There’s been a lot of talk recently about artificial intelligence and how it’s on track to outpace human intelligence in just a few decades. Well, that’s no concern when it comes to this robot, one its developers call “brainless”.
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00:00There's been a lot of talk recently about artificial intelligence, and how it's on
00:07track to outpace human intelligence in just a few decades.
00:11Well that's no concern when it comes to this robot, one its developers call brainless.
00:16This is the soft bodied robot being developed at North Carolina State University, and it
00:20can navigate mazes by rolling around.
00:22Its developers liken the movement to that of a cup, where the robot is slightly wider
00:26at one end than the other.
00:27Their initial build of the robot was tubular, which meant it couldn't turn unless it ran
00:31into something, and it often got stuck between parallel objects.
00:34This new design allows it to turn at will, not using artificial intelligence, but physical
00:39intelligence.
00:40Professor Jia Yin, one of the researchers on the project, explains that physical intelligence
00:45is derived from the way a soft bodied robot is developed, referring to the automaton's
00:49dynamic physical capabilities, rather than a programmed, algorithmic brain.
00:54This maze beating robot must currently be moving around a surface that is at least 131
00:58degrees Fahrenheit, causing the portion of the bot touching the hot surface to contract.
01:02This causes the robot to roll back and forth, navigating the maze without programming, with
01:07Professor Yin adding, this could change the way we think about soft robot design.