Facebook is experimenting with robots to advance its research on AI

Facebook is certainly a high-tech company, but it is not a business that you necessarily associate with robots. However, as the firm has revealed today, this is exactly where its researchers will look at how robotics experiments can advance its work in the field of AI.

This is not uncommon for large technology companies. Many companies, including Google, Nvidia and Amazon, use robots as a platform for exploring avenues of research on AI. Controlling robots is, in many ways, more difficult than challenges such as playing board games or video games. With these latest tasks, researchers have access to simulated game environments, which allows artificial intelligence agents to play and learn at an accelerated rate. There is no shortcut of this type for training robots.

"The major advantage of robotics is that it takes place in real time, in the real world," said Antoine Bordes, co-director general of research laboratories for artificial intelligence. Bloomberg News.

Image: Facebook

The search is extensive and Facebook has shared details on a trio of papers. The first is to teach a six-legged robot how to perform tests and mistakes, the second is to take advantage of the "curiosity" to help robots learn faster, and the third is to use the sense of touch to help a robot achieve simple goals. tasks like rolling a ball.

None of these papers are breakthroughs, in itself, and research topics are also discussed elsewhere by universities and laboratories. However, it should be noted that the research laboratory on AI on Facebook (known as FAIR) continues this type of work.

The chief scientist of the company, Yann LeCun, said Bloomberg FAIR has a duty to "see around" and be ready for future products and services, including robots. "You have to start early," said LeCun. "It's not just something in which you can jump when it picks up."

Facebook has already shown, in some ways, that mastery of physical systems can have unexpected spin-offs. For example, when the company launched its home video chat video camera, it worked with filmmakers to design the camera movements that frame users for each shot. Despite widespread privacy concerns around the portal, the reviewers commended the company for making the communication experience surprisingly transparent.

Knowing how to associate the AI ​​and hardware has given Facebook a little length in advance with Portal, which could do it again for future products.