Are Autodidactic Robots Coming to Industry? [Video]

Why is AlphaGo such a momentous step in Artificial Intelligence? What does it have to do with robotic depalletizing? In this post, we investigate how recent advances in self-learning programs are making industrial robotics more flexible and easier to use. We also find out why AlphaGo will never be able to pass you the sugar.

You’ve almost certainly heard about AlphaGo. This March, the program developed at Google made Artificial Intelligence history by becoming the first robot to beat the world champion at the ancient game of Go. Why was the win so momentous? For one thing, AlphaGo taught itself how to play the game.

Self-learning algorithms are nothing new in robotics and AI. Since the first successful artificial neural network was developed in Stanford in 1959, programmers have been trying to make computer programs which can learn on their own. The motivation for doing this in robotics is fairly clear – if your robot …