Industrial Automation Magazine India

Essays on technology, media, marketing and politics.

Published on : Friday 18-10-2019

 

Think About This...Essays on technology, media, marketing and politics.

Advances in AI and robotics are demonstrating a decoupling of consciousness from intelligence that seems a bit magical. I can solve a Rubik’s Cube in a couple of minutes using algorithms I learned about 20 years ago. I have often marveled at people who compete in Rubik’s speed solve competitions. I’m not sure what the official “human” world record is, but there are videos on YouTube that show times in the sub-4.75 second range.

Just the other day, OpenAI posted a blog and video of an AI-powered, one-handed robot solving a Rubik’s cube in about four minutes. The engineers accomplished this by training a pair of neural networks to operate a robotic hand: "The neural networks are trained entirely in simulation, using the same reinforcement learning code as OpenAI Five paired with a new technique called Automatic Domain Randomization (ADR). The system can handle situations it never saw during training, such as being prodded by a stuffed giraffe. This shows that reinforcement learning isn’t just a tool for virtual tasks, but can solve physical-world problems requiring unprecedented dexterity."

The sheer number of potential practical applications of this technology should make your brain explode. Clean up in aisle 6, please. As always, your thoughts and comments are both welcome and strongly encouraged. You can comment here. -s

P.S. Think About This... you actually work for Google, collecting stuff doesn't make sense anymore, Nike keeps winning, and 5G doesn't matter. You just invented the cell phone: who ya gonna call? We called with Marty Cooper, the guy who actually invented the cell phone, to get his answer. Check out the first episode of our new podcast, "Think About This with Shelly Palmer & Ross Martin." The more you listen, the less you know!

Today's Question: How close are we to AI-powered general-purpose robots? Answer here.

Yesterday's Survey Results: Did you subscribe to Shelly & Ross's podcast?

98%: Yes - it sounds amazing!

2%: No - it sounds like a huge time suck with no demonstrable benefits.*

*In the comments section, all said they actually subscribed, but didn't want it to go to my head. Message received. ;)

0%: Umm... I'd rather not say.

Thanks everyone... back to important surveys now.