A Stanford team has developed a robot that can perform almost any manual task, from cooking to straightening up the house. All it needs is a human to show it how.
The Greatest Demo I’ve Ever Seen
The demo, released yesterday on Twitter, is one of the most incredible things I’ve ever seen. The robot makes a 3 course Cantonese meal, completely autonomously — and it looks delicious!
The robot’s hands crack the eggs more skillfully than I do. The chicken is perfectly done.
After you have your delicious shrimp, chicken and greens, it’s time to do the dishes, right? Wrong!
The robot takes care of them for you, and can even give you a high five when it’s done!
A Flexible Platform
Mobile ALOHA goes way beyond the kitchen. It can push in chairs, call an elevator, or complete most any physical task.
For the robot to learn a new skill, you have to demonstrate it 50 times. The detachable arms let you train the robot on new skills or move it around.
Today, most robots do a single task, over and over. In areas like car manufacturing, they weld the same spot all day long, often separated from humans by a cage to keep the humans safe.
Mobile ALOHA is totally different. It can do a huge variety of tasks and safely operates right next to humans.
Best of all, the tech behind Mobile ALOHA is completely free and open source. You can see it all on GitHub here.
The Robot Takeover
Having to train a robot 50 times for it to learn a new skill might sound like a lot. But imagine McDonald’s using thousands of these all over the world.
At that scale, having to show it how to cook the fries 50 times is nothing! Staff could complete the training in an afternoon, then push the new skill to all its robots worldwide instantly.
This may be the end of manual labor.
Today, robots are cheaper and more reliable than humans for a few repetitive tasks. But humans are more flexible.
What if the robot is flexible too, and can learn any new skill in a few hours? That puts a lot of humans out of business.
The Human Edge
The best hope for our species is to do jobs where the human touch matters.
No one wants a robot yoga teacher. They want a person they can connect with.
I would love to go to a concert with a great pianist. But make it a player piano, and I’m out.
Humans still have the edge for jobs where humanity matters. But if it’s just about getting something from point A to point B, robots will soon take over.
What do you think of Mobile ALOHA? Leave a comment and let us know!
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