Robot knows when to pour you a beer

[Jazzy]

Researchers at a US university have unveiled a robot that can predict the actions of humans - and knows when to pour its owner a beer.

Scientists at Cornell University equipped the robot with a camera and a database of 3D videos outlining basic human activities to teach it appropriate responses to various actions.

The robot's prediction accuracy is at 82 per cent, researchers claim, and it can also learn from mistakes, reports the LA Times.

A video released by university researchers shows the Kodiak the robot opening a fridge door, and pouring a beer without being prompted.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=WYw4FN7CSCk

Powered by 16 laptop batteries, the robot can also make breakfast, put food in the fridge and even tidy up, according to researchers.

Computer scientist Ashutosh Saxena said: "You can think about human activities as a document in which there is a basic alphabet of what people can do, and we sequence things together to do long-term activities.

"We all do very basic things, like move our arms, get up, hold something, eat something or drink something. Now we can put this together in a sequence to do a variety of things."

Source

Who wants a beer?

 

[Nebulous's iconNebulous]

I do! So the robot brings me a new beer every time one starts to get empty? Sounds like a recipe for disaster!

 

[Evil Eye]

Cool.

Sounds like a recipe for disaster!

Unless you're throwing a party and can't afford a butler

 

[Nebulous's iconNebulous]

I meant it would be a disaster because someone might never stop drinking if a robot keeps bringing them a fresh beer.

 

[DrLeftover]

No thank you.

As it is connected to the Web, it can also tell Big Brother when you've been drinking, eating pork chops, and smoking cigars, or whatever else 'they' want to know about you.

I'll get my own beer.

 

[Evil Eye]

I meant it would be a disaster because someone might never stop drinking if a robot keeps bringing them a fresh beer.

They'll fall over eventually

 

[DrLeftover]

Add the robot to this and you get, what.....

A team at the University of Washington has rigged a standard Wi-Fi home network to detect your movements anywhere in the home and convert them into commands to control connected devices.

Gesture recognition is the latest fad in games and tech, but even the newest systems require high-tech depth-sensing cameras or other special hardware. Microsoft's new Kinect, for instance, uses a photon-measuring method called "time of flight" sensing that was, until the Kinect was announced, limited to high-tech laboratories. And Kinect isn't small, either.

UW computer science students, led by assistant professor Shyam Gollakota, looked at the gesture-detection puzzle another way — specifically, how people affect the environment they're already in.

Our bodies distort the Wi-Fi signals we use to beam information to and from our laptops and phones. By watching those signals very closely, the team could determine not just what room you're in, but where you're standing and how you're moving your body. They call the system WiSee.

http://www.nbcnews.com/technology/wi-fi-your-home-can-track-your-moves-xbox-kinect-6C10194118

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[Raven]

Would be constantly pouring it then lol... I want one!