Instructing robots to navigate new environments is hard. You possibly can practice them on bodily, real-world information taken from recordings made by people, however that’s scarce, and costly to gather. Digital simulations are a fast, scalable solution to train them to do new issues, however the robots usually fail once they’re pulled out of digital worlds and requested to do the identical duties in the true one.
Now, there’s probably a greater possibility: a brand new system that makes use of generative AI fashions along side a physics simulator to develop digital coaching grounds that extra precisely mirror the bodily world. Robots skilled utilizing this technique labored with the next success price than these skilled utilizing extra conventional methods throughout real-world checks.
Researchers used the system, referred to as LucidSim, to coach a robotic canine in parkour, getting it to scramble over a field and climb stairs, regardless of by no means seeing any actual world information. The strategy demonstrates how useful generative AI may very well be in the case of instructing robots to do difficult duties. It additionally raises the likelihood that we may in the end practice them in completely digital worlds. Learn the complete story.
—Rhiannon Williams
Africa’s AI researchers are prepared for takeoff
After we discuss in regards to the international race for AI dominance, the dialog usually focuses on tensions between the US and China, and European efforts at regulating the expertise. However it’s excessive time we discuss one other participant: Africa.
African AI researchers are forging their very own path, growing instruments that reply the wants of Africans, in their very own languages. Their story just isn’t solely certainly one of persistence and innovation, however of preserving cultures and combating to form how AI applied sciences are used on their very own continent. Nevertheless, they face many boundaries. Learn the complete story.
—Melissa Heikkilä