In the opinion of people like Sam Altman or Elon Musk, robots will soon take care of household chores. It will be as common as having a car, only inside the house instead of parked at the door. Something that now ADAM, a new robot of Spanish origin, seems to demonstrate. He is able to set or remove the table just by watching humans do it.
The model, which has been developed by researchers at the Carlos III University of Madrid, seems to push the world of robotics towards where many large companies want it to go: helping in all types of everyday jobs. Even taking into account that many experts in the field remain reluctant to admit that the revolution is really that close.
ADAM, the Spanish robot capable of setting the table
Under the name ADAM (Autonomous Domestic Ambidextrous Manipulator), there is an assistive robot designed to perform everyday tasks in domestic environments. The curious thing about it, as those responsible for it highlight, is that it does not need to be programmed in advance to carry out different movements. Instead of that Take advantage of observational learning techniques.
This means that the robot is not given a rigid list of instructions. Instead, it analyzes human movement, identifies patterns, and replicates the action with its own arms in a coordinated manner. This approach dramatically reduces programming time and allows the robot to adapt to different situations, such as tables of different sizes or variable configurations.
In fact, the solution could be treated as one of the most common problems in the world of robotics: the difficulties that most models present in functioning in the real world. Or put another way, their demonstrations in the laboratory are impressive, but when it comes time to leave there, they are unable to succeed in other uncontrolled environments.
Of course, the way ADAM works is also born from artificial intelligence, as it could not be otherwise. Only in this case it is aimed at learning by imitation, a technique that AI seems to allow and that leaves algorithms aside to focus on a system that combines artificial vision, motion analysis and dynamic planning.
The future of smart homes?
It is obvious that for some time now homes have become more technological than ever (with the risks that this entails for security, it is also true). But these smart homes could experience a before and after if robots like ADAM really became an everyday reality. For example, when helping people with disabilities or the elderly.
Will it really be like this in a few years? Many specialists in the field are not too convinced about this, and insist that many problems still need to be solved (hence the delays of Optimus and so many other models). But who knows if in a decade, what until now seemed limited to science fiction films could come to life… even if it is artificial.