New AI tool to design robots from scratch in seconds
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A group of researchers in the United States has created an artificial intelligence (AI) program capable of designing robots from the ground up in mere seconds.
Led by Northwestern University in Illinois, the team provided the program with a simple prompt: "Design a robot that can walk across a flat surface." Astonishingly, the AI program took just 26 seconds to conceive a walking robot design. This AI program does not require cutting-edge hardware and can operate on standard personal computers, making it a significant advancement in AI technology.
This development marks a crucial leap in AI, as it can generate innovative ideas, unlike existing tools that merely replicate past human designs without the ability to generate novel concepts.
The study detailing this discovery has been published in the National Academy of Sciences.
Sam Kriegman of Northwestern University, who led the research, explained, "We have discovered a lightning-fast AI-driven design algorithm that sidesteps the slow process of natural evolution and does not rely on the biases of human designers. We instructed the AI to create a robot capable of walking on land. Then, with the push of a button, it generated a robot blueprint in an instant. The resulting design bore no resemblance to any walking creature known to have existed. I refer to this process as 'instant evolution.'"
The new AI program autonomously assessed the design, identified flaws, and iteratively modified the simulated structure. Ultimately, the virtual robot developed the capability to bounce, hop, and shuffle.
This breakthrough marks the initial step in the research effort to explore the potential of artificial life.
The robot itself is unassuming, characterised as small, pliable, and misshapen, and currently composed of inorganic materials. Nonetheless, Kriegman sees it as the dawn of a new era in AI-designed tools that, like living organisms, can interact directly with the physical world.
"Some may view this robot as a seemingly useless gadget," he stated. "However, I see it as the birth of a completely new life form."