{"160721":{"#nid":"160721","#data":{"type":"news","title":"Robots Using Tools: With New Grant, Researchers Aim to Create \u2018MacGyver\u2019 Robot","body":[{"value":"\u003Cp\u003ERobots are increasingly being used in place of humans to explore hazardous and difficult-to-access environments, but they aren\u2019t yet able to interact with their environments as well as humans. If today\u2019s most sophisticated robot was trapped in a burning room by a jammed door, it would probably not know how to locate and use objects in the room to climb over any debris, pry open the door, and escape the building.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003EA research team led by Professor Mike Stilman at the Georgia Institute of Technology hopes to change that by giving robots the ability to use objects in their environments to accomplish high-level tasks. The team recently received a three-year, $900,000 grant from the Office of Naval Research to work on this project.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003E\u201cOur goal is to develop a robot that behaves like MacGyver, the television character from the 1980s who solved complex problems and escaped dangerous situations by using everyday objects and materials he found at hand,\u201d said Stilman, an assistant professor in the School of Interactive Computing at Georgia Tech. \u201cWe want to understand the basic cognitive processes that allow humans to take advantage of arbitrary objects in their environments as tools. We will achieve this by designing algorithms for robots that make tasks that are impossible for a robot alone possible for a robot with tools.\u201d\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003EThe research will build on Stilman\u2019s previous work on navigation among movable obstacles that enabled robots to autonomously recognize and move obstacles that were in the way of their getting from point A to point B.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003E\u201cThis project is challenging because there is a critical difference between moving objects out of the way and using objects to make a way,\u201d explained Stilman. \u201cResearchers in the robot motion planning field have traditionally used computerized vision systems to locate objects in a cluttered environment to plan collision-free paths, but these systems have not provided any information about the objects\u2019 functions.\u201d\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003ETo create a robot capable of using objects in its environment to accomplish a task, Stilman plans to develop an algorithm that will allow a robot to identify an arbitrary object in a room, determine the object\u2019s potential function, and turn that object into a simple machine that can be used to complete an action. Actions could include using a chair to reach something high, bracing a ladder against a bookshelf, stacking boxes to climb over something, and building levers or bridges from random debris.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003EBy providing the robot with basic knowledge of rigid body mechanics and simple machines, the robot should be able to autonomously determine the mechanical force properties of an object and construct motion plans for using the object to perform high-level tasks.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003EFor example, exiting a burning room with a jammed door would require a robot to travel around any fire, use an object in the room to apply sufficient force to open the stuck door, and locate an object in the room that will support its weight while it moves to get out of the room.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003ESuch skills could be extremely valuable in the future as robots work side-by-side with military personnel to accomplish challenging missions.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003E\u201cThe Navy prides itself on recruiting, training and deploying our country\u2019s most resourceful and intelligent men and women,\u201d said Paul Bello, director of the cognitive science program in the Office of Naval Research (ONR). \u201cNow that robotic systems are becoming more pervasive as teammates for warfighters in military operations, we must ensure that they are both intelligent and resourceful. Professor Stilman\u2019s work on the \u2018MacGyver-bot\u2019 is the first of its kind, and is already beginning to deliver on the promise of mechanical teammates able to creatively perform in high-stakes situations.\u201d\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003ETo address the complexity of the human-like reasoning required for this type of scenario, Stilman is collaborating with researchers Pat Langley and Dongkyu Choi. Langley is the director of the Institute for the Study of Learning and Expertise (ISLE), and is recognized as a co-founder of the field of machine learning, where he championed both experimental studies of learning algorithms and their application to real-world problems. Choi is an assistant professor in the Department of Aerospace Engineering at the University of Kansas.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003ELangley and Choi will expand the cognitive architecture they developed, called ICARUS, which provides an infrastructure for modeling various human capabilities like perception, inference, performance and learning in robots.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003E\u201cWe believe a hybrid reasoning system that embeds our physics-based algorithms within a cognitive architecture will create a more general, efficient and structured control system for our robot that will accrue more benefits than if we used one approach alone,\u201d said Stilman.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003EAfter the researchers develop and optimize the hybrid reasoning system using computer simulations, they plan to test the software using Golem Krang, a humanoid robot designed and built in Stilman\u2019s laboratory to study whole-body robotic planning and control.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003E\u0026nbsp;\u003Cem\u003EThis research is sponsored by the Department of the Navy, Office of Naval Research, through grant number N00014-12-1-0143. Any opinions, findings, and conclusions or recommendations expressed in this material are those of the author(s) and do not necessarily reflect the views of the Office of Naval Research.\u003C\/em\u003E\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003E\u0026nbsp;\u003C\/p\u003E","summary":null,"format":"limited_html"}],"field_subtitle":"","field_summary":[{"value":"\u003Cp\u003EA Georgia Tech research team has received a grant from the Office of Naval Research to work on a project that intends to teach robots how to use objects in their environment to accomplish high-level tasks.\u003C\/p\u003E","format":"limited_html"}],"field_summary_sentence":[{"value":"New project is designed to teach robots how to use objects in the environment to accomplish high-level tasks"}],"uid":"27560","created_gmt":"2012-10-09 08:22:20","changed_gmt":"2016-10-08 03:12:58","author":"Jason Maderer","boilerplate_text":"","field_publication":"","field_article_url":"","dateline":{"date":"2012-10-09T00:00:00-04:00","iso_date":"2012-10-09T00:00:00-04:00","tz":"America\/New_York"},"extras":[],"hg_media":{"160691":{"id":"160691","type":"image","title":"MacGyver Grant, Photo 1","body":null,"created":"1449178896","gmt_created":"2015-12-03 21:41:36","changed":"1475894796","gmt_changed":"2016-10-08 02:46:36","alt":"MacGyver Grant, Photo 1","file":{"fid":"195405","name":"macgyver-1-cropped_0.jpg","image_path":"\/sites\/default\/files\/images\/macgyver-1-cropped_0_0.jpg","image_full_path":"http:\/\/www.tlwarc.hg.gatech.edu\/\/sites\/default\/files\/images\/macgyver-1-cropped_0_0.jpg","mime":"image\/jpeg","size":74337,"path_740":"http:\/\/www.tlwarc.hg.gatech.edu\/sites\/default\/files\/styles\/740xx_scale\/public\/images\/macgyver-1-cropped_0_0.jpg?itok=0YGXIhCi"}},"160701":{"id":"160701","type":"image","title":"MacGyver Grant, Photo 2","body":null,"created":"1449178896","gmt_created":"2015-12-03 21:41:36","changed":"1475894796","gmt_changed":"2016-10-08 02:46:36","alt":"MacGyver Grant, Photo 2","file":{"fid":"195406","name":"macgyver-robot-9680.jpg","image_path":"\/sites\/default\/files\/images\/macgyver-robot-9680_0.jpg","image_full_path":"http:\/\/www.tlwarc.hg.gatech.edu\/\/sites\/default\/files\/images\/macgyver-robot-9680_0.jpg","mime":"image\/jpeg","size":1118956,"path_740":"http:\/\/www.tlwarc.hg.gatech.edu\/sites\/default\/files\/styles\/740xx_scale\/public\/images\/macgyver-robot-9680_0.jpg?itok=nJjsjaEd"}},"160711":{"id":"160711","type":"image","title":"MacGyver Grant, Photo 3","body":null,"created":"1449178896","gmt_created":"2015-12-03 21:41:36","changed":"1475894796","gmt_changed":"2016-10-08 02:46:36","alt":"MacGyver Grant, Photo 3","file":{"fid":"195407","name":"macgyver-robot-9651.jpg","image_path":"\/sites\/default\/files\/images\/macgyver-robot-9651_0.jpg","image_full_path":"http:\/\/www.tlwarc.hg.gatech.edu\/\/sites\/default\/files\/images\/macgyver-robot-9651_0.jpg","mime":"image\/jpeg","size":1044485,"path_740":"http:\/\/www.tlwarc.hg.gatech.edu\/sites\/default\/files\/styles\/740xx_scale\/public\/images\/macgyver-robot-9651_0.jpg?itok=QH5uCk_E"}}},"media_ids":["160691","160701","160711"],"related_links":[{"url":"http:\/\/www.cc.gatech.edu\/~mstilman\/","title":"Mike Stillman Website"},{"url":"http:\/\/www.cc.gatech.edu\/","title":"College of Computing"},{"url":"http:\/\/www.ic.gatech.edu\/about","title":"School of Interactive Computing"},{"url":"http:\/\/robotics.gatech.edu\/","title":"Center for Robotics \u0026 Intelligent Machines"}],"groups":[{"id":"1214","name":"News Room"}],"categories":[{"id":"135","name":"Research"},{"id":"152","name":"Robotics"}],"keywords":[{"id":"654","name":"College of Computing"},{"id":"45961","name":"Golem Krang"},{"id":"45951","name":"MacGyver"},{"id":"11527","name":"Mike Stillman"}],"core_research_areas":[{"id":"39521","name":"Robotics"}],"news_room_topics":[],"event_categories":[],"invited_audience":[],"affiliations":[],"classification":[],"areas_of_expertise":[],"news_and_recent_appearances":[],"phone":[],"contact":[{"value":"\u003Cp\u003EJohn Toon\u003Cbr \/\u003EResearch News \u0026amp; Publications Office\u003Cbr \/\u003E \u003Ca href=\u0022mailto:jtoon@gatech.edu\u0022\u003Ejtoon@gatech.edu\u003C\/a\u003E \u003Cbr \/\u003E 404-894-6986\u003C\/p\u003E","format":"limited_html"}],"email":["jtoon@gatech.edu"],"slides":[],"orientation":[],"userdata":""}}}