What parent doesn't want to mold their child to be better - faster, smarter, more capable? Even though human parents can't do that, a robot that builds its own children can. Scientists at the University of Cambridge in England have created a mother robot that not only constructs its own children, but tests their performance.
It's a robotic version of nature's survival of the fittest. The mother robot analyzes the performance of each of the "children" it creates, and incorporates preferential traits into the next generation.
"As the mother creates them and puts them to work, she evaluates how they're behaving, and she uses data from this behavior to create the next generation of robots," explained research scientist Andres Rosendo.
There's no human intervention, except for a computer command to create a robot capable of moving from one place to another. The mother builds its children by gluing together pieces with small motors inside, in different configurations. Then it watches how quickly the children move, keeping the designs of the ones that moved the fastest.
"The mother robot can actually build hundreds of child robots and see the performance of these child robots. And if their performance is good, keep their design for the next generation. And if bad, just let it go," said Fumiya Iida, lead researcher.
The motivation to produce better children is controlled by the research team, which provides an incentive.
"We program the robot based on some functions that define the reward the robot is going to get, depending on the construction that they make. They cannot change their own reward. In the case of the child robot, it's distance, so the longer the distance the robot walks, the better the reward it receives," said Rosendo.
After several generations, the "children" were running twice as fast.
"The mother robot generated 500 robots to see what one is good and which one is bad," said Iida.
The researchers suggest the machines could be used in an auto plant, for example, where robot cameras scrutinize each car in the assembly line, evaluate any mistakes, and then design a better car.
Vocabulary
preferential:优先的
incentive: 奖励
端午的前世今生
不敌H&M和Zara Gap将关闭175家门店
美国编织“对华包围圈”?
宝宝一出生就该给他们iPad?
未来100年世界长这样
运动反而使人变胖吗?
股票牛市带火网络炒股小说
007超酷车型诞生?宝马7远程操控内置影院
端午节传说之屈原投江
00后多是“雅创客”?
人脸识别:双胞胎了没?
农药居然是蜜蜂危险的诱惑
洪水冲毁动物园 格鲁吉亚首都野兽横行
“北京蓝”引发网友刷屏
发展中国家面临经济结构性放缓
反击西方生活方式 印度总理提倡做瑜伽
澳大利亚电视台首次使用自拍杆进行资讯直播
总统家族? 布什亲弟弟宣布竞选美国总统
端午习俗之饮雄黄酒
我国六年来首次全面晒公积金家底
端午习俗之吃粽子
晒图:万磁王X教授亲上了!好基友一辈子
维和人员多地留私生子 联合国帮宝宝寻父
房地产投资放缓拖累中国经济增长
阿里巴巴将推出视频网站 看齐Netflix与HBO
小米华为崛起 三星手机在华腹背受敌
端午传说之白娘子喝雄黄酒现原形
81岁英国女性亲授不老秘诀:永远不结婚
2015马云纽约经济学家会演讲
古巴电脑人才上网寻找美国客户
不限 |
英语教案 |
英语课件 |
英语试题 |
不限 |
不限 |
上册 |
下册 |
不限 |