Robot Learns To Use Tools

One small step for machines, one giant leap for robot-kind. This robot developed at the University of Massachusetts Amherst is able to learn to use objects that it has never encountered before.

The robot UMan (for UMass Mobile Manipulator), pushes objects around on a table to see how they move. Once it identifies an object's moving parts, it begins to experiment with it, manipulating it to perform tasks. "You can imagine a baby playing with a toy and pulling the different parts and seeing what moves how," says lead author and graduate student Dov Katz, who did the work with Oliver Brock, a professor of computer science.