Posted on 06/15/2012 11:54:21 AM PDT by opentalk
Computerworld - MIT researchers have developed an algorithm that they say will enable robots to learn and adapt to humans so they can soon work side-by-side on factory floors.
Traditionally, robots working in factories are large, imposing and sectioned off in metal cages as they move heavy loads and perform menial, repetitive tasks.
However, Julie Shah, the Boeing Career Development Assistant Professor of Aeronautics and Astronautics at MIT, said robots can be more than they've been in a manufacturing setting. It's time for robots to begin working more closely with humans, making workers jobs' safer and easier.
Shah, in a statement, said this is especially true in the airplane manufacturing industry.
"If the robot can provide tools and materials so the person doesn't have to walk over to pick up parts and walk back to the plane, you can significantly reduce the idle time of the person," said Shah, who leads the Interactive Robotics Group in MIT's Computer Science and Artificial Intelligence Laboratory
...However, one of the issues involved with having humans work individually with robots is that every person works differently, and the robots will have to adapt to each worker.
To address that problem, Shah and her research team at MIT created an algorithm that enables robots to quickly learn an individual's preference for a certain task, and adapt accordingly to help complete the task. If the robot can learn and adjust quickly, it can move seamlessly from working with one worker to another.
(Excerpt) Read more at computerworld.com ...
Just don't let it learn from a union worker or else it will always be offering coffee and cigarettes to make the break more efficient. And it will have to be taught how to cover for an employee when he just wanders off for a long lunch or leaves early.
How long before it starts demanding benefits?
And appears on the voting rolls?
Best friends with the drones
The problem isn't that it will make the worker's break more efficient, that's perfectly fine. The problem is that by learning from the worker, the robot will learn to demand breaks, sick leave, union wages, and harassment suit payouts. It will learn to work slower than it can so as not to raise mgmt expectations. And it eventually it will steal, talk bad about it's coworkers, and think the boss is a jerk.
Robby could make Vodka or some sort of alcohol.
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