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‘Yell at your robot’ technique teaches robots household chores

AI allows robots to listen to verbal instructions while learning to correctly perform household tasks. That could enable more natural interactions between humans and robots

By Jeremy Hsu

1 April 2024

This robot can respond to verbal commands and corrections on the fly.

This robot can respond to verbal commands and corrections on the fly.

Xiaoyang Shi | Stanford University

A robot can learn how to correctly wash dishes or pack a bag of trail mix by listening to human voice commands. That could pave the way for future workplace or household robots capable of learning in the moment as they interact with people.

It is “almost impossible” to train home-helper robots that can perfectly manage chores in every situation, says Lucy Xiaoyang Shi at Stanford University in California. “So we do want to have this method of naturally interacting with a robot…

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