Slashdot Mirror

← Back to Stories (view on slashdot.org)

Berkeley's Two-Armed Robot Hints at a New Future For Warehouses (axios.com)

Posted by msmash on from the advancements-in-robotics dept.

Pick up a glass of water, lift a fork: you automatically figure out the best way to grasp each object. Now researchers at UC Berkeley have developed a robot that makes similar calculation, choosing on the fly whether to grab an object with pincers or lift it with a suction cup. From a report: Berkeley's two-armed robot, seen in this video clip [GIF file], first considers the contents of a bin and calculates each arm's probability of picking up an object. Its suction cup is good at grabbing smooth, flat objects like boxes, but bad at porous surfaces like on a stuffed animal. The pincers, on the other hand, are best with small, odd-shaped items. The system learned its pick-up prowess not from actual practice, but from millions of simulated grasps on more than 1,600 3D objects. In every simulation, small details were randomized, which taught the robot to deal with real-world uncertainty. The bot can pick up objects 95% of the time, at about 300 successful pickups per hour, its creators write in a paper published this week in Science Robotics. Warehouse robots that can move around merchandise are highly sought after. Amazon is reportedly working on its own "picker" robots, as are several robotics companies.

2 of 70 comments (clear)

  1. Re:Goodbye Warehouse Picker by cayenne8 · · Score: 3, Informative

    Farming has already gone this route, it's becoming more automated each year.

    If that's the case, why so many still shout out that "we NEED" all these illegal 'guests' in the US from our southern border?

    I thought they were so desperately needed by the US food economy to pick/harvest.

    If that is no longer the case, why again are people defending letting them in illegally?

    --
    Light travels faster than sound. This is why some people appear bright until you hear them speak.........
  2. Re:Goodbye Warehouse Picker by cascadingstylesheet · · Score: 4, Informative

    Farming has already gone this route, it's becoming more automated each year.

    If that's the case, why so many still shout out that "we NEED" all these illegal 'guests' in the US from our southern border?

    I thought they were so desperately needed by the US food economy to pick/harvest.

    If that is no longer the case, why again are people defending letting them in illegally?

    Because they vote Democrat.

    You have indeed identified the hole in their logic - it's all robots, all the time, until somebody wants to shut that southern door. Then suddenly it's human labor again.

    They simultaneously don't matter, and also matter so much that we just can't close the door. Because reasons ...