For robots, artificial intelligence gets physical
To work with humans, machines need to sense the world around them
ROBOT AWAKENING By giving robots physical intelligence, researchers hope to build machines that can work alongside humans.
Human: cherezoff/shutterstock; Robot: Willyam Bradberry/shutterstock
In a high-ceilinged laboratory at Children’s National Health System in Washington, D.C., a gleaming white robot stitches up pig intestines.
The thin pink tissue dangles like a deflated balloon from a sturdy plastic loop. Two bulky cameras watch from above as the bot weaves green thread in and out, slowly sewing together two sections.