Alphabet presents its latest robots

Anyone who already thinks that vacuum robots are pure magic should take a look at what Alphabet recently announced. The parent company of Google wants to integrate robots much more deeply into everyday households. However, housework is only a means to an end in robot development.

The housework of the future

While people have already gotten used to the sight of vacuuming robots, Alphabet’s robots still look like something out of a science fiction movie. Research Department X has unveiled a range of autonomous household helpers. The range of tasks they are supposed to be able to perform sounds quite impressive. Whether cleaning windows or emptying trash cans. Alphabet’s smart helpers of the future seem to be able to perform pretty much all household tasks that many people find a waste of time day after day. To understand exactly what the company is up to, it is worth taking a look at the published videos. Here, one has to marvel above all at the many different tasks that the robotic arm can perform.

First images already in 2019

Connoisseurs of the scene will certainly be familiar with the robotic arm, which is the focus of many of the videos. After all, Alphabet had already presented a first look into the future in 2019. Here, the household robots are usually composed of two elements. A robot arm is located on a mobile platform. If you are now dreaming of having such a household helper in your own four walls, I’m sorry to disappoint you.

Alphabet is in fact not planning to enter the segment of smart household helpers. Instead, it only wanted to confront the robots with particularly difficult tasks. Housework seems to be a major challenge for machines. After all, the robot must be able to deal with a wide variety of scenarios. Skills learned from this could then be used in medicine, for example.

“Reinforcement learning” as the key to success

Google’s parent company relies on the principle of so-called “reinforcement learning” for its robots. This technique is based on the machine first going through different approaches to solving a task. Afterwards, it independently evaluates which solution path was the most effective and which approaches, in turn, were pointless. When the robots debuted in 2019, sorting trash was the most impressive thing they had to offer. Meanwhile, the more than 100 robots can do much more. According to Alphabet, to learn a task such as cleaning windows or wiping down a table, the robots only need one day. Unfortunately, Google’s mother still owes us many details. We are curious how far the project will be after two more years of development.