An endless video loop of cooking shows could hold the key to robots that can unstack a dishwasher and play Lego with the kids, a Hawke's Bay student of robotics says.
Fulbright scholar Sam Corbett-Davies has begun a PhD in artificial intelligence at the prestigious Stanford University in the US
to learn how robots recognise objects and how they are used.
Mr Corbett-Davies, who has a Bachelor of Engineering in mechatronics from Canterbury University, hopes his work might one day be used to develop a robot that can be taught how to do domestic work.
As part of his work on his PhD, the 23-year-old from Napier will create a system of computers that will watch YouTube videos over and over to learn about the millions of objects used by humans and how they interact with them.
Mr Corbett-Davies said that, at present, computers can recognise humans and some objects but do not recognise how humans interact with the objects.
