Robots Need a New Philosophy to Get a Grip

Robots need to know the reason why they are doing a job if they are to effectively and safely work alongside people in the near future. In simple terms, this means machines need to understand motive the way humans do, and not just perform tasks blindly, without context. According to a new article by the National Centre for Nuclear Robotics , based at the University of Birmingham, this could herald a profound change for the world of robotics, but one that is necessary. Lead author Dr Valerio Ortenzi , at the University of Birmingham, argues the shift in thinking will be necessary as economies embrace automation, connectivity and digitisation ('Industry 4.0') and levels of human - robot interaction, whether in factories or homes, increase dramatically. The paper, published in Nature Machine Intelligence , explores the issue of robots using objects. 'Grasping' is an action perfected long ago in nature but one which represents the cutting-edge of robotics research. Most factory-based machines are 'dumb', blindly picking up familiar objects that appear in pre-determined places at just the right moment.