Some people think the AI revolution is only about chatbots and cool, if weird, digital art. But there’s much more happening behind the scenes. Google has shown this with its AI-powered robots. These robots are part of a research project and are roaming the hallways of Google’s DeepMind AI division, learning how to move around and interact with Google employees. This experiment gives us a peek at what future robots might be able to do in our homes, factories, and offices.
Understanding Complicated AI Terms
Google has written a research paper about “Multimodal Instruction Navigation with Long-Context VLMs and Topological Graphs.” This sounds complicated, but it means using AI to help robots move around Google’s offices and interact with people using “long context” prompts. “Long context” means the AI can remember a lot of information in one go, which helps the robot understand and remember details about what people say and ask it to do, much better than simple AIs like Amazon’s Alexa.
How the Robots Work
Videos of the project, mentioned by TechCrunch, show these AI-powered robots doing tasks in the office. For example, a robot is asked to take someone to a place where they can draw. The robot knows where whiteboards are and leads the person there. This shows the robot’s higher level of reasoning, which is more human-like than older AI robots.
Teaching Robots About Their Surroundings
Google is also teaching these robots about their surroundings in a new way. Instead of using precise maps or being controlled by humans to learn the layout, these new robots watch walkthrough videos made on smartphones. This helps the AI recognize objects like furniture and electrical outlets, remember their locations, and understand requests like helping charge a smartphone or getting more soda from the fridge.
A Look at the Future
Even though the robots look very artificial and have a noticeable delay when responding, Google’s project is an exciting glimpse into the future. This aligns with news about startups like Skild, which raised a lot of money to develop a universal AI brain for different robots. Big names like Bill Gates, Jeff Bezos, and Elon Musk think we’ll soon have AI-powered humanoid robots in our homes and workplaces.
From Sci-Fi to Reality
Promises of smart robots have been made for decades, going back to sci-fi characters like Robbie the Robot. But with Google’s advancements, we are getting closer to making these promises a reality.