops and almost 200 accepted papers. One of the largest debates at the event was whether training a large neural network on a very large data set was a feasible way to solve robotics. This post presents the different sides of the argument to deepen people's understanding of the debate. Scaling has worked for other similar fields. However, it is impractical as there isn't much robotics data available and there's no clear way to get it. Even if scaling works as well as in other fields, it likely still won't solve robotics.
OpenAI is reviving its robotics research group after a three-year hiatus, aiming to develop multimodal robotics models and improve core AI models.
Over 900 people attended last year's Conference on Robot Learning, which featured 11 workshops and almost 200 accepted papers. One of the largest debates at the event was whether training a large neural network on a very large data set was a feasible way to solve robotics. This post presents the different sides of the argument to deepen people's understanding of the debate. Scaling has worked for other similar fields. However, it is impractical as there isn't much robotics data available and there's no clear way to get it. Even if scaling works as well as in other fields, it likely still won't solve robotics.
Chinese researchers have created a robot controlled by a tiny organoid made from human stem cells. The brain tissue is hooked up to a neural interface, allowing it to pass instructions to the humanoid robot body. The setup will allow researchers to study brain-computer interfaces and help develop techniques for integrating organoids with the human brain. Organoids could one day be used to repair the human brain through transplantation.
Jerry Pratt, former CTO of Figure, has partnered with Nic Radford, former president and CEO of Nauticus Robotics, Inc., to found Persona AI, a new humanoid robotics firm in early development. Despite a saturated market, Persona aims to attract investors and 10 to 20 founder-level employees with a vision strongly resting on current AI breakthroughs in perception algorithms, onboard electronics, and machine learning. The startup distinguishes itself by choosing headquarters in Houston and Pensacola rather than traditional robotics hubs.
Google's Gemini 1.5 Pro AI can train robots to navigate and complete tasks using video tours and natural language instructions, achieving a 90% success rate and demonstrating advanced planning capabilities.
Figure's second-generation humanoid robot is aimed at production lines in commercial settings. Its engineers took a ground-up hardware and software redesign approach to developing the robot that included upgrades to the AI systems, computer vision, battery pack, electronics, sensors, and actuators. The robot now has microphones and speakers that allow it to have one-on-one conversations with humans. A video trailer from Figure showing off the robot is available.
Apple may be expanding into robotics, potentially introducing devices that move, such as an iPad mounted on a robotic arm. Headed by VP of Technology Kevin Lynch, Apple's robotics efforts are progressing with the help of experts from firms like Israel's Technion, and propose to include AI interfaces beyond Siri. While still conceptual, Apple is considering a 2026 or 2027 release for these new robotic products.
OpenAI-backed robotic company 1X recently released a teaser video for its new humanoid robot, Neo Beta. The video shows the robot posing with a human for a picture with its arm around them, suggesting that 1X is selling a kind of close and casual encounter not yet seen in the humanoid robot space. 1X is aiming to sell Neo for home use to help people with various tasks and perhaps assist people with limited mobility. The company will be deploying some of its Neo Beta robots into homes for research and development purposes. A video of the robot in action is available in the article.