Qbo, an open source robot, is able to recognize itself in a mirror, an incredible breakthrough for robotics and artificial intelligence.
Qbo is a rather cute-looking robot with wheels and stereoscopic vision developed by TheCorpora robotics company. Qbo is able to recognize objects. In a video demonstrating Qbo’s ability to recognize itself, a man holds up a picture of Tux, the Linux mascot. Qbo correctly recognizes it as a penguin and also greets the man and recognizes him as Arturo. It then turns around and stops, looking at itself in a mirror hanging from the ceiling.
Qbo asks who is in the mirror, and Arturo replies that it’s Qbo itself. “Now I get the picture of how I look, I will train myself,” the robot says. Qbo even seems amazed at seeing itself. “Woah. I am ready to recognize myself.”
Arturo asks who the robot sees, and this time Qbo replies, “Oh, this is me. Nice.”
If you know anything about intelligence, both artificial and natural, you know that this is quite an amazing feat. Recogizing oneself in the mirror is something that, as far as we know, only humans, dolphins and some primates are able to do. It will be interesting to see what Qbo is able to do in the future. It’s debatable whether it’s possible or desirable for artificial intelligence to be at all similar to human intelligence, but some of the results are still quite impressive.
If you like this, don’t miss our post on a team of flying robots building a 6-foot tall tower as well as a micromouse robot solving a maze in a few seconds. If that’s enough not enough, check out the Top 3 Innovations in Artificial Intelligence.
via: Geeky Gadgets
