Former OpenAI Employees Aim to Let Robots Learn on Their Own

There is plenty of competition in the world of robotics and artificial intelligence. At the same time, it is not uncommon for employees to move away from their companies and start their own businesses. A few researchers recently decided to leave a firm founded by Elon Musk and go into business for themselves. Their new company will focus on robotics of all kinds. Their first demo involves a robot doing housework, which has been well received by the industry so far.

More Competition in the Robotics Industry

There is always room for more competition in the world of robotics and artificial intelligence. Not everyone agrees with the direction the company they work for is headed. That is only normal, as it is this “disconnect” which often creates new innovation and more wholesome products. Whether or not that will be true in the case of Embodied Intelligence remains to be seen. All its employees have plenty of experience in the field, which will certainly be put to good use in the months ahead.

More specifically, the individuals comprising the upper brass of Embodied Intelligence all used to work for OpenAI, a research lab created by Elon Musk. The team will be looking to focus their collective expertise in whichever direction they decide to head in moving forward. There are dozens of opportunities waiting to be explored right now, as this industry is still in its infancy for the most part.

It seems their main purpose is to conduct further research into the world of robotic automation. This will not just apply to companies and warehouses, mind you. In a perfect scenario, the new company hopes to make everyday life at home a lot better and easier than it is now. That’s quite an ambitious goal, although it is not entirely impossible to achieve either. After all, the company showed a video of one of its robots performing housework during a recent conference. This may be a glimpse of what the future holds for Embodied Intelligence.

So far, the young company has a rather small amount of funding in place to get the ball rolling. More specifically, US$7 million isn’t all that much for a company focusing on AI and robotics. Then again, one has to start somewhere. Previous experience alone is not enough to convince investors to sign on right away, which is only to be expected. With this funding, the company aims to tackle complex algorithms which will allow machines to learn tasks on their own. This is a pretty interesting area of research, to say the very least.

Creating teachable robots will certainly introduce a lot of changes to the world of AI and robotics as a whole. There are some intriguing possibilities waiting to be tapped in this regard. While machine learning has seen some major developments over the past few years, bringing the concept to consumers has proven rather difficult. It is possible Embodied Intelligence will succeed where others have failed, although it is still too early to tell how things will develop. Making robots smarter in general is an option well worth exploring.

In the end, one has to keep in mind that Embodied Intelligence will still compete with OpenAI and many others in this particular industry. It is good to see the new company take a slightly different approach, however. Allowing robots to learn is an initiative that’s quickly gaining traction all over the world. Even organizations such as Google and Carnegie Mellon University are working on similar projects. Automation will be a big part of the future of our society; that much no one can deny.