By Mariella Moon, Engadget
NVIDIA has opened a new lab in Seattle, and it's meant to serve as home for all its robotics
projects. Over 50 research scientists and students from the University
of Washington will work in the facility under NVIDIA's senior director
of robotics research Dieter Fox. He explained
that the lab will bring "together a collaborative, interdisciplinary
team of experts in robot control and perception, computer vision,
human-robot interaction and deep learning."
NVIDIA is hoping that
the lab can give rise to the next-generation of robots that can work
with humans in open-ended environments not designed specifically for
them. In fact, one of its main projects right now is a kitchen helper
machine, which is powered by NVIDIA's Jetson platform and Titan GPUs and can function in an actual kitchen.
This
"kitchen manipulator" relies on deep learning to detect and track
specific objects based on its own simulation -- it doesn't need a map of
the place beforehand and can quickly adapt to changes in its
surroundings. It can even open and close doors and drawers to get
objects and tools. Due to the ever changing nature of a kitchen, Fox
sees it as the ideal location for testing. A robot that can deal with a
dozen littered pans, spatulas and ingredients will likely be able to
navigate other complex environments, after all.
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