When you look at recent AI achievements, it seems fair to think that humanoid robots will be cooking for us at home in a few years. This is unfortunately unlikely. This presentation will tell you why cooking at home is way more difficult than building a car in a factory (for a robot anyway!). gwennael.gate@angus.ai

1. Whenwill I get a
robotthat…#
gwennael gate from angus.ai

2. When will I get a robot that…
When it comes to robots, people often ask an interesting
question:

3. I can make love with?
who handles household duties?
who can grab me a beer?
When will I get a robot …

4. Question highly legitimate when you look at all these
impressive robotics / AI achievements…

5. 20202015
?
It seems logical to think that humanoid robots will water
plants (and…) at home in say 5 years.

6. mmh…

7. 20202015
?
Why?
Even if technology progresses exponentially, this is not
going to happen so soon. But why ?

8. Let us take an example: the cooking robot.

9. Perceive
Decide
Act
Cooking can be split into 3 tasks:
- perceive (vegetables, pans…)
- decide (which recipe to use, what to do first…)
- act (grab the apple, cut it…)
Which task you think is the most difficult for a robot?

10. Perceive
Decide
Act
Difficult
Deciding is likely the most demanding task for a
human…
… and perceiving and acting is not a challenge for
people with normally functioning eyes and arms.

11. Perceive
Decide
Act
Difficult
For a robot, this is quite the opposite…
Deciding = picking the right entry in a huge database,
but perceiving and acting on vegetable is a nightmare….

12. … as all vegetables have different shapes

13. is a nightmare
Variability
Uncertainty }}Our World
This is the main reason why robots are not already
cooking (or anything else) at home…

14. are much more uncertain than
variable }}
And paradoxically, our homes are way more « complex »
than warehouse or assembly lines

15. I can make love with?
who handles household duties?
who can grab me a beer?
When will I get a robot …
Like cooking, all these tasks require to perceive and act on things with
« variable » shapes… hence the headache for roboticists!

16. So
today
As a robot, you need to make a choice…

17. Environment
complexity
structured
high
Robots @
Level of action
You either have a high level of action on things that are not variable at all…

18. That is industrial robotics : acting on things that have predefined and
fixed shapes

19. Robots @
Environment
complexity
my living room
moderate
Level of action
Or you live in a complex world but you do not act much…

20. That is social robotics : living in a complex environment but acting more
on our hidden emotions than on our vegetables.

21. This is difficult
Environment
complexity
my living room human like
Level of action
But living in an unstructured environment AND having a high level of
action is super difficult: the graal of robotics!

22. 20..20202015
Ok, if we do not get cooking/beer grabbing robots
by 2020, what cool things are we going to get?

23. I don’t know but…

24. 20..20202015
IOT HumanoidsSmart objects?
It seems fair to believe that it will be a mix between
today IOT and 2040’s robotics.

25. 5 humanoids takeways
2020: A mix between humanoids and IOT?
… that IOT should look at!

26. #1
Exist without a smartphone

27. There are more natural way to interact with technology
than touching screens (ex : Speech Recognition here)
Amazon Echo

28. #2
Exist without a wire

29. Being unplugged allow for clean setup and multi-room
capabilities (ex: mobile video and sound system here)
Keeker

30. #3
Act on things

31. It is easier to be really useful when you really act on your
environment (ex : clean the floor here)
iRobot Roomba

32. #4Exist without an internet
connection

33. Personal data (ex: video / audio here) are sometimes
better kept & computed locally.
Jibo

34. #5
Be proactive

35. Do not wait constantly for orders, learn from your user
and take the initiative!
Nest Thermostat

36. 1. Interactive
2. Unplugged
3. Acting
4. Fog AI
5. Proactive
Smart Objects
20..20202015
The future of smart home, summarized!

37. When do I get a robot
that…
Gwennael Gate
Former Director of SW Engineering - AI algorithms
Aldebaran Robotics
Now CoFounder at Angus.ai
Thanks!