Robots in Japan are found on factory floors carrying out simple tasks or delivering food to restaurant patrons but researchers have now unveiled a robot capable of executing the delicate task of peeling a banana without squashing the fruit inside.
While the dual armed machine only succeeds 57% of the time, banana peeling foreshadows a future in which machines do more complex tasks than moving metal components or delivering coffee.
In a video released by University of Tokyo researchers, the robot was seen picking up and peeling a banana with both hands in around three minutes.
Researchers Heecheol Kim, Yoshiyuki Ohmura, and Yasuo Kuniyoshi used a “deep imitation learning” process to teach the robot how to peel bananas. They demonstrated the action hundreds of times to provide enough data for the robot to learn and replicate it.
After more than 13 hours of training, the banana achieved its success rate.
While more testing is needed, Kuniyoshi believes that his robot training method can teach robots to perform a variety of simple “human” jobs.
He hopes the better-trained robots can alleviate Japan’s labour shortage problems, for example at bento lunch box or food processing factories that are highly dependent on human labour
