Brown’s Humans to Robots Lab wins Rethink Robotics Video Challenge

PROVIDENCE – Brown University’s Humans to Robots Lab won the Rethink Robotics Video Challenge for its video of a robot picking up objects to the tune of AC/DC’s “You Shook Me all Night Long.”

The challenge, launched over the summer by Boston-based rethink Robotics to highlight work being done by the research and education community with the Baxter robot, featured more than 90 entries from 19 countries.

As a result of the win, Brown’s Humans to Robots Lab will get a new Baxter robot – its third.

Stephanie Tellex, an assistant professor of computer science and the lab’s principal investigator, entered the challenge, which asked Baxter robot users to submit videos showing Baxter solving real-world problems – in research, manufacturing or education.

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The video shows the two-armed robot with a half-smile picking up such things as toys, chattering teeth and a fan. Sometimes, it misses, but it keeps trying until successful. The robot shakes its arms while holding the objects as if it were dancing to the song – the lyrics were changed so that they were more robot-friendly.

Here’s a snippet of the song: “Picked a lincoln log, scooped up a duck and a frog, got some blue cubic blocks, a pair of orange Crocs, with the map he’s making, the scans he’s taking, there’s no mistaking, the gripper shaking it and you, shook it all night long.”

Tellex, who was helped by graduate student John Oberlin, showed in the video how Baxter was taught to manipulate objects from experience. While robots can pick up objects they are programmed to handle, picking up objects they have never encountered before can be difficult.
Tellex developed an algorithm that enabled Baxter to learn how to pick up new objects by repeatedly trying. Over time, the robot learns how best to pick up the object.
“Our goal in creating the Rethink Robotics Video Challenge was to raise awareness of the tremendous amount of unique, cutting-edge research being conducted using collaborative robots that advances our collective education. The response far exceeded our expectations, and narrowing this down to one winner was an extremely difficult task for our judging panel,” Rodney Brooks, founder, chairman and chief technology officer of Rethink Robotics, said in a statement.
“Brown was ultimately chosen as the best entry because the work being conducted by the Humans to Robots Lab at Brown University is critical to helping robots become more functional in our daily lives. There is a stark contrast between a robot and human in the ability to manipulate and handle a variety of objects, and closing that gap will open up a whole new world of robotic applications,” he said.

Finalist entries were reviewed by judges, including Brooks; Lance Ulanoff, chief correspondent and editor at large of Mashable; Erico Guizzo, senior editor at IEEE Spectrum; Steve Taub, senior director, advanced manufacturing at GE Ventures; and Devdutt Yellurkar, general partner at CRV.

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